On Epiphany day, the italian tradition is to have lasagna, while avoiding the same old baked lasagnas with meat sauce and bechamel we eat all year-round; this seafood lasagna recipe calls for being simply seasoned and roasted on a plate! When you make baked lasagna, whatever the recipe might be, you can make some in large quantities as it keeps well, even cooked, for a few days in the refrigerator (one can use a microwave oven, it heats up very well), or you can even freeze it, and the end result is excellent. This recipe does not allow the same leeway... It has to be served right away.
So here is the special recipe for the Epiphany lasagna. This recipe is suggested to be baked in the oven seasoned with a rich seafood sauce of and a tasty seafood béchamel. The indications of the types and quantities of seafood are guidelines you can use everything that suggests the market, for example, are also fine mussels or shrimp. It is very fine if you want to set aside some of bivalve most grand and then have them au gratin in the oven covered with a drop of sauce and use them to decorate your lasagna.
* 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
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 sauceHeat 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 lasagnaCook 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.