The Best Lasagna Uncle Javier Has Ever Had!

Guinness has a special relationship with a couple of our friends. Erin Keller, the dog whisperer, always makes Guinness so excited when she sees her that she pees. Every time. Never fails. But probably her most special relationship is with her Uncle Javier. He often takes her to work with him for the day, and now knows him by name! I think Javier likes her more than us. For my 30th b-day, he brought her a gift, instead of me. It was a teddy bear, and her new favorite toy. Her new game is to try and get the arms of the bear out of the t-shirt. Weirdo.

We recently went on a vacation where we couldn't take our dog, Guinness. She isn't the easiest dog when it comes to sleeping, as she likes to sleep in our bed, instead of her own "big girl bed", so we debated about what to do with her while we were gone. She spends a lot of time with her BFF, Mini Panda, across the street, so we asked our friends the Norton's if they wouldn't mind watching her. They love and treat her like they do Mini, so we knew she would be well taken care of. The other options were a kennel, or her Uncle Javier, but until she sleeps through the night in her own bed, we didn't think Javier would stay sane for 5 days. We did list Javier as her "emergency contact", and when asked what relationship was, I said Godfather. Man, are we cheesy (pun intended). Here's a pic of the besties, Guinness and Mini.

This doesn't have much to do with lasagna. But when I thought about when I made the lasagna, I remembered that Javier had been telling me he made a mean lasagna, and we had invited him and Danielle for dinner when I made it, and I was very nervous. However, after eating it, he said it might be the best lasagna he's ever had! Best. Compliment. Ever. When we left for our vacation a couple of days later, we had tons of lasagna left, and I didn't want such hard work to go to waste, so I sent piles of leftovers with the Norton's when they came to pick up Guinness. James thought it was very strange to give our friends leftovers when they don't ask for them, but I hadn't really thought twice about it. Needless to say, they said they loved the lasagna! Yippee! I'm not a weirdo!

Back to the food: this is a labor of love, I will warn you. But it's worth the 4 hours it takes to make.

Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): you won't poop for a week
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 6-7
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 7-8 ugh

Palio's Lasagna
1.5 lb mild Italian sausage, ground (optional)
1/4 cup water
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 leek, white only, finely chopped
1 small fennel bulb (Anise), finely chopped
1.5 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 lb zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/4in thick slices
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, coarsely chopped
1 tsp fresh oregano
1 Tbs fresh basil
1 Tbs flour
1 cup heavy cream
Salt/Pepper
2 eggs
15 lasagna noodles (no-boil type)
2 15oz. containers part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese
4 cups mozzarella cheese, grated or shredded
1.5 cups fontina cheese, grated
4 cups tomato sauce (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 deg. In large pan, add Italian sausage with 1/4 cup of water and cook over medium high heat, stirring to break up meat, until cooked through. Drain and set aside. Melt the butter in the pan, and add chopped leek and fennel and saute over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Add mushrooms and continue to saute until soft. Stir in flour, then add heavy cream, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the chopped spinach and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and mix in the sausage, and set aside. Arrange sliced zucchini on non-stick baking sheet (or line sheet with parchment paper), season with salt and pepper, and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. In large bowl, beat eggs and mix in ricotta cheese, season with salt and pepper. In separate large bowl, combine remaining cheeses. 

Spray 13x9 glass baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce over bottom of dish. Place 5 noodles over sauce, overlapping them a bit. Spread half of ricotta mixture evenly over noodles, then spread sausage mixture as well. Take half of baked zucchini and spread out over top of sausage mixture. Sprinkle 1/3 of cheeses evenly over zucchini. Repeat layering with 5 noodles, remaining ricotta, sausage mixture, zucchini, and 1/2 the amount of remaining cheeses. Arrange remaining 5 noodles to cover it all. Sprinkle remaining cheeses evenly over lasagna. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until hot and golden on top, about 20-25 minutes. Take out of oven and let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Tomato Sauce
3 24oz cans chopped tomatoes, preferably Hunts
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 medium size garlic cloves
1/3 cup canned tomato sauce
2 cups fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1.5 Tbs kosher or sea salt
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 Tbs honey

In food processor or blender, puree olive oil and garlic. Pour the mixture into a sauce pan and heat over medium heat (don't burn garlic). Stir in chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in honey and fresh basil at end. Serve and freeze unused if desired.


Phew! I'm tired just writing this, let alone cooking it. No notes here. Don't substitute on this one. It's perfection. And don't even think about using jarred sauce to save time. The sauce makes this dish. And you've already committed, so don't skimp out now. You can thank me later.