Baked Skillet Pasta With Cheddar and Spiced Onions

To speed up cartelizing onions, do this. Put sliced onions on a plate covered with a paper towel in a microwave. Cook on high for 2 min. THEN put the onions in a cast iron skillet with heated oil. The onions will quickly cook now that most of the moisture is out. Keep turning the onions and you will soon see carmelization in half the time!

Made tonight, and we loved it. I haven't seen my husband go after food like that in forever. Keeping prior reviews in mind, I used a large Le Creuset risotto pot instead of my 12" cast iron skillet. It would have been an overflowing mess. I used a 28 oz can of plum tomatoes and no extra water, and tossed in 1/2 C of good Chianti I was drinking while cooking because the pot and I deserved it. This is a hearty, warm dish that will soothe your senses and your soul. My house still smells amazing.

Made this last Saturday. Used 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (substituting the 14 oz can of tomatoes and 14 oz of water). Came out GREAT! For those asking about onions....one large onion should come out to heaping 3 cups each when sliced. Used 9-10 C sliced onions for this.

This is really good. Interesting blend of flavors for pasta. I will for sure cook this again. Can’t be done in one hour though - how could it if the cooking time alone adds up to 1 hr. Usually the estimates are pretty close and I’ve come to rely on them, I recommend that the time estimate should be changed...

Reading through the comments, I saw several complaints/warnings about how long it takes to brown the onions A pinch of baking soda will speed up the browning process (the Maillard reaction.) Just a pinch, too much will be noticeable in the finished dish. More about using baking soda on Serious Eats: https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/10/surprising-uses-for-baking-soda.html

For this recipe, I will sauté twice the recommended onions for step 1 of recipe. Then half will go into a vacuum seal container and get frozen. Then the next time this recipe prepared, it will be faster.

Wonderful dish. I followed the recipe exactly but was afraid it would spill out of the skillet so transferred it to a lasagna pan before adding the final onions and cheeses and putting it into the oven. This is an amazing dish. It's just predictable enough to be immensely comforting but unusual in ways that feel exactly right, not gimmicky.

To PH: I agree about measurements. Please don't say how many onions, yell me in ounces, or preferably grams

Nice option for vegetarians. I transferred onions and tomatoes to Le Creuset casserole dish. I made it ahead and put it in the oven when my guests arrived. I followed suggestions to use diced tomatoes. Next time I might increase some of the spices. Recipe served 8.

Olive oil can be used for pan frying and high-temp sauté. The error here is specifying extra virgin olive oil, which should be used solely for flavoring, not frying. Use regular, clear olive oil (often sold in cans) for pan frying and higher temperature cooking. If you want that fresh, green-olive oil flavor in your dish, add a splash of good quality EVOO at the end and heat through. That thing about olive oils changing chemical structure at high heat is just another internet myth.

Took note of what Lori said and used 28oz of tomatoes instead of 15oz. and slightly bumped up the spice. Cooked it down a bit longer than suggested. Delicious. Christmas dinner 2018 with semi crisp green beans.

I think the one hour time frame for this dish is very optimistic. It can take an hour to get three onions into the proper browned state, in my experience!!

Ya know, throw in some ground beef or chunks of pancetta, you have lasagna in a skillet. You can never go wrong with pasta, sauce & cheese, especially on winter nights.

We both liked this. I boiled some cauliflower with the pasta, and served it with Turkish yogurt, which was nice. Next time I may toss in some capers and a few spoons of tomato paste, and will up the spices.

So this was good! Followed the recipe except: halved the amount of pasta, used cheddar/monterey jack blend, used diced tomatoes, and a 10 in cast iron skillet. The onions took forever! I did not ruin my cast iron skillet (6 y.o, Lodge) by cooking this. Next time, I will add chipotle chiles. I'm surprised Melissa didn't!