Fruiti Di Mare

It has been a long time since I ate seafood lasagna, one of my favourite pasta dishes, so I decided to have a go at recreating it. 

From what I can gather Lasagna Pesce al Forno (seafood lasagna) is a Venetian speciality and one of the very few examples of Italian seafood dishes that contains cheese.  

Many varieties of this delightful meal contain only white sauce, personally I find this a little overfacing and because of this I like the addition of tomatoes.  Not only do the tomatoes make the dish tastier and healthier but they lighten it making it a very light meal indeed - not at all a ‘stick-to-your ribs’ meal unlike the ’white’ or meaty versions.

Very comforting and satisfying at the same time – it will definitely be made again.

The Recipe:

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 50 g unsalted butter
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole 
• 80 ml dry vermouth (I use Noilly Pratt)
• 1 tin cherry tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon thyme
• 1 bayleaf 
• 1/2 lemon, zest and juice
• 200 ml fish (or vegetable) stock
• 500 g mixed raw seafood
• salt & pepper
• 6-8 sheets egg lasagna (I used dried which didn’t require pre-cooking)

White Sauce:

• 20 g unsalted butter
• 20 g plain flour
• 150 ml milk
• 100 ml fish stock 
• salt & pepper
• 1 egg

Topping:

• 50 g fresh white breadcrumbs
• 1/2 lemon, zest only
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon thyme
• pinch dried oregano
• 25 g peccorino cheese grated

1. Make the white sauce.  Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan, add the flour and make a roux, cook out for around a minute, then gradually add the stock whisking all the time.  Add the milk and continue to stir.  Cook for around 10 minutes to get rid of the floury taste and thicken the sauce.  Stir in the herbs and lemon zest, season with salt and pepper and leave to cool.
2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan.  Add the garlic cloves and fry gently until aromatic, then remove. 
3. Add the onions and carrot to the pan and fry for around 5 minutes until softened but not coloured.  Add the vermouth and allow to reduce by two thirds.
4. Add the herbs, lemon zest, tinned tomatoes and stock.  Bring to the boil and allow to cook for 1 hour.  Season well.  Set aside to cool.
5. Once the tomato sauce is cold stir in the lemon juice and seafood.
6. Layer up the sauce between the egg lasagna in a deep rectangular oven proof dish.  Start with a layer of sauce, then pasta, then sauce etc, ending with a layer of lasagna.  Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 C or the equivalent.
7. Add the egg to the white sauce and whisk in well.  Pour this over the top of the lasagna.
8. Make the topping.  Place the breadcrumbs in a dish and stir in the other ingredients.  Scatter this over the top of the lasagna. 
9. Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for around 45 minutes until the pasta is tender and the top is golden brown.
10. Serve with crusty bread and a side salad of peppery leaves such as rocket and watercress drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

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