Shrimp and Crab Lasagna

"Try something new and different, it keeps life exciting!"

I know I am breaking the cardinal chef rule for seafood, "Never combine seafood and cheese", but I just can't help myself. You can't go wrong with a combination of seafood layered in between lasagna noodles and a cream sauce. This dish is definitely not low fat but it is worth every single calorie!! The recipe calls for shrimp, scallops and crabmeat but you can leave out any of these that don't appeal to you and just add more of what does. I realize there are a lot of ingredients in this lasagna so just make sure you allow for the time needed to prep and bake. I like to use the no cook lasagna noodles but you can use either just make sure you boil the ones that require cooking.

Shrimp and Crab Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 small onion, diced or 2 shallots
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 C. chicken stock
1 8 oz. bottle of clam juice
1 lb. uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 lb. imitation crabmeat, chopped
1/4 C. parmesan cheese
9 lasagna noodles, cooked to pkg. directions

Melt the butter and add oil to a large pan. Add the onion and saute until tender. Stir in stock and clam juice. Bring to a boil and add the shrimp and crab. Season with a little salt and pepper. Cook for about 4 minutes until almost done since this will cook more in the oven. Remove seafood and save the cooking liquid.

Bechamel Sauce

1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. flour
1 1/2 C. milk
reserved cooking liquid
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 C. whipping cream
1/4 C. parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add flour and stir until smooth. Cook for about 1 minute. Gradually add milk and reserved cooking liquid to the flour, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the whipping cream and cheese. Stir 3/4 C. sauce into the seafood mixture.

In a 13x9 in. baking dish, place a thin layer of the bechamel sauce. Top with three noodles, half of the seafood mixture and about 1 C. sauce. Repeat with next layer. The top layer will just be noodles, sauce and parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 for about 35-40 minutes, uncovered.