Fish lasagne is a delicious and refined dish, ideal for an elegant seafood menu.
Difficulty: medium
Method: 105
Cooking: 120
Difficulty: medium
Method: 105
Cooking: 120
Roll pasta dough out to a thickness of 3 mm
Cut into rectangles
Cook pasta sheets a few at a time in salted, boiling water for 2 minutes, following the video instructions for lasagne alla bolognese
Remove pasta from the pot and cool in an ice bath
Drain and leave to dry on a cloth
Cut tomatoes in half
Put them on a baking sheet and season with salt, pepper, thyme leaves, and extra virgin olive oil
Bake in the oven at 100 °C for an hour, until they are wilted
Wash mussels
Firmly tug off any beards, or byssal threads, protruding from the shells
Put mussels in a pan over high heat with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a clove of garlic
Cover with a lid and cook until they open
Drain mussels, conserving the cooking liquid and filtering it with a fine mesh strainer
Let mussels cool, then remove the meat from the shells
Wash clams under running water
Put in a basin with cold water and coarse salt
Purge for one hour in the refrigerator, covered
Rinse very thoroughly under running water before using
Tap clams one by one against worktop
If a clam is dead and full of sand, it will open immediately—discard it
Put clams in a pan over high heat with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a clove of garlic
Cover with a lid and cook until they open
Drain clams, conserving the cooking liquid and filtering it with a fine mesh strainer
Let clams cool and then shell them
Wash squid
Grasp the head of the squid and gently pull it off, removing the innards with it
Remove the clear quill inside the body
Remove eyes from tentacles
Skin and wash squid
Cut body and tentacles into small pieces
Cut the monkfish into cubes, removing the bone
Gently cut the back of the prawn with the tip of a knife and devein
Cut prawn into small pieces
Wash all the fish
There are video instructions for cleaning fish in the recipe for filleted fish soup
Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat
Add flour and cook for 3 minutes, stirring continuously
Add warm fish stock
Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often
Season with salt and pepper and turn heat off
Finely chop shallots and sweat in a pan over low heat with 10 g of extra virgin olive oil and the chopped chilli pepper
When shallots are soft but not burned, add squid
Cover with white wine and let it evaporate
Add cubed monkfish, prawns, and julienned basil
Add mussels and clams with a bit of their cooking liquid; the sauce should not be too wet at the end
Cook for 10 minutes
Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper, and add tomato confit
Lightly butter the bottom of a baking dish
Put a bit of fish velouté at the bottom
Lay the first layer of pasta, letting it hang over the sides of the baking dish
Assemble the lasagne, alternating layers of pasta, velouté, and fish sauce and Pecorino
Make 3 layers of pasta
Complete lasagne by folding in the overhanging ends of the bottom strips of pasta and then top with a layer of fish velouté and Pecorino
Bake lasagne in the oven at 200 °C for about 30 minutes
Turn off the oven when lasagne is golden and crispy on top
Leave to rest in the cooling oven for about 10 minutes before serving
Fish lasagne pairs perfectly with a dry white wine of good acidity such as Sardinian Vermentino or a fresh and fruity rosé like Rosato Negroamaro del Salento.
The elegant effervescence of a savoury Franciacorta brut would be another excellent choice.
Fish lasagne may look like a complex recipe, but it is very satisfying to serve. You just need a few tricks to organise yourself and you can prepare it in advance.
If you make it with fresh rather than defrosted fish, this lasagne is suitable for preparing in advance; keep it in the freezer and, when you want to serve it, thaw and bake it.
You can prepare the necessary ingredients in advance and then assemble them on the day you serve the lasagne:
Prepare the fresh egg pasta dough in advance.
Prepare the tomato confit the day before.
Prepare the fish sauce the day before.
Prepare the mussels and clams the day before, storing them in the refrigerator in their cooking liquid.
Prepare the fish velouté a few hours in advance and then soften it with an immersion blender before using it.
Assemble the lasagne a few hours ahead of time and then bake it shortly before eating it, remembering to factor in at least 10 minutes of rest before serving.
Avoid rolling out the dough any thicker than 3 mm to ensure the right balance of pasta, sauce, and fish velouté.
Pay attention to the consistency of the fish sauce; it should be thick and creamy. If it is liquid and watery, reduce it over low heat before assembling the lasagne.
Also pay attention to the consistency of the fish velouté, it should be fluid but viscous, not watery.
Spread the fish sauce and velouté in an even layer over the pasta, not just in the centre. This ensures that the lasagne will cook evenly without the edges drying out.
Do not let the lasagne stick to the bottom and sides of the baking dish; butter the dish and start with a layer of velouté before adding the first layer of pasta.
Do not cut the lasagne immediately after removing it from the oven, it will cut better if you let it rest for at least 10 minutes.
If you have leftover fish lasagne after cooking it, you can keep it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. When you want to eat it, reheat it in the oven at 150 °C, covered with a sheet of aluminium foil to avoid it drying out.
If you don’t make the lasagne with defrosted fish, you can freeze it. Be sure to defrost it in the refrigerator and then reheat it in the oven at 150° C, again covered with aluminium foil, before eating it.
If you have leftover sheets of cooked pasta you can cut them into tagliatelle or another shape of your choosing and keep the pasta in the refrigerator for a couple of days at most. When you want to eat it, simply blanch the pasta for a moment in boiling water and then transfer it to a pan with, for example, a good tomato and basil sauce.
You can also freeze cooked pasta sheets to have them ready for another time; place one sheet on top of the other, divided by a sheet of baking paper to keep them from sticking together. You can store them in the freezer flat or rolled, covering them carefully first with cling film and then with aluminium foil.
Take the sheets you need when you want to use them and let them thaw in the refrigerator. Once thawed, they will be ready for using in other types of lasagne, for example lasagne bolognese.
Fish lasagne is a delicious and refined dish, ideal for an elegant seafood menu.
The quality and variety of the fish are very important; as with fish soup, buy different kinds of fish to ensure a richer flavour.
Fish velouté is a version of béchamel sauce, with the addition of fish stock in place of milk. If you really do not have time to make fish stock and you don’t have any frozen, you can replace it with a very quick vegetable stock. The velouté will be less flavourful but still excellent.
Don’t let the length of the recipe discourage you; following our advice, you can arrange to make it in advance.
300 g fresh egg pasta dough
200 g mussels
200 g clams
2 cloves garlic
100 g datterini or cherry tomatoes
1 sprig thyme
70 g shallots
1 hot chili pepper
100 g squid
200 g monkfish
100 g shelled prawn tails
100 ml white wine
10 basil leaves
50 g Pecorino, grated
40 g extra virgin olive oil
40 g butter
40 g tipo 00 flour
500 ml fish stock
Salt and pepper
Fish lasagne pairs perfectly with a dry white wine of good acidity such as Sardinian Vermentino or a fresh and fruity rosé like Rosato Negroamaro del Salento.
The elegant effervescence of a savoury Franciacorta brut would be another excellent choice.
