Friday, July 8, 2011

He sells sea shells,

Down by the seashore...



I recently found a recipe that I have to admit is Divine. It is something that I will make again and again because the first time around? It tasted like something you would order in an expensive five star restaurant. It was THAT GOOD!  Even my picky teen aged daughter who doesn't think she likes shrimp- ate this and asked for seconds. This was one of the other recipes I had bought the shrimp for.


Kevin's Sea Shells

I read all of the reviews, the way people had tweaked it for their own tastes, decided how I would tweak it for my family's and gave it a try.  I am Soooooo glad I did! The flavors stood alone as well as blending together, complimenting the others beautifully.

Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
  • 36 jumbo pasta shells
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 cups half-and-half cream  (*note here- 16 oz carton = two cups)
  • 1 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese  (*8 oz pkg if buying it pre-shredded/grated)

Directions

  1. Fill a pot with water, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook the shrimp in the simmering water until they turn pink and opaque, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the shrimp, and cut in half; mix the shrimp, sour cream, and Swiss cheese in a bowl.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x12-inch baking dish.
  3. Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the pasta shells, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 13 minutes. Gently remove the shells with a slotted spoon. Stuff 18 shells with about 1 1/2 tablespoon of the shrimp mixture, place them in the prepared baking dish, then cover each stuffed shell with another shell to enclose the filling.
  4. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the mushrooms and green onions until the mushrooms give up their juice, about 3 minutes. Stir in the flour, white wine, salt, pepper, and half-and-half cream. Cook, stirring often, until thickened and smooth. Pour the sauce over the stuffed shells. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese.
  5. Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese has melted and begun to brown and the sauce is bubbling, about 25 minutes.


Alternatives-
I used the frozen cooked shrimp- saved time. Thaw under cold water and cut in half.
Skipped the mushrooms- I just don't like them. Instead I used fresh spinach, rinsed, chopped it up and added it before pouring the sauce on. It gave it some color, another added flavor and is my serving of veggies. Broccoli would work too.
I also skipped putting a shell on top and instead, I loaded them up and made twice as much. There was plenty of 'stuffing' and sauce for all of it.

5 comments:

Sherry Sikstrom said...

sounds delish! Pictures , I had a different idea in my head about the shells , these sound quite large . Guess cannelloni would work too. googled them and found this , yummy!

Shrimp and avocado salad

Cut-N-Jump said...

The shells are actually not that big, surprisingly enough. I bought a box of each just to be sure I would have the right shells. Also there was another recipe where someone else had used the cannelloni shells instead, so I will put that one up as well.

I made this last night and was trying to get pictures. No battery on the cell phone though. I will try to get a pic of what is left. It really is good though! Not just good, but AWESOME GOOD!

Cut-N-Jump said...

Pic's are up and that is half of the 9 X 13 pan I used. You can fit the whole box of shells in there with no room left for the broken shell pieces.

We had it for dinner Sunday night, lunch yesterday, dinner last night and lunch again today to plenty to go around.

Sherry Sikstrom said...

LOoks wonderful!!

Cut-N-Jump said...

Try it and thank me later for sharing. It is really a treat.