Jeremy Vincent: Salmon lasagne recipe

The lasagne gets a seafood spin.

THE Italians have given us plenty to think about in the kitchen.

You only need to think of pasta and you’ve got a wealth of lunches and dinners with which to show off your cooking skills.

The shapes of the pasta are generally what make the difference in the recipes you’ll cook with them, although in most instances nothing’s set in concrete when it comes to matching a sauce with a certain shape of pasta. Some work better then others, but more important are the taste of the sauce and the correct cooking of the pasta to ensure that the meal is spot on.

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JUST LIKE NONNA DID IT

SANGIOVESE SPAGHETTI

VEAL LASAGNE WITH LAYERS OF TASTY APPEAL

Lasagne, those broad, flat sheets of pasta, tends to stand out from the rest. Rather than provide a “background” to the sauce, these wide strips of dough are designed to help you build a dish in layers.

SALMON LASAGNE

I’ve served this salmon lasagne a lot recently and am constantly surprised at the number of times my guests comment that they never would have thought a lasagne would work without meat. It does.

I like to prepare this dish in a large square cake tin (the same one I use for the annual Christmas cake).

Once you get the knack of removing the first slice, using a large egg flip, the rest of the seafood lasagne is easy to serve.

Serves 6

30g butter

2 onions, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 stick celery, chopped

2 x 425g cans crushed tomatoes

440g can salmon, drained and flaked

375g dried lasagne sheets, or more if you want extra layers

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

CHEESE SAUCE

60g butter

1/3 cup plain flour

1 litre milk

250g ricotta cheese

250g tasty cheese

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Seafood sensation: Salmon lasagne. Picture: Dannika Bonser

Heat the butter in a pan. Add the onions, garlic and celery and cook, stirring, until the onions are soft. Stir in the undrained crushed tomatoes and bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Stir in the salmon and set aside.

Make the cheese sauce by melting the butter in a pan and adding the flour, stirring over medium heat until bubbling. Remove from the heat, gradually stir in the milk and return to the heat until the sauce boils and thickens. Remove the pan from the heat and add the ricotta cheese, tasty cheese and beaten eggs. Set aside.

When ready to assemble, cover the base of a buttered 24cm square ovenproof dish with a thin layer of the sauce and then a layer of pasta. Spread the pasta with half the salmon mixture then half the cheese sauce; repeat layers, ending with cheese sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Note: You can build up many layers of pasta and sauce, but the amounts of sauce and tomato filling for this recipe are probably best spread over about 3-4 layers, depending on the size of your dish.

Bake the lasagne in a preheated 180C oven for about 45 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Allow to cool slightly before using a sharp, serrated knife and a large egg flip to ease out the slices.

Leftovers can be stored, covered in the fridge before being well reheated.

THINK AHEAD

ONE of the best things about this dish is that all the elements can be made in advance. I often prepare them the day or night before I assemble and bake the dish.

If you are working in advance, the sauce and the filling can be left to cool and then stored, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the dish.

BEST LASAGNE TIPS

START with the right ingredients. You don’t need to stick with meat, as the above recipe suggests, but if you head down the traditional route, avoid using just beef. Many people use minced beef in their spaghetti sauce, but in lasagne, pork is your friend; a beef-and-pork combo is particularly flavourful. Use full fat cheeses when possible.

ASSEMBLE with care. Invest in a proper lasagne pan, one that is at least three inches deep, so you won’t have that top layer bubble over the side and into the bottom of your oven. Make sure you put a little sauce down in the pan first so that first layer of pasta does not stick to the pan. The final layer of pasta needs to be completely covered in sauce to prevent the sheets from becoming brittle.

COOK it right. Some people prefer to cover the dish with foil before baking, then remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes so that the cheese on top becomes a delicious golden brown. After removing from the oven, let it sit for 10 minutes before cutting into it. This keeps your layers from immediately sliding apart.

KNOW where to draw the line. If you are one to add extras, such as vegetables, to your mix, be wary of how many you add here. Watery vegetables such as mushrooms, squash and spinach may create a soupy lasagne that slides off the spatula the moment it leaves the pan. If you really want to up the vegies, saute them first and drain off the excess liquid.