Untraditional Lasagna ... you must try!

Well yesterday I was snowed in from going out. My car was stuck, so I had a free morning. I decided to make something a little different for lunch. I looked around the house and found some lasagna pasta that had been sitting in the pantry for a long time, and decided to use it up. But upon further searching did not find any ground meat of any sort in the house.

So I decided to go another route. Fish and rapini? haha...at first I wasn't sure. But when all was finished, my taste buds were pleased.

Salmon Rapini Lasagna

Here's my Salmon Rapini Lasagna recipe:

Ingredients:

For layers and top of lasagna:
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded swiss
grated parmasan (enough to moderately cover top of lasagna)

For bechamel sauce:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (to make bechamel into cheese sauce)

For salmon:
3 one inch thick cuts of slamon (mine were about 3 inches wide)
2 tablespoons kraft Tuscan Italian dressing (or whatever dressing you might fancy)
1/2 teaspoon mustard
2 cups mixed frozen greens (corn, carrots, peas)
2 tablespoons mayo
1 large egg
ground pepper to taste

For lasagna:
depending on dish size. I used 12 large noodles to cover 3 layers.


[prepping salmon]:
1) Marinade salmon(leave in fridge for at least 15 minutes)
2) Pre-heat oven to 350°F
3) Bake salmon about 8 minutes (does not need to be fully cooked at this stage)
4) Mash up salmon in bowl
5) Add frozen veges, egg, mayo, and pepper. Mix it up

[prepping bechamel sauce]:
1) Heat pan until warm-hot, add butter and turn down to med-low until it melts (don't burn)
2) Add flour and whisk until smooth, keep cooking roux until it smells like pie pastry.
3) Add 1/2 cup of COLD milk (must be cold to avoid lumping and clumping), once smooth, add rest of milk and continue to stir. Simmer for about 10 minutes, and your bechamel is done.
4) Take off heat and add cheese(sitr until cheese melts)
5) Set sauce aside

[prepping Rapini(broccoli Rabe)]
1) Boil water in pot, and add rapini once boiling (add salt)
2) Cook until done
3) Put rapini in ice-bath (or run cold water over for about a minute)
4) Drain well, and dry
5) Cut into 2-3inch lengths

[Prepping Lasagna]
cook until just almost al dente (optional...you can just use the noodle out of the package if you're lazy)

Final assembly:
1) In lasagna dish spread some cheese sauce on bottom
2) Layer of lasagna and sauce
3) Layer of salmon mix followed by some cheddar cheese
4) Layer of lasagna and sauce
5) Layer of rapini and swiss cheese
6) Layer of lasagna and sauce
7) Top with rest of cheese and parmesan cheese
8) Pre-heat oven to 350°F
9) Bake covered (aluminum foil) 30 minutes
10) Bake un-covered for 30 minutes


Here are some photos

Before the bake

Finished Epicness (let it sit for 10 minutes before eating)

Rock On!