Whoo, that’s a long title! And I’ll be honest – this does take a bit of time to prepare. But if you have an extra hour on a Sunday night and want to make a delicious dinner with generous portions that you can eat the whole week through and not stop loving – try these Sausage and Mushroom Stuffed Shells with Pumpkin Sage Béchamel.
I was going to post my take on this recipe, since I made a few changes for my family, but I didn’t take careful note of my measurements. Food blogger fail! So I’m just giving you the recipe I found at A Beautiful Bite. I do want to note that I switched out cottage cheese for ricotta in this recipe, and it worked great. Just buzz it in the food processor for a few seconds and it’s indistinguishable from the pricier ricotta. Also, I ran out of sage and I had to garnish with parsley. In any case, this recipe was a big hit, and it reheats well, so we’ll be seeing this again in our house.
Sausage and Mushroom Stuffed Shells with Pumpkin Sage Béchamel
(Recipe Courtesy of A Beautiful Bite)
Ingredients:
- 1 pound pasta shells, cooked al dente
- 32-ounce ricotta cheese (or use cottage cheese)
- 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ground pepper to taste
- 1 pound Italian sausage (I used sage breakfast sausage)
- 2 large yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 4 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups milk
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
- 6 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated for topping (I skipped this)
Directions:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Cook shells according to directions on box. Drain and let cool.
- While shells are cooking, brown sausage in a large skillet. Remove from skillet and place meat on a paper towel to drain. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the fat to cook the onions in.
- Cook onions in fat over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic and cook for just a minute. Add mushrooms and sage and cook for another four to five minutes. Remove from heat and add cooked sausage. Allow to cool for several minutes.
- Stuff shells with ricotta mixture, then top with sausage mixture. Place shells in a 9×13 baking dish. Set aside while you prepare béchamel sauce.
- In a large heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring, for several minutes. Add milk, pumpkin, yogurt, Parmesan, and ricotta. Cook for a few minutes to thicken. Add sage, salt and pepper.
- Pour béchamel over shells. Top with extra grated Parmesan. Bake at 350*F for forty minutes.
Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana
To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!