In episode 105 we are making a Sausage & Pesto Lasagna Skillet that is perfect for back to school time. We all need an easy recipe to get dinner back on track when the routine of school starts. This Pesto Lasagna Skillet is made in one pan, has all the flavors of lasagna, without all the work.
Pair it with a side salad and garlic bread for a great homemade dinner.
Transcript
Click for the full transcript.
Intro: Welcome, welcome everybody to another episode of Let’s Make Dinner, your audio library of amazing dinner recipes you can always get on the table. I’m your host, Susie Weinrich.
Susie Weinrich: What’s good everybody? So if you’re listening to this episode in real time, then it’s either back to school day or it’s back to school time for you. For us, our kids went back to school on Wednesday and the house has been very, very quiet ever since. So now that we’re getting back into the rhythm of schedules and running to soccer practice and swim practice and basketball practice and all of the things, dinner time gets the shaft basically. So what we need now, and I think you’re the same if you’ve got kids, you need easy, quick recipes that are still delicious and nutritious for your family.
So that’s what we’re focusing on today. We’re making something called a Pesto Lasagna Skillet. The nice thing about this is that you get flavors of a full lasagna, but it is made in a skillet. It’s made super quick, like 30 minutes, and it is delicious with very few dirty dishes. So I hope that you like this recipe and that you’ll make it for dinner. If you do and you love it, give it five stars on the actual recipe card and leave me a little comment that you listen to it here on this podcast.
Tips and Tricks: As for tips and tricks today, the only thing I want to talk about really quickly is the pesto. Obviously this recipe has a pesto, Pesto Lasagna Skillet. When you’re looking for pesto, if you aren’t going to make fresh pesto, which actually I will link a fresh pesto recipe right in the show notes for you. It’s actually pretty easy. It’s just done right in a blender. If you’re not gonna make your own pesto, then buy one at the store and your best bet is going to be buying a refrigerated pesto. It’s gonna have the best flavor. It’s gonna be the freshest. Now if you want to go shelf stable, what I recommend is that you look at the ingredients of the pesto bottles and make sure that basil is one of the first at least three ingredients.
The other thing you’re going to need is a large skillet. So whenever I make a skillet lasagna, I use my all clad pan and it is not nonstick. You could use a nonstick pan, but it’s not necessary. It’s about a 12 inch pan. It’s got about two to three inch high sides and then it has a nice tight fitting lid. You definitely need a pan with a lid to trap that heat and steam to cook the lasagna noodles.
Pesto Lasagna Skillet Recipe: With all of that said, let’s go ahead and get into the full recipe for Pesto Lasagna Skillet. The first thing you’re going to do is actually toast a quarter cup of pine nuts. We’re going to actually add those at the end, but before you put anything in your skillet, you want to toast those nuts.
So, take that large skillet, put it over low heat, pop a quarter cup of pine nuts, and just roll them around in the pan until they start to brown, not burn, just brown, and they’ll start to smell really nutty. They actually, to me, when pine nuts start to toast, they smell like bacon. Take them out of the pan and just set them aside in a little bowl. We’ll use those later.
Now set that empty skillet back over medium heat and you’re going to cook and crumble one pound of Italian sausage. You can use hot, mild, sweet, whatever bulk Italian sausage you want, go ahead and use that. Now after that’s browned and nice and crumbled up, you’re going to drain any excess grease from the pan.
Now to that, you’re going to add a half a cup of chopped onions, two chopped garlic cloves, one teaspoon of dried oregano, and a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt to the pan. Saute that around for about four to five minutes.
Now it’s time to get things going. You’re going to need to add one and three quarters cup of water, a 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes that has been drained and then about 6 to 7 ounces of the pesto to the pan. You’re going to give that a really good stir and then bring it to a boil over medium high heat.
As soon as that starts boiling, you’re going to take 8 to 10 lasagna noodles and break them up into 1 or 2 inch pieces and start nestling them down into that hot liquid. Now for the lasagna noodles, you can use either oven-ready noodles or you can use traditional noodles. Both work. But what I’ll say is that I usually prefer the traditional noodles because they’re just a little bit thicker and heartier than the oven-ready ones.
After you have all of the lasagna noodle pieces nestled down into that liquid, you’re going to lower the heat to low and you’re going to pop that lid on the pan and cook for 12 minutes. After that 12 minutes, you’re going to open that pan back up and you’re going to take a half a cup of ricotta and you’re going to just dot spoonfuls all over the top of the lasagna and then you can shimmy them down into the sauce. Then top that with about 4 ounces of shredded mozzarella all over the top. You’ll pop that lid back on and cook for an additional 10 minutes. After that 10 minutes, you remove the lid, remove that pan from the heat, and just let it sit for about five minutes. Then right before serving, you will garnish it with those toasted pine nuts, and it’s ready to eat.
So you can serve this up with a really nice side salad and some garlic bread, and you are good to go. You have a really easy and quick dinner that’s perfect for a weeknight, but also delicious enough for a weekend family dinner.
As always, I will link this full recipe for you in the show notes so that you can take a look at it, you can print it, you can pin it to save the recipe, and hopefully make it for dinner.
Outro: So, until next time, I hope this episode of Let’s Make Dinner makes your dinnertime a little easier. See ya!
Double Dip: All right, now it’s time for your weekly double dip. In the double dip we just go over the recipe that we are going to make next week on the podcast so that you can have the ingredients you need to cook along with me every Thursday. So next week we have more of a side dish that we’re making but such a good side dish. We’re making Instant Pot Refried Beans.
If you’ve never made your own refried beans, this is your opportunity. It’s amazing. Highly, highly recommend. You don’t need much to make them, so let me tell you what you’re going to need to grab.
You’re going to need about one pound of dry pinto beans, three tablespoons of olive oil, a white onion, some garlic cloves, one jalapeno, one tablespoon of chicken base. Chicken base is kind of like chicken bouillon, but way more flavorful. You can find it in the soup aisle by the bouillon. But it usually comes in a tub or a jar, and we like the Better Than Bouillon brand.
From your spice cabinet, you’re going to need cumin, onion powder, kosher salt, and a bay leaf. You need four cups of chicken broth, some water, and then a fresh lime. Then of course, you’ll need an instant pot.
So if you plan to make this, it goes great with any kind of Mexican dinner, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, quesadillas, you know, any kind of Mexican dinner where you would serve rice and beans on the side. I hope you’ll join me next week to make these Instant Pot Refried Beans.
Recipes Mentioned
Next Week
I hope you will join me every Thursday for a new dinner recipe. Next week we are making Instant Pot Refried Beans. Pair this with any Mexican Entrée and you will never go back to canned refried beans again.
You will need an Instant Pot for next weeks episode. We love this 7-in-1 Instant Pot.
Follow Along
Subscribe To Stay Connected!
Sign up for the Mom’s Dinner Newsletter, delivered every Sunday morning, straight to your email inbox. It includes all the new recipes, videos, dinner ideas for the week and fun kitchen tips and tricks.
Comments
No Comments