CONCORD, N.H. — This is a slap-your-forehead sort of recipe.

Much as I love lasagna — it's so hard not to love something that celebrates the culinary triumvirate of pasta, cheese and tomatoes — it's been at least four years since I've made one.

That's because even with no-boil noodles, assembly of a lasagna is an undertaking. And while I could block off some weekend time to make two or three to freeze and eat later, how likely is that to happen?

Plus, the freezer trick requires that I be organized enough to remember to move a lasagna from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before I want it. Or I could bake it frozen and plan to have it for breakfast the next day.

Which is why I was so completely wooed and wowed by the shortcut recipe for lasagna in Real Simple magazine's recent cookbook, "Real Simple: Meals Made Easy" (Real Simple Books, 2006, $24.95).

This lasagna does away with lasagna noodles, boiled or otherwise, replacing them with frozen cheese ravioli. Brilliant! Add jarred sauce, bags of shredded cheese and frozen chopped spinach, and total prep clocks in at 10 minutes.

Now that's a lasagna I could make more than once every four years.

I also like this recipe's opportunity for easy variation. If you prefer meat in your lasagna, make half of the ravioli meat-filled. Or use a meat sauce. Or go in the other direction and use soy "cheese" ravioli and skip the shredded cheese.

You also could use ravioli with flavored pasta, such as green spinach ravioli or red tomato.

One caution: Be certain to squeeze the excess water from the spinach. Frozen spinach retains a tremendous amount of water which will drown your lasagna if not removed.

The easiest way to drain thawed spinach is to place it in the center of a kitchen towel, wrap it tightly, then twist and squeeze for several seconds over a sink. This should remove nearly all the water.

LAST-MINUTE LASAGNA