Skillet Lasagna

Page 51

Cuisine: Italian | Course Type: Main Courses

(2 reviews)

View photos (3)

Tags: pasta Italian lasagna skillet dinner

Recipe Review

This was my first near-failure with this cookbook, though I should admit up front that I made a number of substitutions that likely affected my results. I know, Chris Kimball would NOT approve!

My two main complaints were the soupiness of the lasagna (i.e. its failure to properly thicken), and an overall lack of flavor complexity. The first of these is probably my fault - I used very lean ground beef (7% fat) rather than the meatloaf mix, and I'm guessing that the fat would have promoted thickening. Probably even more significant, I added 8 oz. of fresh mushrooms to the initial saute, and I know they released a good amount of water. I should have cut the added water proportionately.

Substitutions that I made and was happy with: I didn't have any lasagna noodles so used farfalle (bow ties) instead. I made an even layer of the raw noodles at the stage where the recipe has one add the broken lasagna noodles. This worked very well - the noodles were tender and perfectly cooked at the end of the 20 minute baking period. Also for lack of ricotta, I used cottage cheese that I'd slightly pureed with a stick blender. The warm melty cottage cheese was a yummy enhancement to the top of the lasagna, and just as good as ricotta would have been for me.

Lastly, I think the dish needed some spices! As called for in the recipe, I used plain diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. If I make this again, I will either add some Italian seasoning or use seasoned tomatoes.

Over all not a terrific success, but I may try it again some day. It was awfully easy.

Update: I'm adding a star to my review, because the leftovers of this dish were actually quite delicious. I think full incorporation of the cheese topping helped with thickening the sauce, and the flavor also improved with a little "aging".

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Comments

foodiewife - 5th November 2012
I didn't read your comment, before making this, but I felt the original recipe was also lacking in flavor. I tweaked this quite a bit, and it turned out great. I'll be blogging this recipe in a week, or so.

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