The best lasagne ever

I have a confession to make. I love Jamie Oliver. There, I said it. For a woman who claims to only love darkhaired men, this is a bold thing to say. ;-)
It was love at first sight when i saw him on tv, in one of his first tv shows. I love how he talks about food and I love the simplicity of his recipes combined with the most fantastic products. I have almost all his cookbooks, I buy his magazine and I even have some of his cooking shows on dvd. And I even watch those. When my kids are asleep and hubs is away, I curl up on the sofa and I watch Jamie cook and talk about food. And I get inspired to cook. 

I love the passionate people in his shows too. Just as I love Jamie, I love Gennaro. Also because BBC GoodFood Magazine once published his Festive Lasagne and it's been an instant hit in my household ever since. The magazine looks dreadful, because it's been in my kitchen for nearly 5 years now, and i can't count the times I made this recipe. It's not neccesarily a glutenfree recipe, but it's very easy to make it glutenfree. All you need is some glutenfree lasagne sheets (I always use Schars lasagna sheets that you need to precook for 5 minutes) and some glutenfree basic flour and some glutenfree salami and prosciutto (read packages closely or ask your butcher, because not all is glutenfree unfortunately). 

I just want to share my glutenfree version of Gennaro Contaldo's recipe here, because it makes the perfect pasta for a dinner party with friends, or as a huge family lasagna. I always have some left over that I put in plastic containers in the freezer for my kids on busy workdays. They just love it. 

Truly the best lasagne ever!

Ingredients:

• 500 grams (1 lb 2 oz) of (glutenfree) lasagne sheets
• 200 grams (8 oz) of Parmesan grated
• 6 slices of prosciutto, roughly chopped (check if it's glutenfree)
• 12 slices of Napoli salami (check if it's glutenfree!)
• 200 grams (8 oz) ricotta
• 4 balls of mozzarella roughly chopped

For the tomato sauce

• 125 ml (4 fl oz) olive oil
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 4 x 400 grams (16 oz) cans of plum tomatoes ( I use the ones with already chopped up tomatoes by Heinz. They are always glutenfree)
• couple of handfuls of basil leaves, roughly torn

For the meatballs

• 250 grams (9 oz) minced beef
• 250 grams (9 oz) minced pork
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
• 1 egg, beaten
• glutenfree basic flour for dusting 
• olive oil for frying

Instructions:

1. Make the tomato sauce. heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onions and cook until softened. Add the tomatoes and basil and season. Your pastasheets will take up less of the water of the sauce, so you will need to add some glutenfree flour of maize starch in your sauce to make sure your lasagna will not get soppy. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 25 minutes, then set aside.
2. Meanwhile make the meatballs. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Shape into small balls the size of cherries and dust lightly in glutenfree flour. I use basic rice flour for that. Heat a shallow layer of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the meatballs in the hot oil until golden. You'll need to do this in batches, drain the meatballs on kitchen paper and set aside. (BTW, my kids love these little meatballs so I sometimes make even more and fry them and freeze them. I can defrost en heat up & serve them with some potatoes and veggies another day ;-))
3. Now, if you are working with glutenfree pasta sheets you will need to precook the lasagna sheets, otherwise you will end up with horrid tough pasta in your otherwise wonderful pasta dish. So get a pan on stove and bring plenty of water to a boil. Precook the pasta in batches while layering your dish, so about 4 sheets per layer because they tend to stick together and you don't want that with all the sheets in one go. It will get very, very messy. So you boil the first 4 sheets while preheating the oven to 200 degrees centigrade (400 degrees fahrenheit) and lining the ovenproof dish  with some tomato sauce. Line this with the first precooked lasagna sheets. Precook the sheets for the next layer and meanwhile add a layer of tomato sauce, sprinkle it with some parmesan, arrange a third of the prosciutto, salami and meatballs, a few knobs of ricotta and some mozzarella pieces. Your second set of lasagne sheets will be ready now, so you put those on top. You precook the next ones while you make another layer as mentioned above which you then top with the lasagne sheets. You finish with tomato sauce, meatballs and cheese. 
4. Cover it with foil and bake for about 30 minutes, remove the foil and cook for a further 5-10 minutes, until the cheese has melted over the top. 
5. Serve with a salad and a wonderful glass of red wine for the adults. 

Ps. This recipe is a bit of work, it will take you 30 minutes to prep and 30-40 minutes to cook at the least, so don't do this when you are in a hurry. If you have guests over, you can make it a day in advance and keep in it in the fridge. You will only have to cook it in the oven the next day, so you'll have time for your guests.