Ravioli Lasagna

My Dad emailed my brother and I to say that he was going to be in town one night for dinner. We agreed that we would all meet at my place, since it was a weeknight and our arrival times would be staggered because of work. Sounded good to me.

Not sure what to make, I googled “What should I make for dinner?”

Up popped a multiple choice quiz, like the kind I used to fill out in Seventeen magazine except that instead of answering questions about boys and makeup, I answered questions about how many people would be over, how many of them would be kids, how long I wanted to spend cleaning up, how well-stocked my kitchen is, and how picky my guests would be.

After all that, the top recommended dish was Ravioli Lasagna. That seemed to be exactly what I was looking for – easy to pre-make, fancy yet easy, having both protein and carbs, and Italian. I didn’t know from the outset what I was looking for, but once I saw it, I knew this was it.

Start off with teeny tiny zucchini. Seems wrong to buy these when a decent garden would produce 10,000 of these. But I don’t have a garden, so I bought them.

Slice them up.

Put them in a skillet with some oil and sauté them. I seasoned them with salt and pepper. Odd that the recipe didn’t say to do that, but they did need some flavor.

Next, take some thawed frozen meatballs and slice them up. I used Wegman’s turkey meatballs to be a little healthier.

Lots of them!

Then I thawed some of my own homemade meatballs that I had in the freezer and sliced those, too. See, I’m so used to cooking for two people that the idea of cooking for five made me think I needed to double the recipe that I was using.

Pour some spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a big casserole dish. This was Wegman’s Grandpa’s Sauce, which hubby is a huge fan of. It has Italian sausage and roasted red pepper and wine and a bit of fairy dust, as well.

Spread some of the meatballs in the pan. I think I was intending to do three layers at this point, though the recipe technically only suggests two.

Then I put zucchini on top of the meatballs.

Followed by frozen cheese ravioli. Didn’t bother to thaw them, didn’t see the point. Just frozen bricks at this point.

Then grated mozzarella cheese. And that’s the first layer!

More sauce…

More meatballs…

More ravioli and zucchini

And more sauce and cheese.

Then the pan was pretty full, so I stopped there.

I covered it with foil and stuck it in the fridge to be cooked later. See, I had had a really rough day. Long story short, I was pulled over because my emissions had expired in MD and I hadn’t put my brand new NY plates on the car yet. Rather than writing me a ticket and letting me go to my job interview, the cop impounded my car and left me stranded at a gas station. Lovely day. It all worked out in the end, since I had all the valid paperwork I needed, but it was a rough day. So I was happy to be done with dinner super early and free to drink wine with my dad when he got here. Wine never tasted so good.

About an hour before I wanted to serve food, I put the ravioli lasagna in the oven (still covered with foil) and baked it for about 40 minutes. Then I removed the foil and let it cook for a while longer. Then it was done. Cheesy, bubbly, and warm.

Just what the doctor ordered.

My niece really liked it.

And my camera.

And posing for the camera.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach. It looked so good that I really loaded up my plate.

It may have been more complicated than it needed to be. I probably could have just dumped the whole meatballs in a casserole dish, covered with the ravioli, mixed them up, smothered them in sauce and cheese, and called it a day. But I have to say that I liked the layered effect, and sometimes I think that putting in a little extra effort makes it taste better. Anyway, it was a lot easier than my normal lasagna, which involves making the meat sauce from scratch and boiling noodles and using three kinds of cheese and making a huge mess.

Easy, yummy, and good reheated: that’s a winner in my book.

Ravioli with Arugula, Tomatoes, and Pancetta

Do you ever cook something that was so good, yet so easy, that you wanted to make it again? Like, the next day? That doesn’t usually happen to me because by the time I’m done with all the leftovers, I’m tired of it. This dish, though, had me wanting more.

I can’t claim credit for finding this one. When hubby and I were home in NY for Christmas one year, my friend Ashly had us over and made it for us. See, here she is.

If you’ve never had a Sicilian make you dinner, you should. Just saying. They know what they’re doing.

I can’t quite remember when this dinner was, but I know it was before she got married, before hubby and I were married, and before she and her boyfriend (now husband) bought the house that they live in now. So it’s been a while, though probably not as long as that description makes it sound. To be honest, my memories of that night are of catching up after being apart for a while, drinking too much wine, giggling, and probably driving our boys crazy. They were good sports, though. I think they talked about cars. Anyway, I remember 1,000,000,000,000 Christmas lights, because that’s how they do Christmas in their house, and the warm purple sweater with ruffles that I was wearing, and the fact that Diana Krall was playing on the stereo. I remember helping Ashly in the kitchen and watching as she did everything, but I honestly don’t remember the meal that much.

Apparently I’m feeling nostalgic today. Can you blame me? Hubby and I are moving back to NY in a few weeks. It’s been six years and I’m ready to go home. Maybe that’s why my mind is wandering in that direction.

Anyway, hubby and I were having company over for dinner and I wanted something that would be relatively easy, yet fancy. Something Italian but less labor-intensive than my lasagna or stuffed shells, and something that was just plain delicious. So I dug out the recipe that Ashly had given me.

First, here was my uber-easy appetizer. Sliced French bread dipped in seasoned oil. Nom nom nom.

And the next course (which I served at the same time as the entrée), was my cranberry and almond spinach salad with poppyseed dressing.

And now for the meal.

First step: boil some frozen ravioli.

My sole experience with pancetta was with this meal. I vaguely remembered that it looked like ham and I almost just bought ham when I had trouble finding pancetta at the grocery store. Luckily I didn’t, instead asking the people at the deli, and this is what I got.

Definitely not ham! More like bacon. I tasted it, and it was salty and flavorful.

First step is just to sauté it in a pan, then let it drain on paper towels. This is apparently the only picture I took of the process. But they got nice and crispy, and there was plenty of oil in the pan.

Next, take a can of diced tomatoes.

Sauté the tomatoes with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. The recipe didn’t say whether you should drain the pan of all the fat from the pancetta, but I did.

Next up, chop some fresh basil.

After the tomatoes have cooked for about 2 minutes, add the basil and a few cups of fresh arugula. Cook it until it’s wilted.

You’re supposed to add in a bit of butter at this point, but I forgot. Whoops.

Okay, your ravioli should be done about now. Drain them.

And then toss with the tomato/ arugula mixture and also the pancetta.

Serve it up with a pinch of fresh Parmesan cheese and some garlic toast, and you’re good to go.

So wonderful. I loved this. I want to make it again. It doesn’t take longer to make than just boiling the ravioli, and it is so worth the effort. The pancetta spiced things up, making it fancy and flavorful.

Delicious. Really.