Stuffed Pasta Shells

This is a slight variation on the shells my dad makes.

Ingredients

• 1 lb frozen spinach
• 1/2 lb mozzarella cheese, grated/shredded
• 1/2 lb ricotta cheese
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp dried basil
• salt and pepper
• one egg, lightly beaten
• 20 large pasta shells
• olive oil
• 3 cups of tomato sauce
  
• grated parmesan cheese, to sprinkle on top (about 1/2 cup?)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Set a pot of water to boil.
Place frozen spinach in a large sauté pan over high heat. Cover with lid and let steam until spinach is un-frozen. You may have to add olive oil if the spinach dries out too much.
When done, remove from heat and let cool.
In the meantime, combine the cheeses, garlic, salt, pepper, and basil. Mix well. Add the egg.
If the spinach is cool enough to not cook the egg, add it in. Mix well again. Set aside.
If the water is boiling by this time, add the shells. BE SURE TO STIR THEM CONSTANTLY. Otherwise they WILL stick to the bottom of the pan and you will have pieces of shells rather than whole shells. Trust me. It gets ugly. Just make sure to stir all the time.
When the shells are slightly underdone, remove them from the water and drain. Set aside.
Distribute 3 cups of the tomato sauce on the bottom of a baking pan (with steep sides, if you can manage). Stuff the shells with the spinach/cheese mixture and lay them in the pan (filled side up, obv.). Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes. Eat.

Thoughts: This was reasonably easy to make and very delicious. Dan recommends seasoning the filling a little more. More pepper, perhaps. He would also suggest using a smooth pasta sauce, whereas the one we used was rougher.

Disaster Index: 1/10