Lasagna My Way

What is different about my lasagna:

I don’t mention to the table that it’s vegetarian. I just call it lasagna and everyone eats it like a starving army. No carnivore even looks up to protest.

It’s actually not vegetarian, because I sauté the alliums in anchovies. Salted Sicilian anchovies are worth EVERY PENNY. 

Add 2 pinches of anise seed in the sauce. 

Finish off the alliums with dry vermouth. 

Anchovies, anise seed, and dry vermouth are my yummy touches, but the tools are the real secret. There are lots of great lasagna recipes, but having the kitchen tools to layer it together makes it— or breaks it. You cannot spread the sauce and cheese mixture right without a light touch and wooden spoon. 

Also: Pre-cooked lasagna noodles changed my life. Now they’ll change yours. 

Garden-fresh vegetables of course make everything taste extraordinarily better. Organic and local if you can get it. 

What goes wrong with homemade lasagna: it’s too dry and leathery and overcooked, or it’s swimming in too m…