Rachael Ray's Ravioli Lasagna

**This recipe is extremely forgiving and adapting. I rarely use the original recipe anymore! This has become a family staple (I make it once every couple of weeks) and it's hardly ever the same thing twice! I'll put notes all along with what I do differently.**


1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped (or a palmful of dried)
1/2 bunch of basil, chopped (or a palmful of dried)
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 cup beef or chicken stock (I don't like how the beef stock tastes with the sausage I usually use, but veggie stock is ok)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons allspice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine (I usually just substitue more chicken stock)
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped (I use cauliflower instead of carrots or leave out veggies if I'm feeling lazy)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 pound ground pork (I always use a package of prespiced ground sausage instead of the pork & veal & sirloin mixed)
1/4 pound ground veal
1 pound ground sirloin
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (I use whatever cheese is in my fridge. Cheddar, colby, mozzarella, parm, etc)
2 cups shredded provolone
3 family-size packages of frozen cheese ravioli (I cut this & use 1 package)

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bring a pot of water to boil, season heavily with salt. Cook ravioli for about 6 minutes, until almost cooked through. Drain and lay flat on a plate to avoid them from clumping together. Set aside until ready to assemble the lasagna.

In a large sauce pan heat EVOO and begin browning the meat in small batches. Be sure to brown the meat to the point of it becoming a little on the crispy side. This will give the sauce a deep flavor. Move browned meat over to one side of the pan, leaving room on one side of the pan. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and bay leaf, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up all the bits from the meat and veggies off the bottom of the pan.
Cook the wine for 5 minutes. Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and allspice. Add Worcestershire and stock; bring up to a bubble. Add the crushed tomato and tomato sauce, and cook until the sauce becomes a bit thicker, about 10-20 minutes. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, add 1/2 of the basil and parsley then remove from heat.

In a 9x13 baking dish (my smaller version fits nicely in a smaller pan or thicker, in an 8x8), begin layering the lasagna. To the bottom of the dish evenly disperse 1 cup of the sauce. Take 1/3 of the ravioli and mound them on top of the sauce. Spread them out in an even layer and into the corners of the baking dish. Top ravioli with more sauce. Repeat 2 more times, finishing off with a generous amount of Parmigiano and provolone cheese on the top.

Bake lasagna for 10 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving and garnish with other half of basil and parsley.