Part of my job of as a food writer is to predict what people want to cook and eat. I’m decent at it, but it’s not an exact science. The popularity of some recipes—like this rice pudding—catch me by surprise, while others never get the attention I expect them to.

Our Skillet Lasagna is one of the latter. It’s also one of my favorite Milk Street recipes, and one I think deserves your attention. I’ve never met a lasagna I didn’t like (I’m not too good for frozen), but this is a homemade lasagna that’s on the table in about an hour, without the use of store-bought sauce or no-boil noodles.

Serve it with a little Caesar.

The recipe, called lasagna in padella in Italian, takes a faster, less structured approach than the traditional baked format. There’s no layering, but I wouldn’t call it a shortcut. The noodles are broken into 3-inch pieces, then stood up on their sides and simmered in a quick sauce made with canned tomatoes, sausage and garlic. They soften and slump, at which point you can stir and distribute them around the pan without them sticking. And even though the pasta is distributed somewhat haphazardly, you get the proper amount toothsome noodle in each bite. I’m not sure I’ll ever make a layered lasagna again.

I also love the ricotta layer. By mixing in shredded Parm, oregano and red pepper flakes, the usually mild and meek dairy is punctuated with salty bits of tyrosine crystals, herbal pungency and a gentle heat. (I also love the crispy-chewy bits that stick up above the sauce. I could go on!)

Another recipe I think deserves more attention is the humble Slashed Chicken. It solves the problem of ineffective marinades. Cutting into the chicken—down to the bone—creates more surface area for flavor to cling to, which is key if you want anything other than salt to get down in there. (Other flavor molecules are just too big.) We have a lot of different ways for flavoring this chicken, but my favorite is the simplest: a liquified mixture of onion, garlic, fish sauce and sugar.

Then there is this Slab Pizza with Sausage and Chard, which I love for its heft and size. I cannot eat a sheet pan’s worth of pizza in a single sitting, but It keeps well and reheats beautifully—I actually think it’s almost better the next day. It’s also ready in a couple of hours, which is pretty impressive when you consider we make the focaccia-like dough from scratch.

Dessert-wise, I think more people need to make and enjoy the Burnt Sugar Apple Cake. It’s like a cross between tarte tatin and upside-down cake, with a bittersweet caramel enveloping supple apples. The burnt sugar really anchors the sweeter flavors. I made it for Thanksgiving instead of a pie—no one complained about the swap, not even a little.

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Claire Lower

Claire Lower is the Digital Editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, with over a decade of experience as a food writer and recipe developer. Claire began writing about food (and drinks) during the blogging boom in the late 2000s, eventually leaving her job as a lab technician to pursue writing full-time. After freelancing for publications such as Serious Eats, Yahoo Food, xoJane and Cherry Bombe Magazine, she eventually landed at Lifehacker, where she served as the Senior Food Editor for nearly eight years. Claire lives in Portland, Oregon with a very friendly dog and very mean cat. When not in the kitchen (or at her laptop), you can find her deadlifting at the gym, fly fishing or trying to master figure drawing at her local art studio.