Butternut Squash-Stuffed Shells with Guanciale
These butternut squash-stuffed shells with guanciale are the perfect stuffed shells recipe when you want a unique recipe, and are freezer friendly! What more can you ask for?
Servings 12 shells
Ingredients
- 12 pasta shells
- 3 cups butternut squash diced
- 1 cup guanciale cut into strips
- dried nutmeg to taste
- ½ cup mozzarella shredded
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Cook the pasta shells
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Once boiling, salt the pasta water, and add the shells. Cook shells until slightly underdone, remember, they will continue cooking when baked in the oven.
Make the filling
- Cook the gunaciale in a pan starting from cold. Turn the heat to medium, and cook the gunaciale until fat has rendered and gunaciale is crispy (about 10-15 minutes).
- Remove the gunaciale from the pan (but keep the rendered fat in) and set the guanciale aside.
- To the same pan, add the cubed butternut squash. Season with salt and pepper. Add a splash of water and cover the pan with a lid.
- Cook the butternut squash until softened- about 20 minutes. Add more water during cooking if needed.
- With a fork or potato masher, mash the butternut squash in the pan until a puree forms.
- Season the puree with nutmeg.
- Add the gunaciale to the puree and mix. The filling is ready.
Assemble the shells and bake
- Preheat oven to 350F. Fill each of the shells with some of the filling, and be sure to reserve a bit of the filling for the bottom of the baking dish.
- Add the reserved filling to the base of the baking dish.
- Place the shells in the baking dish.
- Top the shells with mozzarella.
- Place the shells in the oven and bake until the mozzarella melts - about 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from oven, plate the shells and enjoy!