Chicken Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Mid-October. Mid-semester is approaching and the reading load is heavier than it was in September — not impossibly heavier, just steadily heavier the way a slowly tightening seatbelt gets steadily tighter. The writing seminar workshop submissions are now full essays of two thousand words instead of fragments and outlines. The American history survey has moved into the post-Reconstruction era, which is dense in a way the antebellum reading wasn’t. Spanish III is now expecting full conversational paragraphs in writing on weekly take-home prompts. Philosophy is trying to teach me Kant. Everybody at TCC is now operating at the same elevated tempo, and I have stopped feeling like an obvious freshman and started feeling like just-a-student.

Dr. Choi pulled me aside after Tuesday morning seminar and asked if I’d be willing to submit a piece to the campus literary magazine’s freshman issue. The magazine is called “The TCC Quarterly” and the freshman issue is a once-a-year publication that exclusively features writing from incoming freshmen, juried by a small editorial board that includes Dr. Choi as the freshman writing seminar director. The deadline is November fifteenth. The submission can be a short essay, a piece of short fiction, or a long-form personal essay; word count between two and six thousand. I said yes immediately. Then I went to the dorm and lay on my bed for twenty minutes thinking about which of my pieces would even be ready by November fifteenth, and decided I would write something new.

Sunday I made chicken ricotta stuffed shells because the dish is exactly the kind of dish I needed to feed myself and Dustin and Priya and the dorm-mates while I was working on the literary-magazine piece for the next three weeks. Stuffed shells assemble Saturday afternoon and bake Sunday with no hands-on time during the Sunday work block. The dish is a labor-on-Saturday, dinner-on-Sunday, leftovers-through-Wednesday casserole that’s the right architecture for a college kitchen during a heavy writing window.

The technique: poach a pound and a half of boneless skinless chicken breasts in seasoned water for twenty minutes at a bare simmer, cool, and shred with two forks into rough strands. While the chicken poaches, cook a twelve-ounce box of jumbo pasta shells (the big stuffable shells, not regular shells) in heavily salted water until al dente — about a minute less than the package directions, because the shells will cook more in the oven. Drain the shells, lay them on a sheet pan in a single layer, drizzle with a little olive oil to keep them from sticking together while you fill them.

The filling: in a large mixing bowl, combine fifteen ounces of full-fat ricotta cheese, the shredded chicken, a ten-ounce package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed completely dry — this step is critical, wet spinach makes wet filling and wet filling makes shells leak during baking), one cup of grated parmesan, one cup of grated mozzarella, two large eggs (the eggs bind the filling), four cloves of garlic minced, two tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley, two tablespoons of fresh chopped basil, salt, pepper, and a half-teaspoon of red-pepper flakes.

The marinara base: simple this time, no fancy moves. Two twenty-eight-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes, one diced onion sweated in olive oil, four cloves of garlic minced, dried oregano, dried basil, salt, pepper, simmered twenty minutes. A pinch of sugar at the end to balance the acidity.

The assembly: spread one and a half cups of marinara across the bottom of a deep nine-by-thirteen baking pan. Stuff each shell with a generous tablespoon of the filling and arrange the stuffed shells filling-up in the pan in tight rows. Twenty shells fit comfortably in a deep nine-by-thirteen with a little room between rows. Pour the remaining marinara generously over and around the shells, making sure every shell has some sauce coverage on top. Sprinkle a generous final layer of mozzarella and parmesan on top.

Cover the pan with foil. Refrigerate overnight. Sunday afternoon, pull the pan from the fridge thirty minutes before baking. Bake at three-fifty covered for thirty minutes (the foil keeps the cheese from over-browning while the inside heats through), then uncovered for fifteen minutes more (so the cheese on top blisters and develops the deep brown spots that signal a properly baked stuffed-shell pan). Rest ten minutes before serving.

I made twenty shells in a deep pan Sunday. Dustin came up at six. Priya joined. Three dorm-mates wandered in. Eight of us ate at the common-room table. The remaining twelve shells went into individual Tupperware containers in the dorm fridge for lunch portions through Wednesday. The literary-magazine essay is now sitting at six hundred words in a Word document on my desktop. I have until November fifteenth to find the rest.

Squeeze the spinach bone-dry. Assemble Saturday. Foil for thirty, uncovered for fifteen. Here’s the build.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 6

Ingredients

20 jumbo pasta shells
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or finely chopped
1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups marinara sauce
Fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish, optional)

Instructions

Cook the shells. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook jumbo pasta shells according to package directions until just al dente, about 9–10 minutes. Drain, rinse with cool water, and lay flat on a baking sheet to prevent sticking. Set aside.
Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 375°F (190°C). Spread 3/4 cup of the marinara sauce evenly across the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Make the filling. In a large bowl, combine the shredded chicken, ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, garlic, Italian seasoning, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
Fill the shells. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the chicken-ricotta mixture into each cooked shell. Arrange filled shells in a single layer in the prepared baking dish, open side up.
Top and cover. Spoon the remaining marinara sauce over the stuffed shells. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella evenly over the top. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake covered. Bake covered for 25 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the shells are heated through.
Uncover and finish. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10–15 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and lightly golden.
Rest and serve. Let the dish rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired. Serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken Ricotta Stuffed Shells