Smoked salmon is an astonishingly versatile ingredient, and though it's most common use in Italian cooking -- other than as an antipasto -- is probably in the seductive pasta with smoked salmon people make on Valentine's Day, it is also quite nice in this lasagna recipe with pesto sauce.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2/3 pound (300 g) fresh lasagna sheets (store bought will be fine, and for color contrast you could use a mix of plain and spinach lasagna)
- 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) béchamel sauce, warmed
- 1/4 pound (110 g) smoked salmon, broken up
- 1 cup freshly grated not too sharp pecorino romano
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) olive oil
- A garlic clove, peeled
- 2 bunches of fresh basil, washed and patted dry
- Salt to taste
Preparation:
Set pasta water to boil. When it does, salt it, and cook the sheets of pasta a few at a time, removing them with a strainer when they reach the al dente stage and running them under cold water to interrupt the cooking. Lay the sheets on a clean kitchen towel.
In the meantime, whir the basil, garlic, pecorino, pine nuts, and olive oil in a blender to make the pesto sauce, using short bursts until the sauce is uniformly creamy.
Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C).
Butter a pan large enough to contain the pasta and sauce (you could also use four individual-sized pans).
Begin with a layer of pasta, followed by béchamel sauce, pesto, and crumbled salmon, and then another layer of pasta; finish with a layer of pasta covered by pesto sauce, and dot the lasagna with the butter. Bake for 10 minutes and serve.
The wine? White, and a Sauvignon would be nice here.
Yield: 4 servings pesto and salmon lasagna
In the meantime, whir the basil, garlic, pecorino, pine nuts, and olive oil in a blender to make the pesto sauce, using short bursts until the sauce is uniformly creamy.
Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C).
Butter a pan large enough to contain the pasta and sauce (you could also use four individual-sized pans).
Begin with a layer of pasta, followed by béchamel sauce, pesto, and crumbled salmon, and then another layer of pasta; finish with a layer of pasta covered by pesto sauce, and dot the lasagna with the butter. Bake for 10 minutes and serve.
The wine? White, and a Sauvignon would be nice here.
Yield: 4 servings pesto and salmon lasagna
