This is a family favourite. The recipe is for two lasagnes, as I usually freeze one for next time. But you can just make one big one or half all the ingredients and make only one. One Lasagne will serve 6.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 large red capsicum, finely chopped

4 celery stalks, finely chopped

2 large carrots, peeled, finely chopped

(You can grate the above vegetables instead of chopping them)

250g mushrooms, sliced

1 kg beef mince

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes

700g jar tomato sauce (passata)

1 teaspoon caster sugar

3 teaspoons dried oregano

2 x 500g tubs of ricotta cheese

500g lasagne pasta sheets (see note..)

2 cups grated tasty cheese

salt and pepper

Method:

1 Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add onion and garlic. Cook , stirring until softened. Add mushroom, capsicum, celery and carrot. Cook , stirring until vegetables have softened.

2 Add the mince. Cook, stirring with a spoon to break up mince, until lightly browned.

3 Add tomato paste, canned tomatoes, passata sauce and sugar. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and cook for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

4 Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan-forced. Spoon 1/2 cup mince mixture over the base of each square  baking dish. (6cm deep and 24cm x 24cm base). Arrange lasagne sheets over each mixture. (cut sheets to fit). Spoon 1/4 of the rest of the mince mixture over lasagne sheets in each dish. Top each with more lasagne sheets. Repeat each layer , finishing with lasagne sheets on top.

5 Spoon one tub of ricotta cheese over each lasagne, making sure to cover all the lasagne sheets. Sprinkle half of the tasty cheese over the top. Bake for 20 minutes.

6 Once the lasagne is ready you can serve one immediately and freeze the other one for later. When freezing, make sure that lasagne is cooled. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, then foil. Freeze for up to 2 months.

Note: I have developed a trick to make sure that the lasagne sheets are nice and soft. Personally, I think they taste better and cut the cooking process of the lasagne in the oven by more than half.

Pre-cook the lasagne sheets in boiling water for a few minutes. In a shallow pot, boil some water. Once the water is boiling insert a few of the lasagne sheets at a time, rotating them, making sure they don’t stick to each other. Cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from the water on to a cutting board and in order to make sure that they don’t stick to eachother I seperate them with thin plastic sandwich bags, which I re-use for next time I cook the lasagne.

If this process however, is too long or complicated for you, simply increase the cooking temperature of the lasagne in the oven to 1 hour and use normal dry sheets.