Skillet Lasagna

I love my mother's lasagna. It's one of the few tomato-based Italian meals that I would tolerate growing up. (This means that I would eat the noodles and cheese covered in sauce but the meat was passed on to my lucky parents.) It can be a time consuming process but the flavors blending together is certainly worth it.

Last year I saw this recipe for a non-traditional, broken-pattern lasagna on A Foodie in Utah's blog. It looked really good and I wanted to try it but for one reason or another it didn't make it to our kitchen until this week.

I like that we didn't have to heat the oven and the recipe was easy to follow. The next time I make it I'm going to use my canned tomatoes to give it a little more taste of home. The original recipe calls for "meatloaf mix" which is a blend of beef, pork, and veal but my local grocer didn't have this. If you can't find prepackaged "meatloaf mix" I suggest you do half beef and half pork or take the Foodie's advice and use Italian Sausage. We used ground beef and it was lacking a little.

Skillet Lasagna
America's Test Kitchen
Total Time: 45 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• Salt
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 pound meat ( ½ lb ground beef and ½ lb ground pork – or if you like a little spiciness –use 1 lb Italian sausage)
• 10 curly-edged lasagna noodles (8 ounces), broken into 2-inch lengths
• 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated ( ½ C)
• 8 ounces whole-milk ricotta cheese (about 1 C)
• 1/4 c minced fresh basil

Directions

1. Pour the tomatoes with their juice into a liquid measuring cup. Add enough water to the tomatoes to measure 4 cups.
2. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and ½ tsp salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the meat and cook, breaking up the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the noodle pieces over the meat. Pour the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce over the pasta. Do not stir at this point. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 20 minutes.
5. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in all but 2 Tablespoons of Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dot heaping tablespoons of the ricotta over the noodles. Cover the skillet and let stand off the heat for 5 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with the basil and the extra Parmesan cheese.

This week we also made the America's Test Kitchen Baked Ziti. It was fabulous and I will certainly make it again! Check out their website or check your local listings for their show. It's my Saturday morning favorite.