Upside Down Ravioli

From The Past: April 30, 2007

When I watched Paula Deen fix the Northern Italian Pasta Shell Stuffing recipe, I knew I just had to try it. Honestly, I had never seen ravioli shells that big until she introduced them on her TV show.

When I found the shells at Wal-Mart, I was pleased to see the recipe on the back of the Barilla box. I could tell there was something a little different from this recipe and Paula Deen’s, but I figured they were close enough. (Come to find out, Paula Deen’s recipe calls for cream cheese whereas the one we made had garlic, nutmeg, and parmesan cheese. She also used ground beef and we used Italian Sausage. Once you use Italian Sausage, you won’t want to go back to plain ground beef.

Ingredients:

– 8oz. Jumbo Shells

– 1 lb. Italian Sausage

– 2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

– 1 bag (6 oz) Baby Spinach, chopped

– 1 c. finely chopped onion

– 1 garlic clove, minced

– 1 tsp. salt

– 1/4 tsp. Ground Black Pepper

– 1/8 tsp. Nutmeg

– 1 egg

– 1/4 c. Grated Parmesan Cheese

– 1 jar (26 oz.) Ragu Traditional Sauce

Preparation:

– Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

– Cook Jumbo shells according to instructions.

– While cooking pasta, cook Italian Sausage in large skillet over medium/high heat for 4 minutes or until no longer pink, stirring occasionally. Drain grease. Stir in oil, spinach, onion, & garlic. Continue cooking 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; add seasonings and blend well. Let mixture cool. Stir in egg and Parmesan Cheese.

– Pour 1 c. of Ragu sauce into 13×9 inch baking dish.

– Fill Jumbo shells with meat mixture, place in dish. Pour remaining sauce over shells, cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes.

**Make sure your spinach is drained well. Paula Deen even used paper towels to soak up the water. It should be as dry as possible.

Here are the stuffed shells before the pasta sauce was added: