The following recipe for Tuesday Night Skillet Lasagna are from “The Mediterranean Dish: Simply Dinner” by Suzy Karadsheh, available for purchase on Amazon.
This is not a traditional lasagna like an Italian Nonna might make, but more of a hurried cheater’s version that doesn’t require careful layering or laboring over a homemade sauce made from fresh tomatoes. Still, it is a comforting dish that my girls are always excited about. For good measure, I sneak in small chunks of carrots and bell peppers to cook with my Italian sausage (often, chicken or turkey, but you can use any Italian sausage of your choice). Closer to the end, I nestle in a little whole-milk ricotta to give the dish the hearty creaminess we all expect of lasagna, while still keeping the meal on the lighter side. If you don’t have time for homemade, a store-bought jar of your favorite marinara sauce is just fine (you can find my go-to Busy Mama’s Spaghetti Sauce, included in my first book).
Tuesday Night Skillet Lasagna
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the sausage, red onion, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic. Using a wooden spoon, break up the sausage. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies have softened and the sausage has fully cooked and browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Carefully drain off excess fat (especially if using pork sausage) into a heat-safe container and discard.
- Add the marinara sauce and water to the skillet. Stir in the Italian seasoning and bring the sauce to a boil. Stir in the lasagna noodles and lower the heat to medium. Cover the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, until the noodles are tender.
- Uncover and nestle spoonfuls of the ricotta between the noodles in the pan, then sprinkle with the Parmesan. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Finish with a few torn basil leaves on top (if you like), and serve. Allow the lasagna to fully cool before storing in a tightly closed container in your fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
