RAVIOLI = LASAGNA Is this possible?

[Fleur]

There is an ongoing battle going on here between the purists who insist on making their own ravioli dough and the avante garde who say it is possible to take any ravioli recipe and streamline it, layering the filling between lasagna sheets.

What do you all think? Sounds tempting for Swiss Chard and Pumpkin.

[Elizzie]

I've made lasagne with a Swiss chard filling (I boiled the noodles first), bechamel sauce and lots of cheese (Fontina and Parm). I've made lasagne with pumpkin filling with bechamel also. They were fine.

[jfood]

I think this is a great idea and variation. I would keep in mind the following which others have alluded to. Ravioli is cooked in a very moist environment and the filling and pasta will benefit from that moisture. By changing the cooking environment to a dry heat you run the risk of drying out the "ravioli lasagne" by baking it.

You might consider baking the dish in a water bath in the oven.

[coll]

Would this be similar to "decontructed lasagna"? Very trendy!

I know that to make raviloi you usually lay two sheets of pasta on top of each other with spoonfuls of filling and then cut them out. Since I'm probably going to buy frozen pasta sheets this Christmas to save time, I will play around with this afterwards....Probably not a bad idea to have a little thicker pasta than homemade so they don't burst. I bought a ravioli cutter stamp a million years ago and figured I'd get around to it someday, shouldn't be that much harder than lasagna to punch them out and pop them in the oven with some sauce. Pumpkin/squash sounds like a good place to start.

[piccola]

I think what the OP means is, can you use sheets of fresh pasta to make ravioli?
Yes, you can.
You can also use wonton skins.

[ashwood]

it's two different products..... but if you want actual ravioli, you have to use fresh pasta dough, no way around it. not that hard, but necissary. if you use lasagna, it's lasagna, not ravioli. nothing wrong with it, just different.

[Das Ubergeek]

I'm sorry, I don't get it -- ravioli and lasagne are made from the same fresh pasta dough, at least in my house. If you take the ravioli filling and put it between sheets of fresh pasta, you have a weird kind of lasagne. If you take what was going to be layered in the lasagne and wrap it up in closed pillows of pasta, you have ravioli.

[Fleur]

It is not the definition of "lasagna" or "ravioli" that is in dispute. The question is whether you can take ravioli fillings, such as pumpkin, Swiss Chard, or another recipe, and layer the filling between leaves of pasta dough. Easier for some folks to prepare, cook, and serve.

[Das Ubergeek]

Oh! I completely misunderstood... your equals sign led me astray!

Of course you can do any of the above between layers of pasta dough. The only thing you'll have to do is make sure there's enough moisture so that the pasta stays moist and doesn't crack.

[noahbirnel]

I don't see a problem, but at this point you would have lasagne, not ravioli, right? So what is the battle?

[Big Bunny]

My grandmother made spinach ravioli, then layered them in a large earthenware crock with cheese and tomato sauce, then baked that.

I don't have her recipe, but I have never tasted any ravioli OR lasagna that was as good as hers.

BB

[ShelleyCT]

Why not? That's the joy of pasta - you can't really go wrong, can you?