Chris brought home some shrimp last week that he caught from the dock. OHHHH YEAH!!!! I am sooo gonna love this:)
There weren't that many, but I wanted to make a meal out of it. Our neighbor is a commercial fisherman and works on a scallop boat. He brings over gallon-sized ziplocs full of huge scallops when he comes home from a trip. I was thinking a seafood lasagna might be especially good with the shrimp from our dock and the scallops from Mike the fisherman. I was right. You could really use any combination of seafood. I would have used crab, too if I had any.
There weren't that many, but I wanted to make a meal out of it. Our neighbor is a commercial fisherman and works on a scallop boat. He brings over gallon-sized ziplocs full of huge scallops when he comes home from a trip. I was thinking a seafood lasagna might be especially good with the shrimp from our dock and the scallops from Mike the fisherman. I was right. You could really use any combination of seafood. I would have used crab, too if I had any.
Seafood Lasagna
12 lasagna noodles
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups half-and-half
1 cup grated Mozzarella
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
dash cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 pound sea scallops, cut in half or quartered if very large
3/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 13 by 9 in. pan with cooking spray.
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the lasagna noodles until they are just done, about 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet and cook the onion over low heat until very soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute more. Over medium-low heat, stir in the flour with a whisk, then gradually add the half-and-half, allowing the sauce to thicken slightly before adding more. When the sauce has thickened to about the consistency of whipping cream, add the cheese and stir well. Add the nutmeg, cayenne, salt and pepper and stir again. Add the scallops and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, then add the shrimp and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or just until the shrimp turn pink. Turn off the heat.
Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the sauce from the skillet into the prepared pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with 4 noodles, placing them side by side. Spoon 1/3 of the sauce over the noodles, distributing half of the seafood evenly, scatter half of the spinach over top. Layer 4 more noodles, 1/3 of the sauce, and remaining seafood and spinach. Cover with the last 4 noodles and the remaining sauce. (For the top layer, do not spoon any seafood on top of the noodles; just use the sauce.) Tuck in any edges of the noodles so they're all coated with sauce. Top with the Parmesan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, uncovered, until bubbly. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before slicing.
I can fret about our house not selling fast enough or the market going kapoowee. I could do that...or, I could sit back and take a big bite of this lasagna and realize I have nothing to complain about at all.
So, all this apple stuff has me in the kitchen wishing fall would come a few weeks early. I have some apples and some time to bake...how 'bout some pie? Last May, I participated in a dessert auction at our church. My contribution was a Pie of the Month club. The winner of the auction would get a pie each month for a whole year. It's been fun to bake the pies and know the money is helping the youth program. This month's pie is apple, so I got to work. I rarely ever make anything for someone else without making it for my family, too. Two pies at once is not that difficult. It's really as easy as, well, apple pie. OK, lame joke:)