olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

500 ml tomato passata (or use chopped tomatoes here too)

150 ml red wine

3 large aubergines

400 g fresh lasagne sheets (check they don't need pre-cooking)

400 g mozzarella cheese, chopped

1 medium bunch of basil, leaves torn

1 couple of handfuls of grated parmesan

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large saucepan, heat a little olive oil, then add the chopped onion and stir over medium heat until softening. Add the garlic and saute another couple of minutes, then tip in the crushed tomatoes, passata and red wine. Simmer gently for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and set aside.

While the sauce is simmering, slice each of the aubergines lengthwise into slices about 2 or 3 mm thick. Layer these slices on the draining board or in a colander, salting between layers, then weight them down and leave them to drain for 20 minutes. Rinse the slices well under cold water and pat dry. Heat a little olive oil in a frypan and cook the slices, a few at a time, for a couple of minutes on each side until they are soft. Set aside on kitchen paper.

To construct the lasagne, spread a couple of spoonsfuls of the tomato sauce across the bottom of a lasagne dish, then cover this with a layer of pasta sheets. Cover these with more tomato sauce, a layer of aubergine slices, some chopped mozzarella, and some basil. Keep repeating this until all the ingredients are used. Finish with a layer of pasta, well covered with tomato sauce, and sprinkled with grated parmesan.

Bake at 180C for about half an hour, until the top is golden and bubbling. Remove from the oven and let sit for a couple of minutes before serving (although, like almost all lasagnes, this is even better the next day).

Serves 6-8.

31 December 2003