There is not a lot that beats a pleasant, heat pasta bake for consolation, and it is even higher but when mentioned pasta bake is simple to throw collectively. With this one-pan gnocchi lasagna bake from recipe developer A.J. Overlook, you get the perfect of each worlds. There isn’t any must boil pasta beforehand, and no must even soiled a second dish. All of it comes collectively in that one pan, after which goes straight into the oven for optimum comfort. The result’s a full meal of tender gnocchi and eggplant surrounded by wealthy tomato sauce and creamy ricotta cheese, all prepared in about an hour.

Calling this recipe a lasagna could also be appear a bit unusual at first, as there aren’t any layers. As an alternative, lasagna is the inspiration for the dish, and every chunk of the gnocchi bake evokes those self same tacky, tomatoey flavors. The benefit right here, in fact, is that the standard lasagna noodles are changed with fluffy little gnocchi. Meaning no boiling pasta and no painstaking layering — only a fast cook dinner of the greens and sauce earlier than tossing in the remaining, topping it with cheese, and baking. Lasagna is a basic, however after you strive its easy-to-make gnocchi-based cousin, you may simply end up skipping the layers subsequent time as nicely.

For this recipe you will have olive oil, onion, garlic, dried basil, eggplant, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, gnocchi, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and mozzarella cheese. When you could have these components gathered, it is just a few easy steps to show them right into a scrumptious dinner.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Deliver a big pan to medium warmth and add the oil.

Add the onion, garlic, eggplant, and basil to the pan. Cook dinner, stirring often, for round 10 minutes, till the greens are softened.

Combine within the tomato paste and cook dinner for two minutes. Then add the crushed tomatoes, combine nicely, and take away from warmth.

Combine the gnocchi into the sauce, spreading them evenly all through the pan.

Evenly distribute spoonfuls of ricotta throughout the highest of the gnocchi.

Prime the entire dish with the mozzarella and Parmesan.

Bake for round half-hour, till the cheese on prime is simply starting to brown.

Enable the gnocchi lasagna bake to chill for 10 minutes earlier than serving.

Ricotta cheese makes a superb creamy complement on this recipe to the tender gnocchi and chunks of eggplant swimming in tomato sauce, however it’s definitely not the one technique to make this recipe. This recipe is something however conventional, however a conventional lasagna does use béchamel. So, be at liberty to swap out the ricotta — however chances are you’ll need to make some minor changes for those who select this route.

Béchamel is a straightforward sauce historically made with butter, flour, and milk, and sometimes a contact of salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Whereas the flour does thicken issues, béchamel continues to be significantly thinner than ricotta. Because of this, for those who select béchamel over ricotta, chances are you’ll want to scale back the amount of crushed tomatoes used to stop issues from getting too soupy.

This can be an awesome avenue so as to add one other layer of taste to the dish, by incorporating one of many many béchamel-based sauces. It could be taking one other step away from custom, however infusing your béchamel with contemporary herbs or garlic would definitely make a scrumptious addition to this gnocchi lasagna recipe.

We selected to make this gnocchi lasagna recipe vegetarian, filling out the dish with tender chunks of eggplant, however for those who choose a meaty lasagna, be at liberty to make use of that as an alternative of, or along with, the eggplant. All you have to do is cook dinner up a little bit of floor beef or Italian sausage earlier than including the onions, garlic, and eggplant to the pan — no different adjustments wanted. However that’s removed from the one change you may make to customise this gnocchi lasagna recipe.

As talked about above, swapping out the ricotta cheese for silky béchamel is a straightforward change that may take this pasta bake one step nearer to a conventional lasagna. However when you are taking part in with lasagna recipes in your customization, why not have a look at another variants? We advise that the primary time you make this recipe, you make it in line with the unique recipe. However when you see how easy and scrumptious it’s, there are many variations you’ll be able to check out, as a way to work it into your weekly recipe record with out ever getting uninterested in it. Should you’re a fan of fungi, fill out your gnocchi lasagna bake with umami-rich chanterelles and porcini. Or think about eschewing the crimson sauce and eggplant and as an alternative go for white sauce, greens, and artichokes. There aren’t any scarcity of attention-grabbing lasagna recipes on the web, and every of them will be an inspiration in your subsequent gnocchi lasagna bake.