A hearty, comforting bake that brings family and flavor together.
Ravioli for dinner might seem a little boring... But it's quick and convenient and filling, and even the pickiest eaters still enjoy it. So this week we decided to fancy it up some, add a protein and please the grownups at the table too.
Ingredients:
6 medium chicken breasts
3 Roma tomatoes
8 ounces mozzarella cheese
package frozen ravioli
24+ ounces tomato sauce
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon parsley
parmesan cheese, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
Tools:
9x 13 baking dish
knife
cutting board
plates or bowls to hold cut foods for later assembly
spoon
toothpicks
aluminum foil
meat thermometer
can opener (if canned sauce instead of jarred)
As always, please wash any produce that didn't make its way to your kitchen ready to eat.
Preheat the oven to 350 and grab a 9x13 baking dish. We spritzed the bottom and sides of the dish with spray oil to make cleanup easier later. Set the dish close to the cutting board so you'll save steps on the assembly stage.
Pop open your can or jar of tomato sauce. Drip some into the baking dish and use a spoon to spread it into a thin layer. Place a layer of frozen ravioli (we used spinach and herb ravioli just because we enjoy them; feel free to use any frozen ravioli you like, although we would probably avoid beef for this dinner). Spread some tomato sauce on the ravioli, place a second layer of ravioli and cover that in sauce.
Repeat until you either run out of ravioli or until you only have an inch of headspace in the pan. By our estimate, a standard 9x13 Pyrex will fit about 45 jumbo ravioli in three layers with 24 ounces of sauce and still have just enough room for the the chicken breast, cheese and tomatoes without being over-full.
There's a chance you maybe do what we did at this point: realize you want more ravioli than will fit in the pan with the chicken. There's a teenage boy in this house, and we go through a LOT of pasta. We hastily grabbed and greased a second pan to cook the chicken separately. You'll notice in the photos that there is no bed of ravioli under the chicken.
Take your knife and cut the mozzarella into 12-15 thin slices and set them aside. Slice your tomatoes as thin as you like, aiming for 18 slices, and move those to another dish to clear the cutting board. We diced any odd shaped pieces left over and set them with the slices.
Place a chicken breast on the cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cut in from one side to butterfly the meat. Don't cut all the way through; you want the chicken breast open but intact on one side. Slide two or more slices of tomato and a slice of cheese into the split, close the chicken breast back up, and pin it closed with a toothpick if it flops open. Repeat for the five remaining chicken breasts.
Transfer the stuffed chicken breasts to the baking dish, on top of the ravioli (if you eat normal person amounts of pasta, at least). Wash your hands thoroughly after handling the chicken, because handling raw meat is kind of gross and cross contamination is dangerous.
Drop your remaining slices and chunks of tomato on top of the chicken. Sprinkle on the rosemary, sage, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper. Lay the remaining slices of cheese over top of the tomatoes and spices. Sprinkle with some dried parmesan cheese if desired.
Cover the pan tightly in aluminum foil and bake 35 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven at the the 35 minute mark, pull the foil off, and bake your meal another 15-20 minutes uncovered.
These instructions apply to both pans if you also ended up cooking the ravioli and the chicken separately. To ensure your chicken is cooked all the way though, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature at the thickest part of the breast - your goal is 165 degrees.
Allow everything to cool in the pan for at least five minutes before serving. Add a veggie of your choice to complete the meal.
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