Stuffed Shells Recipe

I did not grow up eating stuffed jumbo shells. My Italian mother considered them to be an inferior Italian American substitute for homemade cannelloni. And, indeed, over the years I have encountered many versions supporting her contention: soggy or gummy shells overfilled with gritty supermarket ricotta and doused with heavy, pasty, overseasoned tomato sauce. And yet, the idea of stuffed shells — really good stuffed shells — baked in a pan, bubbling and browned on top, is so comforting that the dish invariably appeals, especially on a cold winter night. My solution was to come up with this wonderful hybrid, which combines my mother’s classic meat and spinach cannelloni stuffing, rich scamorza cheese, and a light tomato sauce.