What’s the Greatest Weeknight Lasagna Hack within the ‘Garfield’ Cookbook?

Garfield famously loves lasagna — a lot in order that Garfield… Recipes with Cattitude!, a 2013 Gooseberry Patch cookbook devotes a chapter to recipes for simply lasagna, pasta, and pizza. Trying previous the truth that cats don’t actually eat lasagna, that is the factor that’s by no means added up: Lasagna can also be famously numerous work — I might know, since I lately put myself by the paces testing internet-famous lasagna recipes — and Garfield’s human proprietor Jon, longtime bachelor that he’s, isn’t recognized for being a very good prepare dinner. There’s no means Jon is making all these lasagnas himself; he’d need one thing simpler (or one thing frozen).

To that finish, the Garfield cookbook affords just a few ideas for methods to simplify lasagna, ought to you have got a Garfield-level lasagna craving however Jon-level chops. They’re simple, budget-friendly methods that anybody can prepare dinner, even when they don’t understand that, for instance, Thanksgiving turkeys want greater than three hours earlier than the large meal to thaw. I put three of those recipes to the check, every minimize right down to about two servings, to determine the perfect Jon-friendly approach to riff on lasagna, after which I went Garfield mode scarfing all of them down. The outcomes have been a lot better than I anticipated.

Emergency Lasagna

“Emergency lasagna” requires neither chopping nor boiling. Right here’s the thought: In a baking pan, I layered spaghetti sauce, adopted by a layer of raw refrigerated cheese ravioli, a sprinkle of thawed frozen spinach, a layer of shredded mozzarella, and some extra spoonfuls of sauce. Then I repeated the method, ending with a layer of cheese. I lined this “lasagna” with foil, baked it for about 20 minutes, after which baked it for an additional 10 minutes uncovered to brown the highest, identical to an everyday lasagna. To simplify it even additional, I baked mine within the air fryer.

In principle, this concept is type of genius: A ravioli is basically a self-contained layer of lasagna. Extremely simple and fast, this strategy is certainly pleasant to the emergency lasagna craving — you can make this at midnight with the munchies with hardly any loud sounds or dishes within the sink to upset your roommates (or stir hungry cats). That being stated, this recipe nonetheless leaves one thing to be desired. I discovered that the ravioli, as soon as layered, ended up just a little thick and gummy, and I needed extra creaminess than the ricotta filling might present, even with the melted cheese between the layers.

Did it fill the lasagna craving? Not fairly; I used to be fairly conscious I used to be consuming ravioli. Nonetheless, it’s exhausting to argue with the convenience (and the enjoyable of stacking ravioli like Jenga), so should you’re an individual who already tends to purchase ravioli and sauce, you may take pleasure in this easy approach to swap them up. A observe: As with actual lasagna, I discovered the leftovers barely higher. (The same recipe might be discovered on Two Peas & Their Pod — simply add spinach.)

Bachelor-Fashion Skillet Lasagna

Effort-wise, this “bachelor-style” recipe is as simple because the emergency lasagna. (What’s extra work to you: thawing and draining spinach, or browning floor beef?) In a single pan, I browned half a pound of floor meat, then added a can of broth and half a can of diced tomatoes. Into this liquid, I threw in a handful, or a few cup, of raw rotini. I lined it and let it prepare dinner for about 12 minutes, after which stirred in shredded mozzarella. Lastly, topped with grated parm, it’s “lasagna.”

I’m all the time skeptical of actually one-pot pasta recipes since I’ve made “skillet lasagna” earlier than, albeit with lasagna sheets, with unhappy outcomes, together with par cooked noodles and moist, unemulsified sauce. Nonetheless, I used to be happy to seek out that this recipe labored, and that if something, the noodles ended up barely on the mushy aspect. As an entire, it was a really satisfying pasta dish.

Nonetheless, to make use of the identical metric of success as with the emergency lasagna recipe: I’m undecided this is able to fulfill a lasagna craving. The cheese actually turns into one with the sauce, which didn’t give me that cheese-pull high quality I am going to lasagna for, and if I’m nitpicking, the sauce is on the skinny aspect for what I need in lasagna. So whereas this technique was fairly good, I discovered it higher suited to a Hamburger Serving to craving than a lasagna craving. (The same recipe might be discovered on The Nation Prepare dinner; to maintain it as simple because the Garfield recipe, skip the diced onions and garlic.)

Bow-Tie Lasagna

The strain was on: This was probably the most concerned, dish-intensive of the Garfield cookbook’s lasagna hacks. I first cooked my bow-tie noodles (a handful, or a few cup). Then I browned the remainder of my pound of floor meat with a chopped onion and stirred in a jar of pizza sauce, adopted by my cooked noodles and a small container of cottage cheese. I added this to a baking dish, topped all of it with shredded mozzarella, and baked it uncovered till the highest was browned. (Once more, I did it within the air fryer.) Would these additional steps and extra dishes be price it?

The Garfield cookbook had set my expectations fairly excessive. To my nice shock, these lasagna hacks have been, in reality, good. This recipe, nevertheless, was the easiest. Because the noodles prepare dinner fully on their very own, it’s simpler than with the opposite recipes to make sure an ideal texture. The pizza sauce is good and thick. The cottage cheese provides you that creamy dairy that you simply’d anticipate from the ricotta or bechamel in correct lasagna. In the meantime, the mozzarella layer on the high provides you that crispy, lasagna-like crust.

Sure, I’m blissful to say that this recipe happy like lasagna. That realization impressed a short existential pondering: Why trouble with the time and expense of big-project lasagna when these bachelor-esque approximations get shut sufficient? For a crowd or anybody I’d wish to impress, I’d do the previous, certain. But when I have been cooking for simply myself and immediately needed lasagna, it’s bow-tie lasagna all the way in which. (The same recipe might be discovered on Gooseberry Patch, which revealed the Garfield cookbook; simply swap in pizza sauce for the diced tomatoes, water, and tomato paste.)

The Winner: Bow-Tie Lasagna

I broke from the bachelor strategy of my earlier recipe assessments and gave my associate a giant spoonful. He agreed with my evaluation and — to my shock — even deemed the bow-tie lasagna hack as simply pretty much as good as a few of the correct lasagnas I’ve examined prior to now. It’s actually higher than frozen.