Greek Stuffed Shells

I love stuffed shells, they are hearty, freeze well, everyone loves them, and they aren’t hard to make. I love lamb and Greek meals so I wanted to combine a spanakopita with stuffed shells and lamb and these are everything I imagined. Creaminess from ricotta and feta, brightness from lemon, tender eggplant, and the spinach that is essential all in one little pasts package. I served these with a salad lightly dressed with oil and lemon and it was so perfect. This recipe makes a pretty big batch so you can have dinner tonight and save another dish in the freezer or give it to someone who could use a dinner!

Greek Stuffed Shells

• 1 pound ground lamb

• 1/2 eggplant, diced

• 1 Tablespoon garlic, minced

• 1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese

• 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled and divided

• zest of 1 lemon

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and liquid squeezed out

• 1 box large shell pasta

• 1 jar tomato sauce

• salt and pepper to taste

• Pine nuts

- Preheat the oven to 400

- Cook the lamb, seasoned with salt and pepper, remove to a bowl when cooked through and browned. Add a little oil to the pan and add the eggplant cubes and sauté until browned and soft. Add in the minced garlic and stir. Add to the same bowl with the lamb.

- To the bowl, combine the ricotta, half of the feta, lemon zest oregano, spinach, salt and pepper. Mix until all combined.

- Bowl the shells according to package instructions and drizzle with oil, cooling on an oiled baking sheet.

- Pour some tomato sauce in the bottom of your baking dish.

- Scoop filling into each shell and place onto the tomato sauce. Once all filled, spoon over the remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle remaining feta along with the pine nuts.

- Bake for 20 minutes and remove. Serve with a salad

This is a fairly straightforward dish, just sear the eggplant, cook the lamb, and add to a bowl with everything else. Boil your shells and drizzle with oil.

Mix up that filling. the lemon brings brightness that is perfect against the rich lamb

Pour a little tomato sauce at the bottom and you are ready to get stuffing!

I like to really stuff them, using a spoon and leveling it at the top.

Place those fatty shells with the open side up.

Drizzle some more tomato sauce on top and sprinkle feta on top

This recipe makes a bug batch so I made one pan for me and one for the neighbors! You can also freeze it at this point or pop into the oven. And that is it, just sprinkle with some toasted pine nuts for a little crunch and you have a beautiful dinner.