blue artichoke

Though unable to blog about them, I've been keeping up with my projects. This Wandering Gullet meal was prepared, eaten and written about several weeks ago.

Navy Protein was in town for our traditional Sunday Wandering Gullet meal. For as long as I’ve known him NP has been a notoriously picky eater, which posed a problem when picking out this week’s country and meal. I do know that he likes the stuffed shells from our favorite Italian restaurant in Tennessee, so I picked Italy and made spinach stuffed shells. Most Italian pasta recipes are fatty and caloric, so I picked one that provided opportunities for lightening. Here’s the lightened version:

Spinach Stuffed Shells

¼ c. butter
¼ c. flour
2-½ c. skim milk
½ t. salt
2 t. tomato paste
8 oz. jumbo pasta shells*
2 (10 oz.) pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 c. fat-free cottage cheese
¾ c. Italian-style breadcrumbs
½ t. garlic powder
¼ c. grated Parmesan cheese

In a small saucepan, melt butter. Add flour; cook and stir over low heat until smooth. Gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir until thickened and smooth, ~5 minutes. Add salt and tomato paste; mix well with a wire whisk; set aside.

Cook shells according to directions; rinse with cold water and drain well.

Squeeze out as much liquid from spinach as possible; place in a bowl. Add cottage cheese, breadcrumbs and garlic powder; mix well.

Stuff heaping teaspoon of spinach mixture into each shell. Preheat oven to 350. Spoon 1/3 of reserved sauce over the stuffed shells. Repeat ending with sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Cover and bake until hot, ~30 minutes.

Serves 6.

*If desired, substitute 12 oz. lasagna strips for the pasta shells. Cook according to pkg directions; drain and cut in halves. Spoon 1T. of spinach mixture in each strip’ roll up. Arrange in baking pan with sauce and cheese following preceding directions, placing rolls seam-side down. Bake as directed.

It was… OK. The original recipe called for only one (10 oz.) box of frozen spinach, which is what I used, and the shells had very little spinach flavor. If I make this again, I’ll double the spinach (already doubled in recipe above). This definitely doesn’t taste as good as what you’d get in a nice Italian restaurant, but that’s because I cut out most of the fat. For a healthier Italian meal, though, it’s pretty good, and will be improved by doubling the spinach. I served it with additional sautéed spinach with mushrooms and garlic bread.

Getting to Know All About You: What’s your favorite Italian dish?