Pierogi lasagna in a single skillet

Name: Pierogi lasagna in a single skillet
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Polish, Italian
Ingredients: 10 oz potato and cheese pierogies, frozen (no need to thaw); 1 tbsp olive oil; 8 oz ground pork; ½ yellow onion, grated on the large holes; 1 carrot, peeled and grated on the large holes; 2 cloves garlic, grated; 1 tbsp tomato paste; ½ tsp red pepper flakes; ¼ cup whole milk; 1 × 14 oz can San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand; ⅓ cup water; 3 oz baby spinach; ½ cup whole-milk ricotta; 3 oz low-moisture mozzarella, coarsely grated; ¼ cup Parmesan, finely grated; basil leaves, torn, to finish; salt, pepper

Pierogies do the noodles' job and the broiler does the oven's, in forty minutes flat.

At a Glance

Time

40 min

Serves

Story

Frozen pierogies are boiled before they are frozen, so they only need heating through, never cooking. That is why they go into the sauce as they are and behave like no-boil lasagna sheets. They drink a little of the sauce as they thaw, which is what the splash of water is there to pay for.

Ingredients

10 oz potato and cheese pierogiesfrozen (no need to thaw)
1 tbsp olive oil
8 oz ground pork
½ yellow oniongrated on the large holes
1 carrotpeeled and grated on the large holes
2 cloves garlicgrated
1 tbsp tomato paste
½ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ cup whole milk
1 × 14 oz can San Marzano tomatoescrushed by hand
⅓ cup water
3 oz baby spinach
½ cup whole-milk ricotta
3 oz low-moisture mozzarellacoarsely grated
¼ cup Parmesanfinely grated
basil leavestorn, to finish
saltpepper

Method

Everything you want from a lasagna is the sauce, the cheese and the browned corner. The noodles were only ever the scaffolding, and a pierogi arrives with its own potato and cheese already inside, which is rather more than a noodle has ever offered anyone.

You need a 10-inch skillet that can go under the broiler, which means iron or plain steel all the way to the handle. Anything with plastic on it stays in the cupboard tonight.

Heat the broiler with a rack about 6 inches below it. Warm the oil in the skillet over medium-high and add the pork in one flat layer. Leave it alone for 4 minutes, until it has a proper brown crust underneath, then break it up.
Add the grated onion and carrot with a good pinch of salt and cook, stirring now and then, 4 to 5 minutes, until they have collapsed into the fat. Grating does in five minutes what a fine dice does in twenty, which is the whole trick of a weeknight ragù.
Stir in the garlic, tomato paste and pepper flakes and cook 2 minutes, until the paste turns brick red. Pour in the milk and let it bubble away almost to nothing, scraping up the bottom of the pan as it goes.
Add the tomatoes and the water, season and bring to a simmer. Press the frozen pierogies into the sauce in a single layer, tops showing. Cover and simmer over medium-low 12 minutes, until a pierogi pressed in the middle is soft right through.
Uncover and tuck the spinach into the gaps between the pierogies. It wilts in about 2 minutes. Simmer uncovered 2 minutes more if the sauce looks loose, because it wants to cling rather than pool.
Drop spoonfuls of ricotta over the top, then the mozzarella and Parmesan. Slide the skillet under the broiler for 3 to 4 minutes. Do not wander off. You want the cheese blistered and the exposed pierogi edges crisp, and a broiler takes that to burnt in about thirty seconds.
Rest 5 minutes, scatter the basil and serve it straight from the pan with a towel wrapped round the handle, and a word to anyone who reaches for it bare-handed.