Pesto & Alfredo Seafood Stuffed Shells
This blog post contains affiliate links. If you decide to purchase, I do get a small portion of the sale. As always, I would not promote something I haven’t tried and love!
I’m not a huge fan of going out to restaurants on holidays. They are usually packed, have set menus, and overall just not my vibe. I’d much rather cook at home where I can enjoy the food and actually have conversations without yelling over the table beside me. Lol, can you tell I’ve had bad experiences. Anyways, who needs to go out to eat when you can make these INCREDIBLE seafood stuffed shells at home?! You guys I am telling you, these are insane. One thing I hate is dry shells, so I made sure to add lotttts of sauce. Also, every time I go out to Italian I struggle between deciding if I want Alfredo or pesto… and since I was in charge of this recipe I chose both.
Fish Fixe was kind enough to send me their shrimp and scallops for this recipe, and they are incredible! I love the concept of Fish Fixe, and of course it’s awesome to support a woman owned business. Having the seafood show up right at my door step was such a game changer. It arrives frozen and they offer simple steps to thaw, prep, and cook your seafood. They have so many delicious options, including crab cakes & salmon cakes. Click here to find out more and use code LESLIE15 for $15 off your first order!
Homemade Alfredo - I think homemade Alfredo is crucial for this recipe. Of course you can use a jar, but homemade is just sooo good, and truly so simple to make! I swear it’s worth taking the few extra steps to make the recipe taste 10x better.
Homemade spinach pesto sauce - Again, you can totally buy pesto, but my homemade version is just soo good. I love the flavor of this pesto and because it’s made using fresh ingredients I think it takes the whole dish up a notch.
Seafood & Scallops - The star of the show! I have always loved seafood pasta dishes. My go to is usually shrimp with a white wine sauce and angel hair pasta, but I knew if I was making something for Valentine’s Day it had to be extra special.
Jumbo Pasta Shells - You gotta get the jumbo shells for this recipe, they are loaded up with the goods!
Ricotta + mozzarella cheese - Okay I know there’s already Alfredo in this recipe… but you can’t have a stuffed pasta without having ricotta and mozzarella.
Pesto & Alfredo Seafood Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 tsp dried parsley
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 2 handfuls spinach
- 1 cup packed fresh parsley
- 1 cup packed fresh basil
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- Dash of salt and pepper
- Juice of half of a lemon
- 12 oz. shrimp
- 12 oz. scallops
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 16 oz. ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 16 jumbo pasta shells
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- For the Alfredo, add the butter and cream to a small sauce pan. Simmer over low heat for 2 minutes. Whisk in the garlic, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper for one minute. Whisk in the parmesan cheese until melted. Set aside for later use.
- For the pesto, place all ingredients in a food processor. Mix until smooth. Set aside for later use.
- Boil pasta according to package instructions. Drain, rinse with cool water, and drizzle with olive oil so it doesn't stick. Set aside for later use.
- For the shrimp and scallops, place them on a cutting board and gently pat dry with a paper towel. Cut the shrimp into thirds and the scallops into quarters.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add shrimp and scallops + dash of salt and pepper to skillet. Let cook for 3 minutes. Stir and let cook 3 more minutes. Remove from heat and drain any liquid.
- Add ricotta and egg to a large bowl. Mix together until egg is completely mixed in. Stir in mozzarella, shrimp and scallops, and pesto.
- Pour 1/2 of Alfredo mix in bottom of casserole dish and spread out. Stuff each shell with the seafood and ricotta mixture and place in dish. Pour the rest of the Alfredo sauce on top and spread out.
- Cover casserole dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes. Enjoy!