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Festive lasagne

Gennaro Contaldo from Food Uncut
Gennaro Contaldo's colourful main course of pasta, layered with minced beef and pork, creamy mozzarella, ricotta and delicious tomato sauce is a feast of flavours

Festive lasagne

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/ gas 6.

2. For the sauce: heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onions and cook gently over a low heat until softened.

3. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and add the basil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 25 minutes. Set aside.

4. For the meatballs: place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well together. Shape into small balls about size of walnuts.

5. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Dust the meatballs with some flour and fry in the hot oil until golden on all sides. Do this in batches, a few at a time depending on the size of the frying pan. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

6. Line a large oven-proof dish with some of the tomato sauce. Place a layer of pasta sheets on top, then spoon more tomato sauce over.

7. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese; arrange a few egg slices, on top with a few meatballs, a few knobs of ricotta and some mozzarella pieces.

8. Top with pasta sheets and repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients, finishing with tomato sauce, meatballs, eggs and cheeses.

9. Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 5 minutes, until the cheese has melted nicely on the top. Serve immediately.

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Serves: 6-8

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 1 hr 30 min

Ingredients
500g fresh lasagne sheets
200g Parmesan, grated
4 hard-boiled Eggs, sliced
200g Ricotta cheese
4 mozzarella cheeses, coarsely chopped

For the tomato sauce

120ml Olive oil
2 Onions, finely chopped
4x400g plum tomatoes
2-3 handfuls fresh basil leaves, roughly torn

For the meatballs

250g minced beef
250g minced pork
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsp Parsley, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
Flour, for dusting
Olive oil, for frying