Paleo Lasagne

Presented by Dr. Mario R Ferraro - Chiropractor & Wellness Practitioner

This dish is the perfect meal to serve to your non-paleo friends, partners, or fussy kids. Its so yummy, hearty and filling, they wont even remember to ask about the missing pasta.

Room 1 / 21 Panamax Drv Ravenhall (inside Derrimut 24/7 Gym) Call 0421 423 106 for an appointment

For no dairy folks, its totally fine to leave out the last layer of ricotta and grated Parmesan. You can alternatively make a puree from pre-cooked cauliflower, olive oil and cashews processed until smooth. This can be used as a white cream sauce topping.

Ingredients
For beef and tomato sauce 500gm grass-fed beef mince 1 white onion, peeled and chopped 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped 2/3 cup dry red wine 3 cups tomato passata (its basically a fresh tomato puree, comes in large jars or you can puree your own from scratch; diced canned tomatoes are fine, just process them into smoother consistency first) 3 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp ghee or coconut oil 2/3 tsp sweet paprika 2/3 tsp black pepper 1 +2/3 tsp sea salt For layers 1 large parsnip, peeled and sliced into thin disks 1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced into disks (a little thicker than the parsnips, about 1/2cm) 3 medium zucchini, sliced vertically into thin ribbons 4 button mushrooms, slices A handful of fresh basil leaves, torn 2-3 handfuls of baby spinach leaves or English spinach Ghee and olive oil for cooking Optional topping 1 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese + 2-3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 180C. 2. Peel and chop onion and garlic. Slice eggplant and sprinkle with salt to let some of the moisture out, set aside in a bowl. 3. First we will make the sauce. Heat a frying pan with 1 teaspoon of ghee to high. Break beef mince into small pieces and fry on high heat until the colour changes from red to desaturated brown. I use a potato masher to break the meat apart as it tends to clump together during cooking. Stir frequently to make sure all mince pieces are fried evenly. This should take about 5-7 minutes. 4. Add red wine, chopped 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. 5. Heat another frying pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil to medium. Saut chopped onion with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes. Add onion and the olive oil to cooked in to the mince sauce, stir through and simmer for a further 10 minutes. 6. While the sauce is cooking, peel and slice parsnip into thin disks. Drizzle the bottom of a large, deep baking tray with some olive oil. Place a layer of parsnip slices overlapping each other. Put in the oven to start cooking while we prepare the rest of ingredients. 7. Pre-slice mushrooms and zucchini. 8. For the eggplant layer, we need to slightly pre-cook the aubergine slices. Heat a large frying pan to medium high. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of ghee (the reason I add both is to decrease olive oils smoking point). Add the first batch of eggplant slices making sure they dont overlap. Fry on each side for 1-2 minutes, just to cook them slightly. Repeat oil, ghee and eggplant until all disks are pre-cooked. 9. By this stage, all of our ingredients should be ready. Take the baking tray out of the oven and start layering the lasagne in the following order: pre-cooked parsnips, 1/3 of tomato meat sauce, eggplant, basil, 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 180-190C for 35-40 minutes. It will seem to you that you need more sauce but remember that most of the fresh vegetables and mushrooms will give out moisture during cooking and will shrink and compact into a much tighter, firmer lasagne. See step by step instructions further below. 10. If adding ricotta & grated parmesan cheese, take lasagne out at a 20 minute mark and add the cheeses on top. Put back in the oven at 200C for a further 1015 minutes. 11. Garnish with fresh basil and a few cherry tomatoes. I serve with a side mixed salad. Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 35-40 minutes Number of servings: 4 6 Recipe adapted from eatdrinkpaleo.com