Mushroom and Chicken Stuffed Pasta

Ingredients:

• 25-30 jumbo pasta shells
• 1.5lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1lb bella mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 7oz of shredded 3 cheese blend (Fontina Cheese, Asiago and Parmesan)
• Small bunch of fresh dill
• 1 egg
• 1.5 cups of heavy cream
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste

How to prepare, step-by-step:

1. Prepare ingredients:

   

2. Warm a deep skillet up with a tablespoon of oil, peel and chop onion and fry it over moderate heat until colored, stir from time to time:

   

3. While onions are cooking, clean and chop mushrooms, then when onions are ready, add mushrooms to the skillet:

   

4. Fry onions and mushrooms together, until liquid produced by mushrooms evaporates, continue stirring:

   

5. Then add chopped chicken meat (I use knife to dice it thin, but I suppose chopping it in food processor would work as well):

   

6. Cook everything for about 15 mins, stir from time to time, then season with salt and pepper to taste:

   

7. Cook for 1-2 mins more, then scoop chicken-mushroom-onions mix into a bowl (preserve juices for sauce):

   

8. Bring a pot with water to boil, salt to taste and cook pasta shells until al-dente (follow package instructions if needed, remove the water when ready, rinse and set aside to cool down):

   

9. While pasta is cooking, let’s do the sauce. For that warm up a saucepan over moderate low heat, add about tablespoon of butter and chopped garlic:

   

10. Fry for about 2 minutes (until fragrant), then pour cream in:

    

11. Add juices remained from cooking chicken and mushrooms:

    

12. Season with salt and pepper to taste:

    

13. And about half of the cheese blend:

    

14. Cook until cheese melted, stirring from time to time, then turn the heat off, sauce is ready:

    

15. Now let’s finish up preparing stuffing, chicken and mushroom mix should have cooled down a bit by now. Add remainder of cheese blend to it:

    

16. Add chopped dill:

    

17. Crack an egg in:

    

18. Mix everything:

    

19. Warm up the oven to 350F. Using a spoon stuff each pasta shell with stuffing:

    

20. Pour a bit of sauce at the bottom of the baking pan, then arrange all shells in the pan:

    

21. And pour a bit of cheese sauce into each:

    

22. Cover pan with foil and put to the oven for 30 mins, then remove foil and cook for 15 more, then remove from the oven:

    

23. Serve stuffed pasta shells with sauce on top: