D10| Saturday/Sunday, September 7 - 8, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**
Speedy Skillet Ravioli
Lasagna
Thanks to a little help from a pack-
age of frozen ravioli, you can pull a
skillet of toasty, bubbly lasagna from
the oven in little more than half an
hour. For this ingenious one-pan sup-
per, you make a tomato sauce right
in the same skillet you use to bake
the whole thing, and the ravioli—lay-
ered with mozzarella and Parm—
cooks and soaks up the tomato fla-
vor at the same time the starch from
the pasta thickens the sauce.
Total Time 35 minutes Serves 6-8For the tomato sauce:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 large fresh basil sprigs, plus
torn leaves for garnish
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt(^1) / 4 teaspoon freshly ground
black pepper
For the lasagna:
11 / 2 pounds frozen cheese ravioli
8 ounces mozzarella cheese
(preferably fresh), shredded
(2 cups)
Parmesan cheese
1. Make the tomato sauce:Preheat
oven to 450 degrees with a rack in
the center. Heat oil in a large oven-
proof skillet over medium heat until
shimmering, about 2 minutes. Add
garlic and cook, stirring, until soft-
ened but not browned, 1-2 minutes.
Add tomato paste and cook, stirring,
until darkened slightly, 1-2 minutes.
Add red pepper flakes, crushed to-
matoes, basil sprigs, sugar and 1 cup
water. Season with salt and black
pepper, and increase heat slightly to
bring to a boil.
2. Cook the ravioli:Gently separate
any frozen ravioli stuck together
without tearing. (Any that resist will
separate during cooking.) Add ravioli
to skillet and cook over medium
heat, stirring gently, until sauce is
very thick and ravioli are just tender,
about 15 minutes.
3. Assemble the ravioli lasagna:
Spoon half the ravioli and sauce into
a bowl. Arrange ravioli in skillet in
an even layer and sprinkle with half
the mozzarella. Arrange remaining
ravioli on top and sprinkle with Par-
mesan and remaining mozzarella.
4. Bake the ravioli lasagna:Bake un-
til sauce is bubbling and cheese is
lightly browned, 10-12 minutes. Scat-
ter basil leaves on top and let rest
10 minutes before serving.
W
HEN CHEF Mark
Ladner decided to
serve fried lasa-
gna at his New
York restaurant
Pasta Flyer, he knew it would de-
mand a careful dance. His objective:
individual bites that crisped uni-
formly on the outside, “sort of like
the corner of the lasagna,” yet re-
tained all of lasagna’s non-negotia-
bles: visible layers, chewy pasta, a
melty, saucy interior. “You have to
find a balance,” he said.
This dish relies on a delicate sys-
tem of architectural supports—silky
layers of pasta suspended in ele-
gant horizontals by the sheer force
of sauce and soft cheese. Over the
course of writing an entire book
about lasagna, I spent hours won-
dering how far you can push the
boundaries and still call it lasagna.
In the depths of the internet, I
found lasagnas built as tall as bundt
cakes, congealed into eerie rigidity.
I saw lasagna soups that seemed,
confusingly, to celebrate the dish’s
soggiest attributes. And there were
lasagnas with fillings that certainly
wouldn’t be my first choice: refried
beans, watercress, barbecue sauce.
Still, to limit yourself to the
standard red sauce and ricotta is to
miss out on a whole colorful world
of alterna-lasagnas. The best ones
aren’t afraid to shake things up a
little, but they work within the
logic of lasagna. They break rules
as they go in favor of a satisfying
end result.
“My method is unorthodox be-
cause it’s not baked,” said Mr. Lad-
ner of his fried lasagna bites, which
rely on a combination of refrigerat-
ing, freezing and frying. “I weight
it, refrigerate it overnight, and then
cut it while it’s cold before cooking
so that it’s easier to work with.
You’re using the refrigeration pro-
cess to enhance the structure.”
After the chilled lasagna is cut
into dense little cubes, those are fro-
zen and coated in flour several times
to build a barrier guard against hot
oil seeping through to the center of
the lasagna. The result is a heap of
tiny, miraculously free-standing
slices of lasagna that are golden
brown and crackly on the outside,
full of melted ricotta and fruity to-
mato sauce on the inside.
It might seem similarly counter-
intuitive to stack raviolis in a pan
and bake them, but this happens to
produce the quickest, cleverest la-
sagna you will make in your life.
It’s as simple as making a basic to-
mato sauce in a skillet, dumping in
a bag of frozen cheese ravioli
(which stand in for ricotta and la-
sagna noodles) and letting the ravi-
oli simmer until they’re cooked
through. Add a couple layers of
mozzarella, throw it in the oven,
and after 10 minutes you have a
beautiful round lasagna, browned
and bubbly on top.
Even within the parameters of
wide noodles and casserole pans,
there’s a world of experimentation
to pursue once you realize that most
delicious ingredients can be sliced
very thinly or chopped up and mixed
into ricotta. Want to turn spaghetti
carbonara into lasagna? Fold in pan-
cetta and shallots, and drop eggs
into the lasagna, toad-in-the-hole
style, for the last few minutes of
baking. The yolks will stay gooey
and coat the pasta as you eat.
If you’re trying to figure out
whether an ingredient or flavor
combination might work well in la-
sagna form, ask yourself whether
you would be happy to eat it with
pasta. Then ask yourself if it would
be even better after a few extra
minutes in the oven—a little bit
toasted and crispy on top and
around the edges. Steamed mus-
sels? Maybe not. Eggplant parme-
san? Definitely.
BYANNAHEZEL
Within the parameters
of wide noodles and
casserole pans, there’s a
world of experimentation
to pursue.
Infinite Lasagna
These recipes defy the dogma of red sauce and ricotta. Master the
basics and you too can riff endlessly on everyone’s favorite baked pastaEATING & DRINKING
LIGHTNING ROUND This
Speedy Skillet Ravioli
Lasagna makes smart
use of frozen ingredients.Find a recipe for fried lasagna
bites at wsj.com/food.
ËCarbonara Lasagna
Total Time 2 hours
Serves 6-8
This lasagna version of spa-
ghetti carbonara is as deli-
cious with a chilled Lambr-
usco on a Friday night as it
is for breakfast the next
morning with cold brew.For the fresh pasta
sheets:
2 cups all-purpose flour
plus more for rolling
3 large eggs, at room
temperature
1 tablespoon extra-
virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt,
plus more for boiling
For the lasagna:
1 tablespoon unsalted
butter, plus more for
the dish
12 ounces thick-sliced
pancetta, cut into^1 / 4 -
inch dice
2 medium shallots, halved
and thinly sliced
1 pound ricotta cheese
4 ounces Fontina cheese,
shredded (about 1 cup)
2 ounces freshly grated
Parmesan cheese
(about^1 / 2 cup)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
leaves
11 / 2 cups heavy cream(^1) / 2 teaspoon coarse kosher
salt
(^1) / 4 teaspoon freshly
ground black pepper
1 recipe (12 sheets) fresh
pasta sheets, cooked
4 large eggs
1. Make the fresh pasta
sheets:Place flour, eggs,
olive oil and salt in a food
processor and pulse at 1-
second intervals until a
moist dough comes to-
gether in small beads that
resemble couscous. (Don’t
let the dough form a ball.)
2. Turn dough out onto a
work surface and knead
(without adding flour) until
smooth and elastic, 2-3
minutes. (Dough will be al-
most too stiff to knead.)
Wrap dough in plastic and
set aside to rest and soften
at room temperature, 30
minutes-1 hour.3. Arrange several
clean kitchen towels
on a work surface and
dust lightly with flour.
Cut dough into quar-
ters and cover 3 pieces
with a damp towel.
Flatten remaining piece
of dough and dust lightly
with flour. Roll dough
through a pasta ma-
chine, starting on the
lowest (widest) set-
ting. Fold rolled dough
into thirds like a letter,
then roll through again,
feeding open end (where
you can see the fold)
through first. Repeat three
times, then start to roll
dough using thinner set-
tings, folding it and putting
it through the same setting
two times before progress-
ing to the next, thinner set-
ting, flouring dough as
needed to keep it from
sticking. Continue to sec-
ond-to-last setting (#6 on
most machines, or the
thickness of two playing
cards). The rolled sheet
should measure 4-5 inches
wide and 22-24 inches long.
4. Cut rolled sheet into
three 8-inch sheets and
place on floured kitchen
towels. Repeat with re-
maining 3 pieces of dough.
Turn sheets on kitchen
towels occasionally so they
dry slightly. They should be
pliable but a bit leathery.
5. Bring a large pot of
salted water to a boil. Cook
pasta in 2 batches, boiling
just until tender and color
changes from deep to pale
yellow, about 1 minute. Re-
move sheets, drain and
rinse briefly with cold wa-
ter. Arrange sheets on clean
kitchen towels, pressing to
flatten. Use immediately or
keep covered at room tem-
perature up to 1 hour.6. Make the lasagna:Pre-
heat oven to 375 degrees
with a rack in lower third.
Lightly butter an 8-by-11-
inch (2-quart) glass or ce-
ramic baking dish.
7. Make the cheese mixture:
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in
a large skillet over medium-
high heat. Add pancetta
and cook, stirring occasion-
ally, until most fat is ren-
dered and pancetta is
golden, 8-10 minutes. Add
shallots and cook over me-
dium heat, stirring, until
softened, about 5 minutes.
Use a slotted spoon to
transfer shallots and panc-
etta to a bowl. Let cool
slightly, then stir in ricotta,
Fontina and Parmesan.8. Infuse the cream: Pour
off fat and return skillet
to medium-high heat. Stir
in thyme, then cream,
scraping up browned bits
from pan. Bring just to a
simmer and season with
salt and pepper. Remove
from heat.
9. Assemble the lasagna:
Cut noodles to fit dish and
arrange a layer of two in
bottom, overlapping
slightly. Dollop with a quar-
ter of cheese mixture and
top with another layer of
noodles. Repeat three more
times with remaining filling
and noodles, ending with a
layer of noodles (you will
have several leftover). Pour
infused cream over lasagna.
Shake dish gently to dis-
tribute. Press with a spat-
ula to compact slightly.10. Bake lasagna until
golden, about 40 minutes.
Crack eggs into individual
bowls. Press a 2-inch round
cookie cutter into lasagna,
going about halfway down.
Remove top layers of lasa-
gna to create a well. Repeat
to create three more wells.
Gently drop 1 egg in each
and return lasagna to oven.
Cover with foil and bake
until egg whites just set,
5-7 minutes more. Let rest
15 minutes before serving.
—Recipes adapted from
“Lasagna” by Anna Hezel
(Clarkson Potter).
NOODLE AROUND
Yes, you can have
carbonara in lasagna
form—for breakfast.
DYLAN JAMES HO + JENI AFUSO; ISTOCK (THYME)