Extra Cheesy Ravioli

For me, ravioli has always been one of those quick and easy meals to make because all I had to do was open a can, pour it in a bowl, place it in the microwave and BAM! it was ready to eat.  Seeing that it is my summer vacation though, and I have a lot of extra time on my hands, I actually wanted to try to make a ravioli dish from scratch.  I found the result to be much better than what comes from a can.  Sorry Chef Boyardee, but this is definitely a dish that will be homemade from this point forward.  I will even be able to make it during the school year, because it didn’t take as long to cook as I thought it would, and leaves plenty of leftovers.  Excellent to take to work for lunches!!  FYI - Some of the ingredients are optional, so feel free to make changes to suit your taste, but here is the recipe I used.

Extra Cheesy Ravioli
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Ingredients:
1 pound ravioli
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef

1/2 pound hot sausage (or mild)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 (26 ounce) jar prepared spaghetti sauce (your choice)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion and garlic and cook until just fragrant and well coated, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Add in ground beef, sausage, salt, black pepper, rosemary, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning and cook until ground beef is no longer pink.  Drain excess grease.  While the beef is browning, cook the ravioli according to package directions, until just tender; drain.  In a small bowl beat together the sour cream, ricotta cheese, oregano and basil until well combined. 

Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Layer 1/2 of the ravioli on the bottom of the prepared baking dish.  Top with half of the meat and sauce mixture, all of the sour cream/ricotta mixture and half of the mozzarella.  Repeat with the leftover ravioli, meat and sauce mixture and remaining mozzarella.  Sprinkle the top of the dish with parmesan cheese and bake uncovered, for 30-40 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.

Source: Adapted from Let's Dish