- Whoa! (laughs) - Oh! - Go ahead. - No, you go ahead. - Okay. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot. Dang it. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot. Whoo! All right, we're gonna make stuffed shells and this is a winner of a recipe. (upbeat music) (image whooshes) Hey everybody, it's Natasha
from natashaskitchen.com! Today, I'm gonna teach you how to make cheesy stuffed shells. Every time I make this,
my kids get excited. This is a family favorite. It is so easy and I'm hungry. So let's get started. (hands tap)
(bell dings) You'll need 20 uncooked
jumbo, pasta shells and we're gonna cook those according to the package instructions
in some salted water. Once you've added the shells to the pot, give them a quick stir to make
sure they're all submerged. Then stir it a few times while cooking to make
sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pot. Make sure you don't over cook the shells. You want to take them out
when they're al dente. Al dente just means firm to the bite and typically the package instructions on pasta will be for al dente pasta. (upbeat music) Once those are done, you want
to drain off the hot water then fill up the pot with cold water. This will stop the cooking process and keep the pasta shells
from sticking together. Usually while the pastas on the stove, I'll prep our tomato sauce.
(fist thumps) Start by finely chopping a medium onion. Now finely mince three garlic cloves. I find the easiest way
to peel a garlic clove is to first cut off the tough root end, then smash the garlic
with the side of a knife. The peels should slide right off. (upbeat music) Now just finely mince them up and we're gonna take that minced garlic and chopped onion to the stove. Place a deep saute pan, or a Dutch oven, over medium-high heat and add
one tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions and saute those for about three to five minutes, stirring occasionally until
they're softened and golden. (upbeat music) Next, add your minced garlic and season that with
half a teaspoon of salt, a quarter teaspoon of pepper, and a quarter teaspoon of oregano. And I'm just using dried oregano here. And I love that this recipe
calls for simple pantry and refrigerator staples,
which makes dinner easy. Add three cups of marinara sauce. We do have a really good homemade marinara and I will leave a link to
that in the recipe notes. Bring that to a uniform
boil, then continue stirring and simmering for another two minutes. (upbeat music) Now pour all of that marinara sauce into the bottom of a 13x9 casserole dish. You also want to make
sure to preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Set that aside for now and we're gonna quickly put
together the cheese filling for the stuffed pasta shells. In a large mixing bowl, add
15 ounces of ricotta cheese. Now you'll need a total of three cups of shredded mozzarella cheese. Add two cups to the mixing
bowl and set the rest aside. Also add one-third cup of
shredded Parmesan cheese, one large egg, half a teaspoon of salt, a quarter teaspoon of pepper, and we're going to finely chop up and add one-fourth cup of fresh parsley. (upbeat music) The parsley adds freshness
and flavor to the filling and I do like to chop
a little extra to use as garnish for the finished casserole. (upbeat music) Use a spatula to stir all of your filling ingredients together until they are well combined. (upbeat music) All right, that looks perfect. And it's time to stuff those shells. To make this process easy, I'm using a trigger
release ice cream scoop. Fill a regular scoop about halfway and then stuff it into
the drained pasta shells. Make sure you don't overstuff the shells or you'll run out of filling. It should be just enough to fill them up. Arrange the stuffed shells
snugly over the marinara sauce. (upbeat music) Finally sprinkle the top
with that reserved cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. Cover the casserole tightly
with a sheet of aluminum foil then bake in the center
of a preheated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit
for about 30 minutes. When you take off the foil, the sauce should be bubbling at the edges. Once you remove the foil, broil on high heat for
another two to four minutes to lightly brown the cheese. (upbeat music) When it's finished, you'll have a cheesy,
saucy, bubbly casserole. (upbeat music) (Natasha laughs) Oh my goodness. This looks and smells so good. And I cannot wait to dive into this. All right, and I do love to garnish with a little bit of fresh parsley because it adds that pretty pop of color. And we do have parsley in
the recipe so it makes sense. All right, that looks fantastic. You do want to let it rest a little bit because it's gonna be
blazing hot otherwise. So don't do what I do, do as I say. (Natasha laughs) All right, just kidding. You should wait. Don't burn your mouth. Okay, here we go. The taste test. All right, and I love how
saucy and cheesy these are. Oh my goodness, look at that. Look at that cheese pull, irresistible. Oh my. (Natasha laughs) It's still going. There you go. Mm. Yummy yum. No words just, mmm. (Natasha laughs) Oh my goodness. Okay, one more, one more. It's about three per serving. All right, here we go. I'm cutting into one of these. (upbeat music) Yum. And these are still blazing hot. So this is going to be tricky. (upbeat music) Mmm. That filling is super cheesy and creamy. Just delicious. Oh, oh! (Natasha chuckles) Mmm. Mmm. It's hard to believe
this is a meatless dinner because it is so, so satisfying. And you've got all the
best flavors of lasagna except this is so simple. I mean, you don't really
have to layer anything. The sauce is ridiculously
easy and, by the way, make sure you check out our
homemade marinara sauce, which works so well in this dish. Make this once and then
you'll make it over and over. It's sure to become a
new favorite casserole. It's so easy, it reheats really well, and it's just seriously delicious. And we have a taste tester that has been eagerly waiting for lunch. So come on in. He's coming at me with a fork. (Natasha laughs) - I am so hungry. - All right, dig in. It is hot though, so be careful. Oh my, you're going for the whole thing. He's going for the whole thing. (Natasha laughs) You must be hungry. Ooh, cheesy. - Mmm. - What do you think? - It is marvelous. - Marvelous. (Natasha laughs) Straight from the taste tester. You heard it, folks. Marvelous. And it's all the cheese
dreams coming true, huh? - Amen. - Amen.
(Natasha laughs) All right, we are a
family of cheese lovers and we are going to enjoy lunch very much. Thank you so much for watching and we'll see you in our next video. (Natasha chuckles) Okay, let's have lunch. Go grab another plate. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Can't wait. Dad, you want some? Come on.
- [Dad] Yes. - Come on over.
- I'll have like 15.
