Recipe: Florentine-Stuffed Shells with Italian Sausage

As a new wife, I am trying something new. I never cooked much in the first year we lived together before we were married. I like to cook but we just never really did. Laziness, I guess!

Now that I have all my lovely new kitchenware from our wedding registry, I have decided to pick one new recipe a week out of one of our new cookbooks to prepare. Tonight I made use of our new enameled cast iron Mario Batali Lasagna-Roaster and prepared a recipe from a cookbook I received as a wedding shower gift: Meet Us in the Kitchen

The recipe was for Florentine-Stuffed Shells with Italian Sausage:

After gathering all of the ingredients, I realized I had bought everything EXCEPT for the cream of mushroom soup. So I substituted some Ragu Light Alfredo sauce I had in the cabinet and adjusted the amount of sour cream and mushrooms I put in, but it still came out SOO tasty.

Before:

After:

Next time I think I will use 3/4 of the amount of spinach and add 1/4lb more sausage. Oh, and I will either use spicy sausage or add some red pepper flakes for a little extra oomph!

But it was great!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 pound Italian Sausage

1 medium onion

1 garlic clove (I used two)

1 8 oz can of mushrooms stems & pieces, drained

1 teaspoon basil

salt & pepper to taste

2 10oz packages frozen spinach, cooked, drained

1 10oz can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

10 2/3 oz large pasta shells, cooked

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup 40% cream

Brown the sausage in a large skillet (remove casing if you buy links), stirring until crumbly; drain. Stir in the onion, garlic, mushrooms and basil. Season with salt & pepper. Add the spinach and soup and mix well. Stir in sour cream.

Arrange the pasta shells in a single layer in a baking pan. Stuff the shells with the sausage mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Pour a thin layer of the cream over the top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serves 4 (or more!)

Enjoy!