Lasagne.

My lasagne recipe takes a little of this, a little of that, and a big shortcut that will probably leave traditionalists shaking their fists at me. No apologies here, I’m a busy mum. C’est la vie.

Use whatever veggies you have taking up space in your crisper, add some beef mince, tomato passata and spices and you’re ready to start building.

Now, for the building, I absolutely recommend using fresh lasagne sheets, they’re so easily available now so why not. I also don’t spend hours stirring white sauce… here’s the hack… after your top layer of meat has gone down, dollop ricotta across the top, use a knife or dessert spoon to spread, then top with cheese to your hearts content. Easy. Simple. Delicious.

Serves 4-6. Prep 15 mins. Cooking 55 mins.

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 brown onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, grated

1 zucchini, grated

5 mushrooms, grated button, white or cup

1 stick celery, grated

500g beef mince ground beef

1 tsp beef stock powder, or 1 cube

700g tomato passata, or 1 large jar

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius (160 fan forced). Prepare baking dish.

• Brown onion in olive oil in a large frypan or stock pot over med-high heat for 2 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add beef and brown all over.

• Once the meat is browned, add the remaining veggies and sauté 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle beef stock over the top then stir through. Add tomatoes and stir through, then add the passata and stir through. Cook for 3-4 minutes then sprinkle the paprika, garlic powder and onion powder, and dried oregano over the top and stir through. Season with salt & pepper as needed.

• Remove from heat and gently fold through the baby spinach. Once the spinach has wilted, set the pot aside to cool slightly before assembling.

• Take a large spoonful of sauce and spread across the bottom of the baking dish to stop the pasta sticking.

• Lay lasagne sheets in the bottom of the dish so there are no gaps, and without overlapping the sheets.

• Top generously with the meat mixture then another layer of lasagne sheets. Keep alternating the layers until about 1 cm below the top of the dish. Finish with a meat layer.

• Dollop ricotta cheese across the top, then use a butter knife or dessert spoon to spread the ricotta across the whole dish. Generously sprinkle with grated cheese and put in the oven for 30 minutes.

• Remove from oven, cover with foil (to stop it burning) and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the meat is bubbling and the cheese on top is browned.

• Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving, unless you’d like to give a slice to the floor or your jeans.

• Slice into portions, serve with garlic bread and a green salad. Enjoy!

I have adapted this recipe from here.