Dungeness Crag and Pine Nut Lasagne
Paraphrased from recipe published in Saveur magazine, March 2004
Ingredients:
2 cups béchamel sauce
Sheet pasta of lasagne noodles
9-12 oz. Dungeness crab meat
¼ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
¼ cup freshly grated pecorino-romano
½ lb button mushrooms, stemmed & thinly sliced
½ cup ricotta
¾ cup pine nuts
The recipe went into details about making the béchamel & pasta from scratch, I’ve omitted them here as everyone seems to have his/her favorite version. I also added ½ lb of sautéed then chopped shrimp to the crab. I also did one extra layer of ricotta, just to use up the entire container. If I were to make it again, I think I would lightly sauté the mushrooms as they came out rather raw tasting. Mine also took longer to cook but that’s probably because I can’t make a small lasagne & my pan is 4” deep.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter. Line bottom of dish with pasta, trimming as necessary to make 1 even layer. Scatter crab over pasta, spread 1/3 of the béchamel on top, then sprinkle with ½ the grated cheeses. Cover with another layer of pasta, scatter mushrooms on top, add dollops of ricotta and spread ½ the remaining béchamel on top. Cover with another layer of pasta, spread remaining béchamel on top, sprinkle with remaining grated cheeses and scatter pine nuts on top. Bake until bubbling & golden brown, about 30 minutes.
On a side note: I didn't notice much difference between the "Premium Chunk" crabmeat at $4.50 a can and the "Whitemeat" crabmeat at $1.99 a can. I have a feling the marketing guys are coming into play.
Kirk
http://www.chezbubba.com Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?