Seafood Lasagna

BY CATHERINE GAUTHIER - MATANE, QUÉBEC

Seafood Lasagne Recipe

Ingredients

Cheese Bechamel sauce

  • 5 cups of milk
  • 1 cup of flour
  • 2 tbsp of butter
  • 30 ml (2 tbsp) of dried herbs (basil, thyme, tarragon, etc.)
  • A pinch of Cayenne pepper or few drops of Tabasco
  • A pinch of nutmeg
  • 1 cup of grated cheese (Swiss or cheddar cheese)
  • Salt and pepper

Lasagna

  • A container of Ricotta cheese (300 g)
  • 450 g of lasagna pasta (8 to 12 pasta)
  • A bag of Nordic shrimp (400 g)
  • 2 cans of crab meat, drained (120 g each)
  • A bag of frozen and thawed scallops (250 g)
  • 1 ½ cup of grated cheese (mozzarella or cheddar cheese)

To prepare the Bechamel cheese sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Whisk in milk until flour is completely dissolved, and add the remaining ingredients for the sauce. Bring the mixture to boil over high heat, stir until thick, and remove it from the heat. Add 1 cup of grated cheese and mix until melted.

To assemble the lasagna, first spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Add a layer of pasta, 2 cups of sauce and the shrimps. Add a layer of pasta, the Ricotta cheese, and then another layer of pasta. Add 2 cups of sauce, the crabmeat and scallops mix, then add the last layer of pasta. Add the remaining sauce and cheese.

Bake 45 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 ° C (350 ° F), or until the centre of the lasagna is warm and the cheese melted.

Let the lasagna rest a few minutes before serving.

Backstory and Sustainability

I have always lived in Montreal, but my family comes from the lower St. Lawrence region and many of my family members still live there. Unfortunately, I don't cook this seafood lasagna often at home; however, I really like it when my family cooks this recipe for me when I visit them in Matane. One bite of this lasagna, and I realize that I have returned to my home in the lower St. Lawrence region. That's why this recipe is so important to me!

Northern prawn (Pandalus borealis), also known as Matane prawn/shrimp in Quebec, is a small shrimp naturally found in eastern Canada. It's the most abundant of the 30 shrimp species found in Atlantic Canada, and accounts for 97% of all the shrimps caught in the region. In 2011, 150 776 tonnes of northern shrimp were harvested in Canada.

Fresh, northern prawn is fished from spring to fall, but is at its best from April to May. It's possible to get it frozen throughout the year.

The northern shrimp fishing industry in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the Scotian region is certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). While the fishery is predominately trawling, several conservation measures are enforced by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to promote the sustainable exploitation of shrimp resources, to minimize by-catches and to protect the biodiversity of the ecosystems. For example, special grates were installed to reduce bycatch and allow groundfish to escape, and due to the destructive nature of bottom trawls, areas with sensitive organisms (like corals and sponges) are closed to trawling.