Ravioli Lasagna Is the Weeknight Dinner of My Dreams
In this life, there are a few basic skills that everyone needs. You need to know how to make the perfect cup of coffee, how to turn vegetables into soup, how to pop your popcorn right, how to roast a chicken, and how to bring the best homemade dip to any party. But I must say, there aren’t many guides that will be more essential to your personal growth than a guide to lasagna, everyone’s favorite baked pasta dish. And that's where Anna Hezel's Lasagna: A Baked Pasta Cookbook comes in.
While the book is full of classic lasagna (and lasagna-adjacent) recipes that I've bookmarked for future use, there's one brilliant hack lurking on page 74 that I can't stop thinking about. Even though I love (and frequently crave) lasagna, it isn’t one of those pasta dishes I regularly make for dinner. With all the steps—and all the pots and dishes required—I tend to reserve it for when I’m serving a crowd, or when I’ve carved out a little extra time in my evening to cook something special. But in Lasagna, Anna Hezel and the editors of Taste enlighten us with a variety of game-changing ways to tackle the Italian classic. Among them is super quick, super easy, one-pan Ravioli Skillet Lasagna.
That's right: Your favorite package of frozen ravioli is the key to pulling off toasty, bubbly lasagna in a half hour. Just throw together a sauce in the same ovenproof skillet that you'll use to bake the lasagna, then add your still-frozen ravioli. No boiling required! As the pasta cooks in the sauce, it absorbs the tomato flavor, and the starch from the pasta, in turn, thickens the sauce nicely.
Nine tools, vessels, and ingredients you need to make the ultimate comfort food.
The ricotta filling in each little pasta pillow means you don't have to add a seasoned egg and ricotta mixture. The final touch is a generous layer of cheese. “Once you’ve layered some mozzarella into the mix, it’s just a matter of finishing the whole thing with cheese and giving it a quick 10 minutes until it melts and toasts a little,” Hezel explained to me over email.
Once you get comfortable with the technique, you can sub in a variety of ravioli types. There's nothing wrong with basic cheese, but spinach and mushroom ravioli, or meaty ravioli work well, too. Just keep in mind that since every package of ravioli is different, the time it takes to cook will vary. “Some absorb more liquid than others, and some are saltier than others. Just keep an eye on them while they’re cooking,” notes Hezel. “Taste a ravioli as it cooks to make sure the seasoning balance is good between the pasta and sauce, and add a little more salt and pepper if needed.”
Once it's all baked, this dish is everything you want from lasagna—tender (but not floppy) pasta, creamy ricotta, bright tomato sauce, and gooey mozzarella—but delivered in an easy skillet format. The method “turns lasagna into a fun, quick, spontaneous thing," says Hezel. "You can have a hankering for lasagna as you’re leaving work, and an hour later, you’re eating it.”
See ya in an hour or so?
Speedy Skillet Ravioli Lasagna
Originally Appeared on Epicurious
