On Friday, I shared my "before" dinner of Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells and this is the "after" ... or rather, just be for we gobbled it all up. I'm not sure if it was the chill in the air or two weeks of lots of baked pasta dishes in Presto Pasta Night Roundups. Probably a bit of both, plus the fact that my daughter, her husband and the two delicious little boys were coming back from Mexico late Thursday night and I didn't know what the plan was for Friday, but I figured she'd be too tired to cook. The wonderful thing about baked pasta is that you can prepare it beforehand.
Originally I planned on making manicotti or canneloni - my version, using lasagna sheets cut into squares, stuffing placed in the center, rolled and put seam side down in a baking dish layered with some tomato sauce. Once I hit the grocery store, I was a big box - the last one in fact, of Italpasta's Jumbo Shells and I couldn't resist. One - they're so cute, Two - I hardly ever see them, and Three - they're easy to stuff.
There's a lovely cheesy recipe on the back of the box, but I can never leave well enough alone and this time was no different. So...instead of mozzarella I used Provolone and then I added things...nice things...things that made me smile as I went about this....fresh basil, chopped, spinach, nutmeg. Next time, who knows what will make me smile.
And that's my question to you...What ingredients do you add to a basic recipe to make you smile?
Don't forget to share your pasta delights with Presto Pasta Night. This week, Chaya The Comfy Cook is hosting. Just send her your entry here - chayathecomfycook (at)yahoo (dot) com and cc me ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com
5 comments:
I think if there is some feta cheese or some pesto handy I will add it to almost anything Ruth!!See you at PPN.
That looks good Ruth. My favourite is spinach and feta with a spicy tomato sauce.
This looks so wonderful and perfect for the cool evenings we are having lately!
It's great to see fresh, creative ideas that have never been done before.
I generally try to add whatever is crying out to be used up, if at all possible. I like your adaptation, sounds really good.
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