Simple Skillet Lasagna

I love lasagna, but it’s not something I make often.  It can be time consuming, depending on the recipe, and unless I have a large chunk of time to play around with in the kitchen (which doesn’t happen often), it’s just not on my recipe radar.

This version, however, changed all of that.

This Skillet Lasagna is so good that two days later, I’m still thinking about how good it was.  The more I ate, the more I enjoyed it, and I can safely say that THIS lasagna will be making multiple appearances at our dinner table.  It’s simple, perfect, delicious comfort food, and just the right thing as the air starts to crisp up and the leaves begin to turn.

To begin, I chopped up an onion, minced some garlic, grabbed some lasagna noodles, and poured a large can of diced tomatoes into a large measuring cup.

 This dish doesn’t require any of that typical lasagna layering.  The noodles cook right in the skillet, so to ensure there will be enough liquid, I added enough water to that measuring cup to reach the four-cup mark.

Then, I started cooking.  First, I sautéed the onions in a little bit of olive oil until they were softened.  Then, I added in the garlic and a good sprinkle of red pepper flakes.  I cooked that until it was fragrant, and then added in a pound of meatloaf mix.

Meatloaf Mix is a combination of ground beef, pork, and veal.  You could substitute straight ground beef, or even lighten things up with ground turkey or chicken.  The Meatloaf Mix was pretty tasty, though!

While I was cooking the meat, Avery got to work breaking those lasagna noodles into two-inch pieces for me.

I browned the meat with the onions and garlic, and then pushed the meat to one side, tilted the pan, and spooned off the grease.

I spread the meat back out into the pan and placed the noodle pieces on top of the meat.

Then, I poured in my diced tomatoes with water, a can of tomato sauce, and a tablespoon of Italian seasoning.

I put the lid on my pan and turned up the heat a bit until the liquid was simmering.  Then, I reduced the heat to medium-low and let the lasagna bubble away to cook those noodles. I stirred it every five minutes, just to move the noodles around, and then popped the lid back on tight.  After about twenty minutes, my noodles were cooked, and my sauce had thickened nicely.

I removed the dish from the heat and stirred in a hefty sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, some salt and pepper.

The Parmesan helped finish that sauce beautifully.  Then, I dolloped heaping tablespoons of creamy ricotta onto the top of the dish, and put the lid back on to let the ricotta warm up a bit.  I let it rest for about five minutes, before sprinkling it with chopped fresh basil.

Doesn’t that look good?  It was.  It was SO good. And really, just so easy to make.  It is definitely a new favorite around here. The sauce and meat were seasoned perfectly, the noodles cooked perfectly al dente, and the creamy ricotta and fresh basil finished it off beautifully.  It’s really, really tasty and tasted like a lot more work should have gone into it.

Thankfully, not a whole lot of work did go into it.  Weeknight lasagna is back, people! Woo hoo!

SIMPLE SKILLET LASAGNA

Adapted from a recipe found here…