Thursday, February 18, 2010

Baked Ravioli

I love ravioli; in fact it's what I'll often order to kind of 'test' a new Italian restaurant. This recipe uses store-bought ravioli, but a homemade sauce. I reduced the recipe by about 1/2, so the picture shows it baked in a large loaf pan; a full recipe should go into a casserole dish.

Baked Ravioli
2 Tbls olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
salt & pepper
1 tsp dried thyme or oregano
1 28 oz can crushed/diced tomatoes
1 lb store-bought ravioli
1/2 C shredded mozzarella
1/2 C grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 425°.
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, salt & pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened (5 min). Add thyme and/or oregano and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, breaking up tomatoes until sauce is thickened and reduced; 20-25 minutes. (I scooped about half of this tomato-onion mixture and blended it in my Magic Bullet so it was really saucey, but still with some good tomato and onion chunks.)

While sauce is thickening, cook ravioli in a large pot of boiling water just until they float to the top. The pasta will continue to cook while baking. Drain pasta.

Toss pasta in sauce, and pour pasta (and sauce) into 9x13" casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheeses. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden.

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