Brielle's Avalon

They’re kind of like individual lasagnas. The hardest part is stuffing the shells. The individual shells make it easier to plan out portions. I had to figure out something to do with leftover pork chops when I first wrote this and today I had leftover meatloaf. no idea what made me think of this, but it worked. When I first wrote this I had 2 more leftover pork chops to figure out what to do with and today I have 2 slices of meatloaf to use up…maybe in stroganoff. Or sandwiches. Or chopped up into sloppy Joes. Or…so many options! I’ll just have to wait and see tomorrow but today we’re having this. Yes, I kind of do usually make this stuff up as I go along.

Cut up the stuff to put in the filling. Garlic, an onion, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, that bit of tomato left after you put 1/2 in the salad last night and a slice on today’s salad but the last bit was too large to toss and too small to do anything else with, peas, walnuts, hazelnuts, leftover pork, chicken, beef, meatloaf or whatever’s handy. If you want to sauté the onions, celery, mushrooms and meat (don’t forget to deglaze the pan with wine) before putting the shells on to boil, now would be a good time to do it, then they can be cooling while the shells are cooking.

Fill a large pot with water, salt liberally and set it to boil. When it boils add the package of shells. In about 10 minutes drain them in a colander and set aside until you’re ready to fill them. Tip: under-cooking is better than letting them get over-done. If they’re too soft it’s easy to tear them. Also, if they need a bit more cooking they’ll take up more of the liquid in the spaghetti sauce.

Add the cut up stuff to the 24oz tub of ricotta or cottage cheese, a good handful of grated mozzarella or provolone, about 1/4c to 1/3c grated parmesan cheese and 2 beaten eggs. Add whatever seasonings you feel work (garlic, oregano, parsley, pepper, basil, rosemary are good starts). Mix well and get ready to stuff.

Pour some spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the pan (or both if your bird flies away from the cat and lands in the bigger pan you were expecting to use). Of course you made your own from home-grown ingredients, but if you must go ahead and use a canned or jarred variety, which you always have in the cupboard for emergencies. A can and a half should do, unless you just don’t want yet another leftover in the fridge, then go ahead and dump it all on. If there’s any left in the pan after serving you can always make a pizza for lunch tomorrow. Oh, pay no attention to the chipped and chewed char. Paco used to be a very picky eater and “Don’t eat the furniture!” was frequently heard for some years. Now he’s better behaved.

Gently pull apart any shells that stick together. One by one fill with a spoonful of filling.

Fill the pan/s with the shells, as many as you can fit in. There will always be torn ones and if you don’t use all the shells you can always give them to the chickens or compost them. Do be sure to make it nice and orderly, to the satisfaction of your avian supervisor.

When the pan/s are full pour the rest of the spaghetti sauce over the shells, sprinkle the top with more cheese and maybe some buttered/olive-oiled bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Serve with hearty garlic toast, a nice red wine (or the beverage of your choice) and a nice salad. Make the salads while the pan is in the oven. You’ll want to put the garlic toast in under the broiler when you take the shell pan out. This’ll give it time to settle while you wait for the garlic toast to be done. Setting the table is a good timer for this, don’t let it burn.

Pro tip: If you clean as you go along, between steps, the sink and counter is less intimidating at the end of the process.

Update: Today I asked Andrew “Did you have any plans for those Italian sausages in the fridge” & he said “Nope, I was hoping you’d do some magic” Fast as a flash I was pulling out pans, olive oil, mushrooms, onions, garlic, cheese… and this happened… From question to after-dinner clean-up was 2 hours. Oops, the baked mushrooms were still in the microwave re-warming when I took the picture but they were yummy, too.