www.fitfoodbyal.com: 08/01/2012

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Shrimp & scallop stuffed shells with ricotta and zucchini

This recipe makes 20 small/medium stuffed shells-

I used:

1 box Shells

½ cup Ricotta cheese (I use low fat /skim)

½ pound medium shrimp (use fresh or frozen or any size you want because you will be chopping them up anyway)

½ pound small scallops (again use whatever is on sale , fresh frozen-whatever you have)

1 small yellow onion

1 zucchini

1 jar marinara/spaghetti/tomato sauce

Store bought sprinkle parmesan cheese (or grated )or mozzarella if you prefer

Preheat oven to 350

Boil the shells for about 9-10 mins. –I take them out of the water a bit early to keep some firmness-they will finish cooking in the oven.

Dice yellow onion and zucchini in small pieces.

In a small sauté pan (non stick if you have it) toss in your scallops and shrimp for about 6-8 minutes. My shrimp were already cook from the store so I just cooked up the scallops.

Pull off the stove let cool a bit then chop into small piece (about the size of the onion and zucchini)

In a non stick sauté pan with one table spoon of olive oil(more if you desire) throw in onion and zucchini for about 10 mins. (Add salt and pepper to taste.)Cook until onion is translucent.

In a separate bowl have your ricotta cheese and add the onion and zucchini (you don’t have to let it cool, the warmness will melt the ricotta perfectly)

Add the cooked scallops and shrimp to ricotta, onions and zucchini…I added a little parmesan cheese for flavor as well.

In the bottom of a 13x9 (or whatever you have glass or metal baking pan, place a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan so shells won’t stick.

Scoop mixture (about a tablespoon) into the shells and line the shells in tight rows (4-5 will fit side by side).

Cover the shells with tomato sauce and sprinkle parmesan (or if you are not worried about fat/calories add mozzarella to your liking).

Bake shells for 20-25 minutes until warmed through (when you see it bubble in the dish-it’s probably warmed through perfectly!) If you choose to put mozzarella on the top you may want to cover the shells with foil to have it melt and bubble better. I didn’t use foil and it was fine, I prefer the noodles to get a little crispy on the edges for crunch..:)