Christmas Day I had the pleasure of hosting family and friends at the house, we call it the ranch. I cooked dinner for our 15 guests but my good friend Bobby Bandiera made a Genoa Salami Lasagna that was a huge hit at the dinner table.

We served it as a pasta course and everyone loved it. Bobby as many of you know is one of New Jersey’s most talented guitarist and singer selling out The Count Basie Theatre, State Theatre and other venues and his resume includes playing and touring with Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny and Bruce Springsteen just to name a few. He’s also a great cook and lends his time and efforts to so many New Jersey based charities.I’m proud to call him my friend.

I asked him to share his culinary masterpiece with all of you and he so quickly agreed. You can bet this recipe will be in my new cookbook. Thank you Bobby! Enjoy everybody!

Note: I strongly suggest you use the freshest of ingredients, it really makes a difference in the taste.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. of ricotta cheese
2 lbs. of Parmesan Reggiano (grated)
3 lbs. of fresh mozzarella shredded or thinly sliced
2 eggs beaten
4 lg cans of crushed San Marzano tomatoes
2 lbs. of lasagna noodles
2 lbs. of thinly sliced Genoa salami
1 head of garlic finely chopped/minced
1 bunch of fresh basil chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

How to put it together:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large sauce pot add crushed tomatoes, chopped basil, add minced garlic add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Bring sauce to a slow simmer and then cook for 1 hour.

In a large bowl add ricotta cheese and two beaten eggs with 1 and ½ pounds of Parmesan Reggiano cheese retaining ½ pound for garnish. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

In large pot add water to ¾ full and tsp of salt for lasagna noodles bring to a boil. Once at a rolling boil add lasagna noodles being careful not to tear noodles (cook about 5 minutes for fresh noodles, 7 – 8 minutes for box noodles or until al’dente.)

In the bottom of lasagna pan, layer starting with sauce, then layer of noodles, then ricotta cheese mixture, then salami then mozzarella cheese then repeat again and again. Add sprinkle of Parmesan Reggiano on top and bake for 1 hour at 400 degrees. After cooking let rest and set for 15 minutes serve in slices. Serves 8 - 10.

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