The Italian traditional Epiphany lasagna

The traditional Epiphany lasagna from Italy (Lasagna per la Befana)

A picture of a lasagna... Actually not representing this recipe.

Right after the Christmas holidays, comes another Christian special day; although many modern day Christians do not really celebrate it, in Italy this tradition is still quite alive; on that day of the Epiphany, the italian tradition is to make this special lasagna, that is very different from the traditional oven baked lasagnas with meat and bechamel sauce; this seafood lasagna recipe calls for being simply seasoned and stacked directly on the plate they will be eaten on! When you make baked lasagna, whatever the recipe might be, you can make some in large quantities as it keeps well for a few days in the refrigerator (one can use a microwave oven, it can easily be heated up), or you can even freeze it, and the end result is still excellent. This recipe here does not allow the same luxury... It has to be served right away!

So here is this unique recipe for the italian Epiphany lasagna. This recipe is suggested to be baked in the oven, seasoned with a tasty seafood béchamel sauce. It can also be a good idea to set aside some mussels and place them to grate in the oven covered with a drop of sauce and used to decorate your lasagna plates.

Ingredients:

* 1 lb. white or green flat lasagna noodles, not the ones with the curves on the sides; if unavailable you can cut the curves out right after cooking them...
* 1 lb. clams
* 1/2 lb. Shrimp
* 1 lb. Scampi
* 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil with a very delicate flavor
* 1 clove of garlic
* 1 bunch chopped parsley
* 1 cup dry white wine of good quality
* 1 tablespoon Cognac
* 1 tablespoon whiskey
* 1/ 2cup heavy cream
* Salt and pepper as per your taste
* Butter as per your taste
* 2 cups of béchamel sauce made with our recipe for béchamel, replacing the milk with fish broth or you can use the water you used to cook the clams

Instructions

Step 1 - Prepare and cook the clams

Clean the clams and cook them in 2 cups of water in a large pot; discard the ones that didn't open, then reserve the water produced during their cooking and shells.

Step 2 - The seafood sauce

Heat up the oil in a large saucepan, add the garlic and parsley and fry them a little bit, then add the prawns and shrimp, fry them until they change color, then pour the white wine over, and cook 5 minutes.

Remove the shrimp and prawns from the pan, and then remove and discard their shells, then put them back into the saucepan and add the clams we had cooked before. Sprinkle with the liquor, add the cream and let the alcohol evaporate. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 3 - The pasta, and assembling the lasagna

Cook al dente in salted water the lasagna pasta, pass under cold water and put them to dry with a bit of oil so they don't stick together.

Grease up an oven-going dish that is also presentable to go on your table; make a layer of lasagne, spread over them some seafood sauce and some béchamel. Continue until you run out of ingredients, but the last layer should be only one sauce. Top with a few nuts of butter, and bake in preheated oven at 350 ˚F for 20 minutes. Allow your whole seafood lasagna 10 minutes to cool down prior to serving.