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The days are getting shorter, which means it is time for me to start turning more to comfort food. Cheese stuffed shells are something that we frequently make when we have leftover meat sauce for spaghetti. Our base recipe is a simple cheese filling, ut it is easy to experiment by adding spinach, sausage, or other ingredients to the mixture.
Fire-roasted Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells on the Big Green Egg.
Of course, you can make these in the oven but cooking them on the Big Green Egg gives them the enhanced fire-roasted flavor.
Here is how we make our Fire Roasted Spinach Stuffed Shells on the Big Green Egg. One tip: If your leftover meat sauce is extra chunky or "rustic," you might want to pulse it in a food processor. I think it is easier to work with a finer texture sauce with this one.
4-5 cups meat sauce for spaghetti (depends on the size of your vessel)
8 jumbo pasta shells, cooked according to directions.
For Garnish
chopped fresh parsley
fresh shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese
Instructions
Preheat. Set up your grill for indirect heat and preheat it to 350°f. I used a Big Green Egg with a cast-iron platesetter (aka ConvEGGtor).
Make the stuffing. Mix together the ricotta, 1 cup of shredded mozzarella, egg, Italian seasoning, red pepper flake, and the spinach.
Prepare the shells. Press about 1/3 cup of the cheese mixture into each shell. Spread about 1 cup of the meat sauce in the bottom of a 2-quart casserole dish. Place the shells on top of the sauce and then fill around the shells with more sauce until they are about two-thirds covered.
Fire roast the shells. Place the casserole dish in the grill and let it cook for 30 minutes. Then top with the remaining cup of shredded mozzarella and let cook until the cheese is golden about 15-20 minutes.
Finish the dish. Remove the casserole from the grill. Top with chopped parsley and fresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese as desired.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 30 mins.
Cook time: 00 hrs. 45-50 mins.
Total time: 01 hrs 15-20 mins.
Setting up the Egg on a nice Fall afternoon. I used one of my large Big Green Eggs, the one that lives in my Challenger Designs Torch grill cart. A spider/stone combo is shown, ut I ended up using a cast iron platesetter (aka ConvEGGtor) as my heat deflector for indirect heat.
Of course, your fire always burns better when you clean out your Egg first. Here, I'm using a Kick Ash Basket and their Ash Can, which makes cleaning easier. Yes, I know my fire bowl is cracked. This Big Green Egg is 12 years old, so lots of things are cracked or broken - the fire bowl, the fire ring, the base, and the metal hoop rings are worn out, so it won't keep alignment. But it was my first Big Green Egg, so I keep it around ;)
My preferred way of firing up the Egg is a JJ George grill torch. If I'm out of gas, I like to use hay wicks or the paper towel & oil track.
Settled in at 350°f and ready to cook.
Always wring out the moisture from your cooked spinach, or it will make your cheese mixture too watery.
We cook these in casserole dishes or just a couple in individual serving dishes; either way works fine.
I don't actually measure out the stuffing, to be honest. I just get a heaping spoonful and then adjust as needed.
Stuffed and ready to go into the Egg. You can also make them ahead to this point and then freeze them for later.
These small casserole dishes are a good option for small batches. These were just plain cheese shells, no spinach.
My set up for the Egg was a Kick Ash Basket slightly overfilled with Rockwood Charcoal, a cast-iron plastesetter for my heat deflector, and a Craycort cast-iron grate.
Same set up for this batch.
After 30 minutes, the shells should be cooked through and ready for the cheese topping. The exception would be if you were cooking these from frozen, then it may take 45 minutes before adding the cheese.
You can use different cheeses on top if you like. We often use Mozzarella or a parmesan blend.
Once you top it with cheese, just cook it until the cheese is how you like it - that could be just melted or cooked until the cheese starts to turn golden brown.
Crusty bread on the side is a must, so I put a take-and-bake French loaf on with the shells.
I'm not super-precise on measuring the cheese topping either.
Looking about done. Time to hit it with a little fresh chopped parsley or green onion.
Yum!
Ahhh yes! We typically go with 2 shells per person. They are rather filling.
