You know you’re on a winning vegetarian dish when your husband gets excited that you’re making bean lasagne and it’s so easy he’s even made it for me before!

While I’ve called it lasagne it has very little in common to a traditional lasagne other than the layering pattern. The original version was a dish Mum made for us called “ribbon bean bake” when I was a kid, boy I hated it then, but now I love it! I’ve scaled back some of the less healthy elements while making sure it is still super tasty. The result is a man-friendly, no pasta, low fat, vegetarian lasagne.

This dish takes a little while to prepare (about the same as a traditional lasagne), so it’s a good weekend meal, plus it freezes well so you have leftovers for the week.

Bean Lasagne
8 generous servings, ½ hour of preparation 1 hour cooking

2 onions, diced
1 tbs oil
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
5 sticks of celery, sliced
800g can of diced tomatoes
2 tsp paprika
2 tbs of fresh basil (or 1 tsp of dried)
cayenne pepper to taste
salt and pepper
1kg of light smooth ricotta
4 cans of beans (any beans you like), rinced
50g parmesan

Fry the onions in a little oil with a little salt (which helps to stop them burning) until soft. Add the celery and garlic, sauté until just softening but still firm. Add the can of tomatoes, basil and spices, simmer for 5 minutes.

In a lasagne tray layer half the tomato mixture, then half the beans, then 500g of ricotta, repeat the layers with the remaining tomato mixture, beans and ricotta. Sprinkle the parmesan on top.

Bake at 190 degrees for 1 hour until golden on top.