Sausage Stuffed Shells

Last evening I made gluten-free stuffed shells for the first time. This is one dish my husband has really missed. Probably about six months ago I saw some Tinkyada brand shells at the health food store and quickly picked up two boxes. I was excited to find them, especially since Tinkyada is the brand I always use and enjoy. However, the shells sat in my cabinet for months. I wanted to save them for something special, but what if they didn’t turn out well? Then I couldn’t find my old recipe which my husband loved so much.

Finally, I decided yesterday that I needed to do something with them. I usually make pizza from scratch on Friday nights, but I thought shells would be a nice change and a treat for everyone.

My old recipe used ricotta cheese, which I did not have on hand, and ground beef. I still couldn’t find that recipe so I decided to go with something different. This recipe is very simple, and I was surprised how quickly I put this dish together.

Before giving you the recipe, let me add a note about the shells. I cooked both boxes because some of the shells were broken, and I didn’t know how well the cooked shells would hold up. It turns out I could have gotten by with only one box, but if I were fixing this for company, I would probably want to cook some extra. The shells that were not broken held up well. I cooked them for 18 minutes, a little undercooked, since I was going to bake them. The shells seemed thick, which I guess is necessary to keep them from falling apart, and still slightly undercooked after baking. While they were good, I don’t think they are as good as wheat based shells, but I really can’t remember what those were like.

My recipe was a good basic recipe, but I missed the ricotta cheese. Maybe a better filling would make this dish a great one rather than a good one. My husband was surprised and grateful, and enjoyed his dinner very much.

Yield:

Gluten-Free Sausage Stuffed Shells

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Ingredients

• 1 box Tinkyada grand shells
• 1 pound bulk sausage
• 1/4 cup instant potato flakes (could use GF bread crumbs)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 large egg
• Grated mozzarella cheese
• 1 large jar GF spaghetti sauce

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta shells according to instructions on the package.
2. Brown and drain the sausage, then add the potato flakes, Parmesan and egg.
3. Spread a little of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
4. Stuff the shells with the sausage mixture. (I used 15 shells.)
5. Place the shells in the dish and top each one with some mozzarella cheese.
6. Spoon the remaining spaghetti sauce over top.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.