Don’t let your diet keep from indulging in a classic like lasagna. Here is a paleo (and healthier!) take on everybody’s favourite. This pasta-less lasagna is so authentic, and the shape, colours, and flavours hold true – you won’t even notice that the pasta isn’t there! It’s perfect to serve to your family and friends, whether or not they are following the paleo diet themselves.
Source: eatdrinkpaleo.com.au
Serves: 4-6
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 40 mins
Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 1¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ghee
- 500g grass-fed beef mince
- ⅔ cup dry red wine
- 3 garlic cloves, finely diced chopped
- ⅔ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅔ teaspoon sweet paprika
- 3 cups tomato passata
Lasagna
- 1 large parsnip, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1 large eggplant, sliced into 1 cm-thick disks
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoon virgin olive oil
- 5 tablespoons virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons ghee
- ½ cup torn fresh basil leaves
- 5–6 button mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves
- 3 medium zucchini, sliced vertically into thin ribbons
- 1 ½ cups ricotta cheese (optional)
- 2–3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
- Cherry tomatoes to garnish
Instructions
Source: myfitnesspal.com
- Heat oven to 180°C (355°F).
- Place a layer of parsnip slices with a little ghee in a deep lasagna tray and pre-bake in the oven for 15 minutes and set aside.
- To make the sauce, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and sauté onion with a pinch of salt for 5-8 minutes, until slightly caramelised. Add 1 tsp of ghee and bring the heat up to high. Break the beef mince and add to the frying pan. Use a spatula or a potato masher (my little trick) to stir and break the mince apart into small pieces, as it tends to clump together during cooking. Cook for about 5–6 minutes, until browned.
- Add red wine, garlic, pepper, paprika and salt to cooking meat and fry for a further 3-4 minutes. Add tomato passata, bring to boil and turn the heat down to simmering temperature. Cook for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, sprinkle eggplant slices with sea salt and set aside for 10 minutes to draw out some of the juices. Rinse and pat dry. Heat the oven back to 180°C (355°F).
- In another frying pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp ghee.
- Fry the eggplant in batches for 2-3 minutes on each side, until light golden brown. Add more olive oil and ghee as you go along. Set aside, by this stage all our layer ingredients should be ready.
- Take the baking tray out of the oven and start layering the lasagna in the following order: pre-cooked parsnips, ⅓ of tomato meat sauce, eggplant slices, fresh basil leaves, mushrooms, the rest of the meat sauce pressed down evenly, baby spinach, zucchini, drizzle of olive oil and some cracked black pepper.
- Cook in the oven, at 180°C (355°F), for 35–40 minutes. If using ricotta and grated Parmesan cheese, add on top of the lasagna at the 20 minutes cooking-time mark. Increase the heat to 200°C (390°F) for the last 10–15 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil and a few cherry tomatoes.
- Serve and enjoy.
Sourced from: Depositphotos/fahrwasser
Featured Image Source: pinimg.com
