The Best Ever Stuffed Shells

First let’s get the spaghetti sauce going. Heat up about two tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat and add half of a minced onion. Cook until translucent and add about 3 cloves of your minced garlic and cook for about a minute more. Next add your wine and let cook until about half of the moisture is evaporated. To this add your crushed tomatoes and your diced tomatoes. Add the bay leaves, Italian seasoning, oregano, garlic salt, sugar, and chopped basil to the sauce. Stir, cover and put on the back burner to let simmer while you prepare the rest of your meal.

Next in another skillet cook the other half of the minced onion and 3 cloves of garlic and then add the ground beef and cook until the beef is cooked thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste. Once your meat mixture is cooked through, turn down heat to low and add your ricotta cheese, spinach and one cup of the parmesan cheese. Mix well and set to the side to cool before adding the beaten eggs. At this point you can go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a large pot, parboil the pasta shells for half the time listed on the box . . . just get them al dente. Don’t forget to generously salt your water before adding the shells. Once finished, drain and rinse the shells with cool water to stop the cooking process.

For the white sauce, start by melting your butter in a sauce pan. To this add your flour and chicken bouillon granules and stir on medium heat. Slowly whisk in your cream and continuously whisk until thickened. Take off heat and add the parsley.

To assemble, start off by layering half of your spaghetti sauce onto the bottom of your casserole dish. Next stuff your shells with your cheese mixture and place them on top of the spaghetti sauce. With a ladle take your white sauce and evenly pour over your shells. After this take the remaining spaghetti sauce and gently distribute over the top of the white sauce- try not to mix the two together.

Cover and bake for about 30-40 minutes, then remove foil and top with remaining parmesan cheese and cook until the cheese is melted. Take out and enjoy!!