Forget your average mac and cheese and “fall” into this mac dish that takes comfort food to an entirely new level. Velvety smooth butternut squash puree gets combined with a cheesy sauce, and coats pasta shells stuffed to the brim with Italian sausage, ricotta, and spinach – because we can! Try mixing it up with different cheeses (Gruyere would be tasty!) if you’d like but I let parmesan, mozzarella, and cream cheese be the star of this show.
Stuffed Shells with Roasted Butternut Squash, Sausage and Spinach
Both cheesy and comforting, this dish goes full fall with seasonal butternut squash and savory Italian sausage.
Servings 0
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 16 oz. butternut squash, cubed
- 1 head of garlic
- Salt and pepper
- 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning, divided
- 1/2 pound of sweet Italian sausage
- 1/4 cup of butter
- 1/4 cup of flour
- 3 cups of milk
- 1 1/2 cups of shredded parmesan, divided
- 1/2 cup of cream cheese
- 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella, divided
- 16 jumbo shell pasta, boiled and draining
- 16 oz. of ricotta
- 1 cup of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 1 egg
- Parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cut the top off of garlic and wrap head in a bit of tin foil. Coat squash squash and garlic in olive oil. Season squash with 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning, and both the squash and garlic with salt and pepper.
- Roast on a parchment lined sheet tray for 30 to 35 minutes until the squash and garlic have starting browning.
- Remove garlic from the bulb and add both garlic and squash to a bowl. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Set aside.
- Brown the sausage in a large skillet. Remove from pan and leave about one tablespoon of grease in the skillet.
- Add butter to skillet and melt. Once melted add flour and cook a minute or so until no raw flour is left.
- Whisk in one cup of milk at a time. Simmer over medium low heat until thickened to a gravy-like consistency.
- Stir in one cup of parmesan cheese, half a cup of cream cheese, and half of the blended squash mixture. Stir until well combined.
- Pour cheese sauce mixture into greased 9 x 13 baking dish.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together ricotta, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, browned sausage, drained spinach, and remaining half of squash mixture. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, and then mix in one egg.
- Fill each shell with one heaping spoonful of ricotta mixture and arrange in rows in baking dish. Top shells with remaining cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for about 30 minutes, or until the top is bubbly and golden brown.
- Let cool slightly before serving. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
