Pasta bake is a classic recipe many love as the combination of cheese and pasta makes the ultimate warming comfort food.
This dish is an elevated version of the classic pasta bake as it uses spinach ricotta-filled ravioli that’s paired with a delicious bolognese sauce and mozzarella cheese.
Of course, you can buy shop-bought sauce, however, the result will never be as good.
In terms of the pasta, this recipe only works with store-bought ravioli as freshly made ravioli would be too soft.
Where ready-made ravioli simply cooked and dressed in sauce can often be tough and a little unpleasant in texture, cooking them in a rich bolognese sauce with melted mozzarella results in an incredibly moreish dinner.
Ingredients (serves six)
One tablespoon of olive oil
One onion, chopped
Two to three celery sticks, finely chopped
Two carrots, finely chopped
500g beef mince
Three 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
600g spinach and ricotta ravioli
125g grated mozzarella
One mozzarella ball, sliced
Method
I started off by making the bolognese sauce. To do so, I heated the oil in a deep frying saucepan before adding in the onions. Make sure to let them brown before moving on so you get the best flavour out of the sauce.
Next, I added in the carrots and celery and fried it all over high heat for about eight to 10 minutes, until starting to soften.
Then it was time to add in the mince, season with salt and pepper and fry until browned, breaking it up with two wooden spoons as it browns.
While the meat was browning, I blitzed up the chopped tins of tomatoes and added them in once the mice was fully cooked. I brought the sauce to a boil before covering the pan with a lid and leaving it to simmer of 45 minutes to one hour.
Once the bolognese sauce was ready, it was time to preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 and assemble it all in the dish for the oven.
With no need to cook or blanch the ravioli, I added some of the bolognese sauce to the bottom of my 20.5cm by 33cm oven dish before adding in the pasta.
I then added some more sauce on top before adding the grated mozzarella and giving it a mix, making sure the cheese was distributed evenly.
After adding a little more of the bolognese sauce to cover the ravioli, I topped it all off with sliced of fresh mozzarella.
I popped the dish in the oven to bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the mozzarella was golden and bubbling.
Once cooked, remove the dish from the oven and let it cool for at least five minutes before tucking in.
You’ll have leftover bolognese sauce with this recipe, which is great to keep in your fridge for pasta recipes for up to four days.
Alternatively, something I often do is freeze my bolognese sauce for those days I can’t be bothered to cook and it lasts well for three months.
