From what I’ve gleaned, the general consensus on Rachael Ray is that people either love her or they hate her. My brother is one of the latter. He won’t even knowingly stand in the same room as a Rachael Ray recipe. I, on the other hand, tend more towards the former. Although, I tend to think I like her more in principle than in practice. I like the idea of 30 minute meals and her food tends to be easy to make, with few ingredients. And with a little augmenting here and there, it can even be healthy as well. I definitely think someone should remind her, though, that even though olive oil is full of good fat, you CAN have too much of a good thing.
Given the success of the last pasta dish of hers that I tried, I decided to tempt fate again with her spinach-artichoke ravioli-lasagna. The idea behind this dish is that it is the lazy-man’s lasagna; ravioli are technically made up of layers of pasta and ricotta and so if you throw them in a casserole dish and bake them, maybe they’re kind-of/sort-of the same thing? No matter your opinion on the subject, ravioli is a total comfort food for me, stemming from the fact that my grandparents used to live in Little Italy in the Bronx and so we would get seriously AMAZING homemade ravioli whenever we went to visit. I used to have this ritual for eating them where I would bite off all of the edges first, saving the cheesy center for last. Need I say, it was predetermined that I would love this dish, merely because of the fact that it had ravioli in it.

Spinach-Artichoke Ravioli-Lasagna
Adapted from Rachael Ray, serves 4

2 (8 oz) containers of Rising Moon Organics spinach and cheese ravioli (it was my first time trying this brand and it was GOOD…they have so many other flavors, some of which are vegan so check them out!!)
1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta
2 bags of Trader Joe’s frozen artichoke hearts
2 (10 oz) packages of frozen spinach
1 1/2 cups almond milk
2 tbsp light butter
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 tbsp flour

1) Thaw the frozen spinach and the artichoke hearts in the microwave according to the package directions. Squeeze out liquid from the spinach and drain the artichokes well. Set aside.

2) Preheat the oven to 425. Start to heat up your water for the pasta. Melt the butter in a non-stick skillet and whisk in the flour for a minute. Add the milk. Lower the heat when it starts to thicken and add nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.

3) Cook the ravioli according to package directions. Mix the ricotta, spinach and artichoke hearts together. Season with salt and pepper.

4) Cover the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish with the bechamel sauce (about half the sauce). Spread the ravioli over the bottom. Spread the ricotta/artichoke/spinach mixture over the ravioli. Pour the rest of the bechamel over the top and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese. (Rachel’s recipe actually has you do multiple layers of the ravioli but I halved her recipe while still putting it in the same sized pan, so this wasn’t practical. Honestly, it tasted really good to me anyway and saved time. C’est la vie.)

5) Bake for ten minute. Put the oven on broil (high) and cook until parmesan cheese starts to brown and sauce starts bubbling.

I am submitting this dish to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted this coming week by it’s founder – Ruth of Once Upon A Feast – so stay tuned for the round-up!
You are reading this post on Eats Well With Others at https://joanne-eatswellwithothers.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of Eats Well With Others. All rights reserved by Joanne Bruno.
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5 Responses to Rachael Ray Redo aka Spinach-Artichoke Ravioli-Lasagna

  1. ttfn300 says:

    ha, i think you’re right about rachel ray 🙂 i like alot of her ideas, though i tend not to watch her! her recipes feed an army (i usually halve them and still get 3-4 servings). this one looks great, i haven’t tried those ravioli but now i will have to 🙂

  2. Donna-FFW says:

    This looks yummy, I do like RRs recipes. I used to live in Yonkers N and we too would make special trips just to get the homemade ravioli and lasagne noodles. Miss that! I must try this one. Thanks!

  3. Joanne says:

    ttfn300 – I only really tend to watch Rachael at the gym…for some reason the food network fuels my desire to run. I got the ravioli at Harvest in Central Square…its a great COOP with tons of spices, whole grains, fruits and veggies.

    Donna – Thanks for the comment and let me know how it turns out if you make it!

  4. Natashya says:

    I am probably in the middle – I think she has done great things re getting people comfortable in the kitchen who would normally be eating way too much take out.
    But.. she does get on my nerves and so I don’t watch her show.
    The dinner does look really tasty – I am a pasta girl. I wish we had a Trader Joes, sniff.

  5. Ruth says:

    I admit, I like the recipes better than actually watching her make them on tv. This one does sound wonderful. Thanks for sharing with PResto Pasta Nights.

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