Yesterday I made a plan to cook a few new recipes this week since the rains were coming and I would be semi stuck indoors or at least not feel guilty about staying in. Although the plan was to start the cooking today I got a head start yesterday with the following recipes. Pumpkin Ricotta Stuffed Shells, Roasted Garlic Potato soup and Pecan Pie. They both had a mild flavor and were good but next time I will make a few changes to see if I can improve them further.
I have made stuffed shells many time before but not in years so the only thing that was new was the addition of the pumpkin. I had a leftover can of pumpkin puree from Thanksgiving so I thought I would give this a try. It was good but the sauce I used was rather bland. It was Sprouts Tomato and Mushroom pasta sauce. Next time I want more flavor and a touch of sweet by adding pinch- 1/4 t. nutmeg, 1/3 t. dry ground ginger, 1/4 t cinnamon, 1 T. maple syrup and 1/2 C. Gruyere. I was expecting more of a butternut squash ravioli flavor. Original recipe came from Country Living magazine, Oct 2011, pg. 124. The recipe below is mine with a variation listed to make it the Pumpkin filled shells.
RICOTTA FILLED JUMBO SHELLS
12 oz. pkg. jumbo shells
2 ½ C. (15 oz. or 1.3 lb.) low fat or fat free ricotta cheese
2 C. (8 oz.) mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ C. Parmesan cheese, grated
1 T. dried parsley
1 egg
2 cloves garlic, minced
When you make this roast two heads of garlic (one without the bay leaf) and use that to spread directly on bread slices. It is better than butter but still rich and creamy.
ROASTED GARLIC POTATO PUREE
1 lg. head garlic, roasted
Drizzle of EVOO
1 bay leaf
¼ loaf sour dough baguette, sliced, cubed
Drizzle of EVOO
Sprinkle of Kosher salt
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 ½ lb. red potatoes, peeled and cubed
¾ t. Kosher salt
½ t. white pepper
1 bay leaf
3 C. chicken broth
2 C. water
Preheat oven to 400°F. Slice off top of garlic head. Remove some of the paper from the top head and lay it along with the bulb on a piece of heavy duty foil. Drizzle with oil and add a bay leaf. Crinkle foil over top of garlic. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour. Let cool and squeeze out garlic.
Meanwhile chop onions, carrot and peal and cube potatoes. In a medium heavy duty pot over medium high heat drizzle EVOO in pan and add vegetables. Saute till onions are soft, 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining ingredients. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes or till potatoes are tender. Remove bay leaf. Add roasted garlic, simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and puree with an emulsion blender or regular blender.
Slice and cube bread, drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with Kosher salt. When garlic is done add croutons and bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside. To serve top soup with croutons.
Lastly I tried making s Pecan Pie for the first time. This pie has been on my list for awhile now. I had always assumed I didn't like it because of the way the gel filling looked then I thought about it and realized it was pecans and sugar and I love them both. I had difficulty getting it to set so I kept adding time until it did so I need to confirm the amount of baking time the next time I cook it. I didn’t have dark syrup so I used light. Original recipe came from the Rachael Ray show from Zooey Deschanel’s mom.
PECAN PIE
1 Pie crust
Filling:
1 C. light Karo Syrup
3 eggs, beaten
2 T. butter, melted
1 T. flour
⅛ t. Kosher salt
¾ C. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
2-2 ½ C. pecan halves, enough to fill crust
Topping:
2 T. molasses, drizzled over top
Preheat 425°F. Make pie crust, remove frozen crust from freezer or mold refrigerator crust into pie plate. Prick crust with fork. In a small bowl melt butter in microwave. In a large bowl mix filling ingredients including butter. Stir till combined. Fill the crust with pecans, pour filling over top and drizzle with molasses. Bake 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 350°F and continue to cook 40-60 minutes or until pie is set in the middle or center reaches 200°F.
½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
1 (26 oz.) jar spaghetti sauce
Prepare pasta as directed on package, cooking 9 minutes; drain. Rinse with cold water. Meanwhile, mix together ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour a thin layer of sauce on bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Shake pan side to side twice to distribute sauce on bottom. Fill cooked shells with cheese mixture. Arrange filled shells in single layer in pan. Pour remaining sauce over shells.Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until hot. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese, if desired. Makes 8-10 servings (3-4 shells per serving).
Note: A box contains more than 24 shells so you could cook less if you only want one pan but some do tear when cooking so it is best to do a few more than the number you plan on stuffing.
Variations:
- Spinach Stuffing: Add 10 oz. package of chopped spinach to ricotta.
- Pumpkin Stuffing: Omit parsley, mozzarella cheese and use ¾ C Parmesan. Add 15 oz. can pumpkin puree, 1 C. fresh basil, 1 T. fresh sage (10-15 leaves), ½ t. salt and ½ t. coarse black pepper. Pour all the sauce on bottom of pan vs over top of shells.
- If you are making shells to freeze or to use up the box of shells use 4 C. (32 oz.) ricotta cheese, add another egg and if baking them all 7 oz. more of sauce. You will have enough shells to fill your 9x13 inch pan and an 8x8 inch pan. The 9x13 inch pan fits 24 shells (4 long, 6 across) but it is a squeeze across. You can freeze the shells without the sauce in a pan or individually and store in a zip top bag once frozen. If frozen in pan, do not bake pan directly out of freezer, it could crack.
Reheat: Put frozen shells in an 8x8 pan. Cover with 1 jar of spaghetti sauce. Cover with foil. Bake 60 minutes.
The Roasted Garlic puree was silky smooth and comforting on a cold winter day. The carrots gave it a golden color and the croutons that needed crunch. This time I misread the recipe and used coarse black pepper. The white pepper may not make much of a difference in flavor but next time I'll give it a try. If the flavor is the same, since I don't mind that it has the black specs in it and I may not always have white pepper on hand, I'll change it to coarse black pepper. When you make this roast two heads of garlic (one without the bay leaf) and use that to spread directly on bread slices. It is better than butter but still rich and creamy.
ROASTED GARLIC POTATO PUREE
1 lg. head garlic, roasted
Drizzle of EVOO
1 bay leaf
¼ loaf sour dough baguette, sliced, cubed
Drizzle of EVOO
Sprinkle of Kosher salt
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 ½ lb. red potatoes, peeled and cubed
¾ t. Kosher salt
½ t. white pepper
1 bay leaf
3 C. chicken broth
2 C. water
Preheat oven to 400°F. Slice off top of garlic head. Remove some of the paper from the top head and lay it along with the bulb on a piece of heavy duty foil. Drizzle with oil and add a bay leaf. Crinkle foil over top of garlic. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour. Let cool and squeeze out garlic.
Meanwhile chop onions, carrot and peal and cube potatoes. In a medium heavy duty pot over medium high heat drizzle EVOO in pan and add vegetables. Saute till onions are soft, 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining ingredients. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes or till potatoes are tender. Remove bay leaf. Add roasted garlic, simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and puree with an emulsion blender or regular blender.
Slice and cube bread, drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with Kosher salt. When garlic is done add croutons and bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside. To serve top soup with croutons.
Lastly I tried making s Pecan Pie for the first time. This pie has been on my list for awhile now. I had always assumed I didn't like it because of the way the gel filling looked then I thought about it and realized it was pecans and sugar and I love them both. I had difficulty getting it to set so I kept adding time until it did so I need to confirm the amount of baking time the next time I cook it. I didn’t have dark syrup so I used light. Original recipe came from the Rachael Ray show from Zooey Deschanel’s mom.
PECAN PIE
1 Pie crust
Filling:
1 C. light Karo Syrup
3 eggs, beaten
2 T. butter, melted
1 T. flour
⅛ t. Kosher salt
¾ C. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
2-2 ½ C. pecan halves, enough to fill crust
Topping:
2 T. molasses, drizzled over top
Preheat 425°F. Make pie crust, remove frozen crust from freezer or mold refrigerator crust into pie plate. Prick crust with fork. In a small bowl melt butter in microwave. In a large bowl mix filling ingredients including butter. Stir till combined. Fill the crust with pecans, pour filling over top and drizzle with molasses. Bake 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 350°F and continue to cook 40-60 minutes or until pie is set in the middle or center reaches 200°F.
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