By Dana Benner. There are always benefits of having charter captains as friends. First, they know all of the great places to fish and second, they usually have family members that are great cooks. Such was the case when I went striped bass fishing in Cape Cod Harbor with my friend Captain David Bois who owns and operates Stripers-R-Us. A life-long Cape Codder (or we say it here in New England, a “Cape Codda”) he has been fishing these waters for more than 30 years, both commercially and recreationally. The money spent fishing with him is well spent as he will put you on fish. With that said, I would make the three hour trip from my home in New Hampshire just to get some of his wife Robin’s seafood lasagna. It is that good.
New England is seafood country bar none. After all, we introduced the world to the traditional clam bake; clam and fish chowder (or “Chowda”) and we can’t leave out lobsters. With fin fish such as striped bass, flounder, cod and haddock, all of which produce great solid fillets of white meat, many of these fish can be substituted in many recipes that call for shellfish, such as scallops. What follows is the recipe for Robin’s Seafood Lasagna.
Robin’s Seafood Lasagna
Ingredients:
1 box lasagna noodles
1 pound uncooked shrimp cut into bite sized pieces
1 pound uncooked scallops (you can substitute with white fleshed fish, like striped bass. If you use fish, cut fish into bite sized pieces prior to cooking)
¾ pound of crab meat cut into bite sized pieces (you can substitute with lobster meat)
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
3 ½ cups milk (you can substitute with low fat or even skim milk)
½ cup sherry
1 10 ¾ ounce cream of shrimp soup
1 large onion diced
6 cloves garlic minced
1 10 ounce package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 8 ounce packages of shredded mozzarella cheese (you can substitute with reduced fat cheese)
¾ cup parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons tarragon
1 teaspoon pepper
¼ cup olive oil
- Cook lasagna noodles according to package instructions
- In medium saucepan, melt butter. Whisk flour and pepper into melted butter. Add milk, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add sherry, cream of shrimp soup and tarragon and then cook for about 5 minutes, after which remove from heat.
- In a large skillet add olive oil and onions, cooking the onions until tender. Add garlic. Shrimp, scallops and crab meat. Cook this mixture for about 3 minutes.
- In a 9×13 casserole dish spread enough of the sauce to lightly cover the bottom. Cover with a layer of noodles. Cover the noodles with 1/3 of the seafood mixture, 1/3 of the spinach and 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat this for 2 more layers. Add one more layer of noodles and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. This recipe should serve 8 (unless you have someone like me around).
If you ever find yourself in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, give Stripers-R-Us a call. David will put you on fish, but I can’t guarantee you’ll get lasagna.
Stripers-R-Us (508) 362-9195 or email Stripers-r-us@comcast.net