One of my best friends from grade school texted that she would be in San Francisco New Years Day with her rockstar husband (not an exaggeration, he is actually a rockstar) and wanted to get together.

They have a daughter who is 8 so some play time with the girls was in order. I convinced her that I was somewhat of an expert in lasagna making and invited them to come to my house New Years Day for some time at the park with the girls and a good dinner.

Now you’d think that an expert lasagna maker would have made lasagna at least once in her life. Well… I had eaten a lot of lasagna. My dad is Italian. He adopted me, so my maiden name is Sicilian. He taught my mom how to cook Italian food, so surely this background could qualify me as an expert lasagna maker right?

I searched my phone while at the dog park for lasagna recipes. They all seemed pretty complex. Gah. What did I get myself into?

I got home and went to the Food Network site. There I found tons of different lasagna recipes, but settled on the one by the 30 Minute Meals girl, Rachel Ray. She tends to keep things simple.

This is the link to her lasagna recipe.

I changed a few things: She quartered the onion for the sauce and removed it once done. I diced the onions and kept them in the sauce. I also added mushrooms and a small can of tomato paste. The grocery store was out of fresh basil, so I used dried basil and flat Italian parsley instead.

My timing on the whole process was a little off. It takes a long time to get it all put together and we didn’t eat until 7. I was pretty sure it was going to turn out ok, but when Justin took the first bite and exclaimed how fantastic it was and I noticed Steve eating in silent bliss, I knew that I had pulled it off. My bluff worked.

I don’t necessarily advise telling your guests you are an expert in some untested dish in order to lure them into your house, but in this case it turned out alright.

ROCKSTAR LASAGNA

Pre-baked

ps You should go follow my girl Alexandra Ella. We were drama buds pretty much our entire youth and she has carved out quite a career for herself down in the LA scene (hello, MAD MEN!!??)

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Jennifer Latch