In January, my husband and I decided to do a 60-day gluten-free trial to see if it would help him feel better (both his mother and his sister are gluten intolerant, so it's likely he is too). Lo and behold, he feels better! After many experiments in the gluten-free realm, I feel pretty confident in cooking gluten free (I've done some baking experiments too, and they have turned out relatively well, though I still need some practice).
Nightshade free, on the other hand, has been a little more difficult. What are nightshades, you ask? They are a family of flowering plants that include tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers of all kinds (including bell peppers, chilies, paprika, chili powder, etc), eggplant and potatoes (though potatoes don't seem to bother my husband - we think it's because they are the root and not the fruit). Here's a link to what Wikipedia has to say about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightshade. Trying to find food that does not contain nightshades is very hard. Lots of things have "spice" on the label, which can often contain peppers of some sort (usually paprika or red bell pepper) so we can never be certain. Cooking from scratch is just the best way to go, because then I know what is going into the food.
This lasagne has 3 cheeses (ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella) and a creamy sauce. I used brown rice lasagne noodles (no need to pre-cook) and sweet rice flour as a thickener for the sauce (instead of corn starch - sweet rice flour won't make it goopy the next day like corn starch does). You needs lots of sauce to cook the rice noodles properly. I used mild Italian sausage meat (or you could buy Italian sausages and remove the casings if you can't find the meat on its own); the only thing I'm concerned about is that is has "spice" as an ingredient, so it may not be 100% nightshade free. You could use any kind of ground meat to be certain or if you don't eat pork for whatever reason.
Gluten-Free, Nightshade-Free 3 Cheese Sausage Lasagne
Prep: 30-45 minutes | Cook: 45 minutes | Yield: one 9x13 pan (about 6 large servings)
Ingredients:
1 package mild Italian sausage meat (or other ground meat) - about 1 pound
3 large cloves garlic, minced (I used my garlic press)
2 TBSP butter
3 cups 1% milk
4 TBSP sweet rice flour
1 large shallot, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp each salt and pepper
300g ricotta cheese (this is a standard container size)
2 TBSP shredded parmesan cheese
1 TBSP Johnny's Garlic Seasoning
10 gluten-free brown rice lasagne noodles
250g grated mozzarella
vegetable oil spray
Method:
1. Cook the sausage in a large pan over medium-high, breaking it up as you cook it. When the meat is mostly cooked, add the garlic and cook until the meat is no longer pink and is cooked through. Remove the meat to a separate bowl, leaving the cooking grease in the pan.
2. Return the pan to the stove and reduce the heat to low. Add the butter and melt. Once the butter is melted, add the shallot and cook for about 1 minute.
3. While the butter is melting, mix the sweet rice flour with the milk. Mix well to avoid lumps. Once the shallot is cooked, add the milk to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens. This could take up to 15 minutes - be patient! Once the sauce is thick, add the meat back to the sauce and stir to incorporate fully. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
4. Mix the ricotta cheese with the parmesan and the Johnny's Garlic. Set aside.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the pan with vegetable oil. Spread just over half the sauce evenly on the bottom of the pan. Place 4 rice noodles across the width of the sauce (side-by-side, not overlapping) and then place 1 noodle across the end of the pan (you may need to break it to make it fit).
6. Top the noodles with the ricotta mixture and spread evenly. Add a second layer of noodles (same as before and top with the rest of the sauce. Make sure the noodles are completely covered. Cover with the grated mozzarella.
7. Cover with tinfoil and cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the tinfoil and return to the oven for an additional 15 minutes. Let cool at least 5 minutes before serving.
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