"Show Off Paleo Lasagna"

Okay everyone, we have a winner! Every single person in my family voted tonight's dish the number one dish so far. That's saying something given how difficult it is to please everyone at the same time! All four of us got up for multiple helpings. MY GOD was this DELICIOUS. And, it's paleo!

We love lasagna here, but this dish was a no pasta version of it. Instead of noodles, I used all veggies instead, with a homemade meat sauce. Mmmm, I can't wait to eat it again for lunch tomorrow.

Here's a little disclaimer about this dish.. well, a couple, actually. The first is that it takes a while. This is definitely the longest I've spent on a meal on this journey so far. But, if you have the time, it is so unbelievably worth it. The second thing is that I made a few modifications as I went. I will post the recipe as I made it, and put the actual recipe in parentheses. Unlike what I did, it helps if you read the entire recipe first in order to plan.

Ingredients for sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, diced
1 tsp salt
pinch of salt
1 tsp coconut oil (ghee)
1 lb 90% lean ground beef (500g grass-fed beef mince)
2/3 cup dry red wine
3 garlic cloves, finely diced/chopped
2/3 tsp black pepper
2/3 tsp sweet paprika
3 cups tomato passata (To create this, I used 3 cups of diced canned tomatoes and pureed them in a food processor)

Ingredients for layers:
1 large eggplant, sliced into 1 cm-thick disks (1/2 in.)
1 tsp sea salt
2 green zucchini, sliced vertically into thin ribbons
2 yellow squash, sliced vertically into thin ribbons
2 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp coconut oil (ghee)
1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves
5-6 button mushrooms, sliced
2 cups baby spinach leaves
(NOTE: this recipe called for 1 parsnip, peeled and sliced thinly. I chose to omit it).

Ingredients in Ricotta mixture:
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
2-3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 355 degrees fahrenheit. (If including parsnips, place a layer of parsnip slices with a little ghee in a deep lasagna tray and pre-bake in the oven for 15 minutes to soften, set aside).
2. Sauce: heat 2 tbsp olive oil, sauté onion with pinch of salt until slightly caramelized, about 5-8 mins. Add 1 tbsp coconut oil and crank up heat to high.
3. Add beef to pan. Break up bits and cook for about 5-6 minutes or until brown.
4. Add red wine, garlic, pepper, paprika, and salt to mixture. Fry for 3-4 more minutes.
5. Add tomato passata and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes.
6. In the meantime, slice eggplant and sprinkle slices with sea salt set on a towel for ten minutes to draw out juices. Rinse and pat dry.
7. In another pan, heat 2 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp coconut oil. Fry the eggplant for 2-3 minutes per side until light golden brown. Add more oil as you cook. Set aside.

8. In 9x13 baking pan, layer the dish in this order: (parsnips if including), 1/3 of tomato meat sauce, eggplant slices, fresh basil leaves, mushrooms, 1/3 of remaining meat sauce, baby spinach, zucchini, drizzle of olive oil and some cracked black pepper, 1/3 of meat sauce.

9. Cook for 35-40 minutes. When lasagna has 20 minutes left to cook, add the ricotta mixture on top. Increase the heat to 390 degrees for the last 10-15 minutes.

Good luck!

Adapted from: Eat Drink Paleo