# Stuffed Shells with Smoked Ricotta Cheese



## fire it up (Apr 11, 2010)

Came across an idea while Googling a few days back and from that some smoked ricotta cheese was born!

Took some ricotta I had, placed it in some cheesecloth and placed inside a strainer over a pan with a light weight on top to push out some moisture and set in the fridge for 12 hours, 12 hours to overnight works.






When the 12 hours were up I removed it from the fridge and spread out over a pan that had some holes in it and smoked over oak at 250, would have done at 200 but I had a few other things on.





It has a great mellow smokiness throughout and would be great in a dessert!
Into a bowl to cool.

To go with it I threw together a smoky sauce.
Got ready to throw some tomatoes and a sweet onion in the smoker


Almost forgot the garlic!!!


Smoked for 1 1/2 hours at 250


I sauteed some smoked and regular onion with olive oil then added the garlic.
Added smoked tomatoes, oregano, salt, pepper, little sugar, bay leaf and a little tomato paste, simmered for about 4 hours was late or I would have done 6-8) then cooled overnight.


Next day I made a mixture of the ricotta, some cottage cheese, parsley, salt, pepper, parm, 1 egg and 2 yolks, stuffed some shells I had boiled, spread sauce in the bottom of the pan then shells and topped with mozz and a 5 blend Ital cheese, I wish I had some smoked mozz but I ran out and haven't gotten around to making any more yet.



Baked at 350, 20 minutes covered and 10 more uncovered.
While the shells were in the oven I made a mixture of butter, minced garlic, oregano, parsley and some crushed red pepper.  Spread on some Italian bread and threw into the smoker with a little oak and hickory at 375 for about 5 minutes.



Shells coming out



They were were delicious, the sauce had a great smoky flavor.  Cheese in the shells definitely could have used more as it was pretty light and almost got lost with the addition of other ingredients but was still tasty.  The next day when I reheated them the smoke in the filling came through much more.
I think next up will be eggplant rollatini


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## polishmeat (Apr 11, 2010)

two words, HOLY CRAP
Man those look outstanding!!!


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## meateater (Apr 11, 2010)

I should know better than to log on here when I'm hungry. Thats a awesome looking dish.


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## ronp (Apr 11, 2010)

Nice job man. Yumm.


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## miamirick (Apr 11, 2010)

allright, i was real happy five minutes ago sitting here eating a pulled pork sandwich and some baked beans 







gotta give some points


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## rcullison (Apr 11, 2010)

looks great. nice step by step pics


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## chisoxjim (Apr 11, 2010)

yep...  simply brilliant,  as always.


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## cheapchalee (Apr 11, 2010)

Absoulty gorgeous, great qview. Got to wipe the drool off the keyboard. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Charlie


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## buck futta (Apr 11, 2010)

I will surely have to give this a try! Been thinking about smoking some cheese but I think I'll have a tough time smoking any hard cheeses unless I can get my temps below 175 so this sounds perfect. 

Looks great!


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## northern greenhorn (Apr 11, 2010)

I love stuffed shells, and what a great idea, smoking the ricotta


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## ak1 (Apr 12, 2010)

Wow!!!! Looks fantastic.


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## kaiser (Apr 12, 2010)

wow that looks good


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## treegje (Apr 12, 2010)

Wow excellent job that had to be good


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## cruizer (Apr 12, 2010)

Looks great! Love the idea will be on the to do list. Thanx


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## roller (Apr 13, 2010)

Thats what I`m talking about !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## ribsaretasty (Apr 13, 2010)

Awesome job and thanks for sharing!!


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## caveman (Apr 13, 2010)

That was an excellent & fabulous job there buddy!!


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## lowandslowbbq (Apr 14, 2010)

*






WoW* those look awesome, I'm definetly going to try it.


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## smokin relaxin steve (Apr 14, 2010)

those look damn good!


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## mama's smoke (Apr 14, 2010)

I am so humbled in your presence.  This looks fabulous.


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## jak757 (Apr 14, 2010)

Wells bells, those are some tasty looking stuffed shells!

The smoked ricotta looks, and sounds wonderful.  I really like the one photo -- it looks like a lovely smoked pillow of smoky cheese.

Outstanding Qview -- thanks for sharing!


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