This recipe looks a bit complicated at first, but is actually quite easy. It looks harder than it is only because it has several preparation phases. If you’re not a confident cook, simply prepare each element separately.

Its also good to vary pretty much any of the ingredients to tailor the dish to your own taste (or to what’s in the vegetable basket).

I’ve also made up a cauliflower and celeriac puree and put this on the top too, but I didn’t want to put anyone off by making this recipe look too complicated. But the best way to cook this is to use the following as a base, and experiment with other veggies and herbs.

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Ingredients

Lasagna sauce

500g beef mince
1 brown onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sweet paprika
680g tomato passata
Salt  to taste
Splash of extra virgin olive oil
25g Butter

Lasagna Layers

1 large parsnip, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large eggplant, thinly sliced
½ cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
8 button mushrooms, washed and sliced
2 cups baby spinach leaves
3 medium zucchini, sliced thinly along their length
Salt to taste
Several splashes of Extra virgin olive oil
50g butter
½ cup shredded or grated parmesan cheese (optional)

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Method

Heat oven to 180^oC (355^oF). Layer parsnip slices into the bottom of a large, deep oven-proof dish. Cut ½ the butter into small pieces and scatter on top of parsnip slices. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, to soften and pre-cook the parsnip. Turn off the oven and put parsnips, still in the dish, to one side.

Heat a splash of olive oil (a good couple of tablespoons), in a large frying pan or wok on a medium heat. Add onions and saute for 2 minutes. Add garlic and butter and continue to fry until the onion starts to brown. Then add paprika and mince, working the mince so it breaks up. Cook until the mince is browned (usually about 6 minutes.)

Once the meat is cooked, stir in tomato passata and, once the mixture starts to bubble, turn the heat down to low and simmer the sauce for 10 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, sprinkle sea salt over both sides of the eggplants and leave for 5 minutes, which draws out the juices and removes any bitterness. Then rinse off the salt and pat dry with paper towel.

Then, heat up some olive oil and the rest of the butter in another frying pan and fry the eggplant slices for 2-3 minutes on a medium heat until golden (you may need to do this in a couple of batches – if so, at each batch, you may need to add a little more butter and oil also). Put to one side.

Turn the oven back on to 180^oC, while it’s getting back up to heat, start assembling all the layers of the lasagna.

Pour 1/3 of the sauce onto the parsnips and spread out evenly, then, layer the eggplant slices over the mixture (it doesn’t matter if there are gaps). Layer the fresh basil leaves over the eggplant and add a layer of sliced mushrooms.

Pour the remaining sauce mix over the mushrooms and spread out evenly. Layer with the baby spinach leaves followed by the zucchini strips and drizzle the top with olive oil and a generous amount of black pepper. Place in the oven for around 40-50 minutes. If you wish to use parmesan, take the lasagna out of the oven at the 35 minute mark, and sprinkle the parmesan over the top of the zucchini before placing back in the oven.

Serve either on its own or with a simple green salad.

Bon Appétit!