Easy Ravioli Lasagna

Using filled fresh ravioli instead of lasagna noodles, this easy ravioli lasagna is flavored with hot Italian sausage, spinach and a rich tomato sauce. 

It’s the first Wednesday of the month so that means it’s time for my Foodie Extravaganza friends to share recipes for another obscure food holiday! March 21st is National Ravioli Day and the remit from our host said: You can make your own, use store-bought, or even ravioli components.

Well, you know I love to make and eat fresh ravioli but this month I just didn’t have the time so store-bought it would be. I usually have a pack or two of fresh filled pasta in my freezer because it’s such an easy meal on a busy day. This dish does take a bit longer than just throwing the ravioli in some boiling water, but I promise, it’s worth it. And as with most lasagna recipes, it’s even better as leftovers the next day. 

My other ravioli recipes you might like: 

• Lemon ricotta lobster ravioli
• Cheesy artichoke ravioli casserole
• Spinach and cheese ravioli

Easy Ravioli Lasagna

My recipe is adapted from one on the BBC Good Food website. You can substitute your favorite fresh ravioli for the ricotta and spinach ones I used. If you can’t get Italian sausage meat, just buy Italian sausage and squeeze the meat out of the casing before frying it as in the instructions. 

Ingredients

Olive oil, for frying and greasing casserole dish

1 lb or 450g hot Italian sausage meat

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Italian seasonings

2 (14.5 oz or 411g) cans diced tomatoes (I like the Hunt’s petite dice, no salt added)

10 oz or 283g baby spinach, stems removed

20 oz or 567g spinach & ricotta ravioli (or any flavor you like)

8 oz or 225g grated mozzarella

Method

Heat a drizzle of oil in a pan. Fry the sausage meat until browned, using a wooden spoon to break it up. Add in the garlic and Italian spices. 

Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. 

Add the tomatoes and half a can of water. Give it a stir.

Bring to a boil then simmer for about 30 minutes, covered. Stir occasionally. If you have more time, it will never hurt to leave it simmering for as long as you can. Just check back and add a little water if it looks like it’s getting dry. 

Meanwhile, put the spinach in a colander. Pour over boiled water from the kettle to wilt. 

Leave to cool, then squeeze out as much of the excess water as you can.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a medium-sized casserole dish by greasing the bottom and sides with a little oil.

Spoon one third of the sauce into the prepared pan. (I measured my sauce and it was just a titch over 5 cups so one third is 1 2/3 cups. 

Top with about one third of the ravioli.

Then a third of the spinach.

Finally, sprinkle one third of the cheese. Repeat the layers twice, making sure the final layer of ravioli is nestled into the sauce. 

Bake for 35-40 minutes in your preheated oven until the sides are bubbling and it is hot all the way through. Cover if the top starts to get too dark before the lasagna is done. 

Remove from the oven and rest for a few minutes before serving. Extra points if you serve it with a nice Chianti. 

Enjoy! 

Check out all the lovely ravioli recipes my Foodie Extravaganza friends are sharing today! Which one will you make on March 21st for National Ravioli Day? 

Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories. 

• Easy Ravioli Lasagna from Food Lust People Love
• Garden Greens-Stuffed Ravioli from Culinary Cam
• Gluten Free Gnudi (Naked Ravioli) In Butter Garlic Sauce from Sneha’s Recipe
• Homemade Spinach and Cheese Ravioli with Tomato Sauce from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Seafood Ravioli from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Toasted Ravioli from Palatable Pastime

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

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Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

Way back in June of this year, my fellow Sunday FunDay bloggers and I were sharing burger recipes and I was particularly intrigued by the pepperoni pizza burger my friend Wendy made. She stuffed the actual burger patty with pepperoni and mozzarella then added pizza sauce as a condiment. She topped it with cooked onions, green peppers and mushrooms. Doesn’t that sound delicious? You can find her original recipe here: Wendy’s Stuffed Pizza Burgers.

For my meatball version, I seasoned the ground beef with Italian seasonings and added anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes to the mix, then stuffed them with pepperoni and little fresh mozzarella balls called ciliegine. So good, guys! Perfect as an appetizer for your New Year’s Eve party.

Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

My package of ground beef happened to weigh 1.66 lbs, which I know is a random weight. If yours is a little bigger or just a bit smaller, it won’t matter. Honestly. 

Ingredients

1.66 lbs or 753.96 80/20 ground beef

2 cloves garlic

1/4 medium onion

6 anchovies in oil, drained

1 egg

freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Italian herb mix 

fine sea salt, if necessary

1 1/2 oz or 42g sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil)

Pepperoni

12-13 ciliegine mozzarella balls

Optional for garnish: small and/or sliced basil leaves

Method

Blend the garlic, onion, anchovies and egg until smooth. (I use a hand blender.) 

Put the beef in a large mixing bowl and give it a few generous grinds of the black pepper and sprinkle on the Italian herb mix.  

Use a wooden spoon or your clean hands to mix the blended ingredients thoroughly into the beef along with the seasonings.

Fry a heaped teaspoon of the meat mixture in a small pan and taste for salt. Add a little, if needed. We’ve been trying to watch our salt intake so if I’ve added something salty like anchovies, this is a good way to see if the meat really needs more salt. 

Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes with a sharp knife or a small food processor and mix them in with beef. 

Use a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop to divide the meat into portions. Use your clean hands to divide the portions into two and make a well in each. 

Tuck a slice of pepperoni and one ciliegine mozzarella ball between the halves.

Roll them into a meatball. Place on a baking tray and continue the process until all the meatballs are formed. Chill until ready to bake. 

To bake the meatballs, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. 

Bake the meatballs for 22-28 minutes or until they are well-browned and cooked through. 

Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Garnish with basil, if desired. 

These can be served immediately as an appetizer or simmered in your favorite spaghetti sauce to serve with pasta. See mine here with my eggplant Parmigiana recipe. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for New Year’s Eve. People have different traditions so I was interested to see what my fellow bloggers came up with. In my family, we usually just do appetizers, no big meal. Check out all the lovely dishes below! Happy New Year, everyone! 

• ABC Dip (Artichokes, Brie and Crab) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Crispy Pimento Cheese Cups from Palatable Pastime
• Ham and Brie Crostini with Jam from Making Miracles
• Neapolitan Cake from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs from Food Lust People Love
• Trollkrem - Norwegian Lingonberry Dessert from Pandemonium Noshery
• Wine Fruit Cake Sneha’s Recipe

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Homemade Muffuletta

This homemade muffuletta is my take on a popular New Orleans favorite, made with fresh olive salad, mortadella, mozzarella, salami, ham and provolone.

When I was a child, a road trip to New Orleans to visit my relatives was a huge treat. My Aunt Karen was the loveliest of ladies, an excellent cook (she of pecan pie fame) and also a great tour guide. She made sure we enjoyed all the best that New Orleans had to offer each time we visited. 

Of course, that meant a day in the French Quarter, first enjoying the powdered sugar covered beignets for breakfast at the Café Du Monde and occasionally picking up muffuletta from Central Grocery for lunch. That little Italian grocery store/deli is chock full of color and flavor. If you ever get to New Orleans, don’t miss paying it a visit. (If we didn't get muffuletta, fried shrimp po'boys were another fave, but that's a post for another day.)

Since traveling is still out of the question for most of us these days, you could make my homemade muffuletta and pretend you've been to New Orleans. (Make a New Orleans Bloody Mary to enjoy while you assemble the sandwich.) I did wrap these up and take them on a picnic, which is why my bread is cut in half already, to make it easier to transport. When you buy your muffuletta at Central Grocery, it is going to be big and round! 

Of course, an Italian grocery store is going to use an Italian loaf to make this sandwich. I like to switch things up and a pretty decorative loaf like this Khobz Mzaweq.  I also make my own olive salad but you can use store bought. If so, make sure it’s made in New Orleans or it just won’t taste right. 

Homemade Muffuletta

Despite the fact that I love baking bread, I don’t think it’s the best part of a sandwich. I reserve that space for the fillings. In the case of this homemade muffuletta, buy your meats and cheeses in the deli section where you can ask the person behind the counter to slice everything lovely and thin. Then pile them high!

Ingredients

10 in or 25cm round bread loaf

1 cup or 240ml olive salad (store-bought or homemade)

8 oz or 226g Mortadella, thinly sliced 

6 oz or 226g ham, thinly sliced

4 oz or 170g Genoa salami, thinly sliced 

4 oz or 170g sliced mozzarella, thinly sliced 

4 oz or 170g Provolone, thinly sliced 

Method

Cut your loaf in half through the equator. (As mentioned above, I also cut mine in half the other way so it would be easier to wrap and transport.) Spread the olive salad evenly on the inside of the bread.

Top with half of the mortadella. 

Follow that with the mozzarella and salami

 Add the provolone and the ham. 

Finally, add the rest of the mortadella. This sandwich is not for the faint hearted! 

Close the sandwich and wrap snugly in cling film. Refrigerate until ready to cut and serve. 

Cut into wedges to serve with a nice Italian chianti or a cold beer. The olive on the pick isn't necessary to hold the sandwich together but it looks cute. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and this week we are sharing sandwiches. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Bombay Chapatti Sandwich by Sneha's Recipe
• Chicken Bacon Pressed Picnic Sandwiches by Making Miracles
• Club Sandwich by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Falafel Pita Sandwich by Mayuri's Jikoni
• French Dip Sandwich au Jus (Slow Cooker) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Grilled Kielbasa Sandwiches by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Homemade Muffuletta by Food Lust People
• Is it, Or Isn't It, a Sandwich? by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Submarine Bites with Sub Sauce by Palatable Pastime
• Zucchini and Carrot Vegetable Sandwich by Cook with Renu

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Torta di Rigatoni

Torta di Rigatoni is a showpiece pasta dish with simple, delicious ingredients including a rich meaty Bolognese sauce and flavorful farmer’s cheese.

I’ve adapted this recipe from one I read in delicious.uk magazine summer before last. I could have sworn I wrote down which issue I’ve found it in so I could share but I’ve found it online for you now so it’s all good. It’s one of Gennaro Contaldo’s from his cookbook, Gennaro’s Pasta Perfecto. 

In its original form, it’s vegetarian, made with a simple tomato sauce and cubes of mozzarella for the cheese, no meat involved. That would certainly have been easier but I'm always up for a challenge. 

Years ago, as Jamie Oliver was first starting out, Gennaro was one of his mentors when they worked together at Carluccio's, so I’ve come across his wonderful Italian recipes many times over my years of adoring Jamie. 

This may be one of my favorites with or without my adaptation of a meat sauce.

Torta di Rigatoni

For this dish I used a fresh milk farmer’s cheese because I love the flavor and richness, something like a dry, slightly saltier ricotta. Also it crumbles so nicely, the better to push it into the rigatoni. You could also use a milder grated cheese or cubed mozzarella, like in the original recipe, if you prefer. 

Ingredients

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for the pan

1 lb or 450g ground beef

3 cloves garlic

1/2 yellow onion

1 can (14.5oz or 411g) diced tomatoes

1 can (6oz or 170g) tomato paste

3 sprigs fresh oregano, plus extra minced leaves for garnish

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon baking soda

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

For the torta:

about 10 oz or 340g rigatoni

14.5oz or 411g fresh farmer’s cheese, crumbled

To serve:

Grated Parmesan

Method

In a large Dutch oven over a medium high heat, brown the ground beef in the olive oil, crumbling it into the smallest bits possible with a wooden spoon, as you do. 

Meanwhile, mince the garlic and onion. 

When the beef is nicely browned, even crunchy in places, turn the heat down and add in the garlic and onions. Cook until they are soft and translucent. 

Add in the canned tomatoes with any juice and another whole can of water. 

Stir in the tomato paste. Tuck the oregano and bay leaf into the sauce. 

Bring to the boil, then lower the heat. Simmer the sauce, covered, for about 30 minutes or until the diced tomatoes have fallen apart completely. 

Discard the bay leaf and the oregano stems. Stir in the baking soda. This helps neutralize some of the acid in the tomatoes, making the sauce a bit sweeter. Season to your liking with the salt and pepper. Set the sauce aside to cool.

I transferred mine to a bowl so I can use the same Dutch oven to boil the rigatoni. A quick rinse is good enough before boiling water. Because who wants to wash another pot?

To see about how much rigatoni you need to boil, line your springform pan (mine is 9 inch or 23cm in diameter) with foil that goes up beyond the sides and brush the inside with olive oil. I also like to add a circle of baking parchment to the bottom to guarantee I can remove the torta from the pan nicely. 

Now set one side of the pan on a cutting board or folded towel and fill it a little more than halfway with raw rigatoni noodles standing up. 

Cook these noodles according to package instruction in salted water till almost al dente. They need to be firm enough to still stand on their own still.

Drain the rigatoni and rinse with cool water. Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. 

Cover the bottom of your lined pan with a couple of spoons of the sauce.

Tip the pan at slight angle and start stacking the drained, cooled rigatoni so that the ends will face up when the pan is level. 

Continue until the pan is completely full. If you have a couple of cooked rigatoni leftover, just eat ‘em. 

Crumble the farmer’s cheese with a fork. 

Push some of the crumbled cheese into the rigatoni with your clean fingers.

Then spoon over some of the sauce. 

Repeat this filling and saucing until half of your cheese is used and about two-thirds of the sauce.

Pour the remainder of the sauce over the tops of the rigatoni. 

Lift the sides of the foil and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese. 

Bake your torta di rigatoni in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and bubbly. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes. Gently run a knife or spatula around the outside of the torta to loosen it from the foil. 

Open the spring form pan and transfer the whole foil package to a cutting board. Remove the foil and put the torta on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the minced oregano.

 Cut into wedges to serve with some freshly grated Parmesan.

Enjoy!

This month my Foodie Extravaganza friends are sharing noodle dishes in celebration of National Noodle Month! Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. Check out the other recipes below: 

• Instant Noodles Egg Masala by Sneha's Recipe
• Linguine with Salmon and Cilantro Pesto by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Penang Char Kway Teow (Malaysian Noodles with Crab and Sausage) by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Sesame Ginger Noodles by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells by Making Miracles
• Thai Coconut Curry Noodles by Magical Ingredients
• Torta di Rigatoni by Food Lust People Love
• Tsuivan (Mongolian Noodles with Meat and Vegetables) by Tara's Multicultural Table

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

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Quattro Stagioni Sourdough Pizza #BreadBakers

Artichokes, tomato sauce, basil, mushrooms, ham and olives represent all four seasons in this Quattro Stagioni Sourdough Pizza, with fresh mozzarella.

 

Over the years, we’ve enjoyed pizza in a lot of locations but our favorites are always thin flavorful crusts, baked in coal fired brick pizza ovens. Most of these were in Italian restaurants purporting to make authentic Neapolitan-style pizza. Unfortunately, that enviable crust is hard to recreate at home in a normal oven. 

I was intrigued by a recipe I read recently in Super Sourdough (<Amazon affiliate link) by James Morton. where he actually cooks the pizza in a super hot cast iron skillet on the stovetop, then pops it in the oven under the broiler to melt the cheese and finish it off. I couldn't wait to see if it was the crust of my dreams. 

Spoiler alert: It was! OMG. It was so good with amazing flavor and a wonderful crunchy chewiness. 

Artichokes represent spring, tomatoes and basil represent summer, mushrooms represent autumn and the ham or olives represent winter. We love both ham and olives so I refused to choose just one. It is winter right now after all so that’s how I justify emphasizing it with two ingredients. 

Quattro Stagioni Sourdough Pizza

It’s best to make your dough at least 24 hours before you plan to make pizza. This gives the sourdough starter plenty of time to work and for flavor to develop in the dough. The topping ingredients below are what are typical for a four seasons or quattro stagioni pizza. I’ve shared the amounts I used in parentheses as a guideline, but I know some people love their pizzas heaped with toppings and others prefer a sparser pie. You do you. 

Ingredients

For 3 dinner plate-sized pizzas:

3 1/4 cups or 413g strong white flour plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

9 fl oz or 266ml tepid water

1/2 cup or 120g fed sourdough starter

plenty of cornmeal or semolina, for dusting 

1 cup or 240ml of your favorite pizza sauce or make mine with the ingredients below. This makes 1 2/3 cups so you’ll have some leftover for other projects.

For the sauce:

3 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon good olive oil

1 can (14.5oz or 411g) petite diced tomatoes, no salt added 

1 tablespoon tomato paste 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

sea salt to taste

For the quattro stagioni toppings:

canned artichoke hearts, drained and quartered (8 1/2 oz or 240g)

oil cured black olives (20 – about 2 oz or 60g)

fresh mushrooms (6 oz or 170g)

thin sliced smoked ham (7 oz or 200g)

fresh buffalo mozzarella balls (2 – 4 oz each)

For serving:

handful fresh basil leaves (I like to use the tiny ones that grow at the top of the stems. 

drizzle olive oil

crushed red pepper

Method

In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Add the tepid water and the sourdough starter. 

Use a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk to combine everything into a wet and sticky dough. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or cling film and then leave it at room temperature for 6-8 hours.

Stretch it and fold it over several times during the rising time to develop the gluten. 

After the 6-8 hours, cover it again and put it in the refrigerator. James Morton says it can be left in the fridge for 3-4 days but it’s best used between 24 and 48 hours. 

Meanwhile, if you are making your own sauce, mince your garlic and place it in a small pot with the olive oil. Cook it gently, being careful not the let it color or, god forbid, burn. 

Pour the canned tomatoes in along with the tomato paste. 

Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the baking soda and stir well. It will bubble up as the baking soda reacts with and neutralizes some of the natural acid in the tomatoes. Taste the sauce and add a little fine sea salt, if needed. Remove the sauce from the stove and leave to cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the pizzas. 

Next we’ll prep the toppings. Drain and quarter the canned artichoke hearts. Smash the olives with the broad side of a knife and discard the pits. 

Clean the mushrooms and cut off any hard stems. Slice the mushrooms. 

When you are ready to bake pizza, divide the dough into three equal pieces. My dough weighed 786g so each of the small pieces weighed 262g. If you don’t have a scale, just eyeball it but if you bake a lot, you’ll find an electronic scale very useful, I promise.

Preheat your broiler (grill) as hot as it goes with the oven door closed or as close to closed as possible, and then start heating a large cast-iron skillet on your stovetop.

I have a pizza peel but if you don’t, use a flat pan without sides (turn a pan over and use the back if you don’t have one without sides) and cover it liberally with cornmeal. Add one of dough balls and use your hands, and extra cornmeal, to stretch the dough into something resembling a roundish pizza crust. 

Add the tomato sauce and then the toppings. Artichokes in one quarter. 

Mushrooms and olives in two other quarters and finally, tear the ham into big bits and drape them in the fourth quarter. Jiggle the pizza peel or pan occasionally to see if the pizza can still move. If not, lift the sides and add more cornmeal till it shifts freely.

Carefully slide the pizza into your screaming hot cast iron skillet. My first pizza tried to fold under on one side so it turned out kind of a wonky shape but it still tasted delicious so who cares, right? 

Cook the pizza on the stovetop for a minute or two, checking the bottom of the crust occasionally by lifting it up. You want brown and crusty, even a little scorching in places but not burnt.

Use your clean hands to tear off pieces of the mozzarella and place them about on the pizza. Turn the stove off. 

Using thick oven mitts, transfer the iron skillet to the oven and place it under the preheated broiler (grill.) Close the oven as much as possible and cook the pizza for a few minutes or until the mozzarella is melted and the top of the pizza is browning. 

Remove the skillet from the oven and slide the pizza on a serving plate and hand it to the first lucky recipient. 

Let them add some fresh basil leaves, a drizzle of good olive oil and some crushed red pepper, as desired, while you get on with cooking the other two pizzas, following the previous instructions again. 

As James Morton says, “It takes the sacrifice of one person to make the family’s pizza, but it’s so worth it. Between each pizza, get your surface back on the stove to heat up to frightening levels again before you slide your next pizza on top.”

Of course, if you have more than one cast iron skillet big enough, you can get this job done much more quickly than I did! 

Enjoy! 

This month my Bread Bakers are all sharing pizza recipes. Check out the list of beauties below! Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories. 

• Aglio e Olio Pizza from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Barley Flour Vegetarian Pizza from Cook with Renu
• Breakfast Biscuit Pizza from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Deep Dish Hawaiian Pizza from Making Miracles
• Dessert Apple Pizza from Magical Ingredients
• Grilled Fruit Pizza from A Messy Kitchen
• Individual Deep Dish Pizzas from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Jerk Chicken Sausage Pizza from Passion Kneaded
• Langallo (Hungarian Pizza) from Palatable Pastime
• No-Knead Thin Crust Margherita Pizza from Sneha's Recipe
• Pizza Empenadas from Ambrosia
• Quattro Stagioni Sourdough Pizza from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Pizza from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Valentine's Hearts from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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