Spicy Prawn Seafood Lasagne Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 70 minutes
Makes: 10-12 serves
Ingredients Needed
For Tomato and Prawn Sauce
- 175ml/8flozs extra virgin olive oil
- Leaves from 1 bunch basil
- 8 cloves garlic, whole and peeled
- 2 teaspoons red chilli flakes
- 100g/3.5ozs butter
- 2 onions, halved and peeled but roots still attached
- 2x800g/28oz tins of diced tomatoes
- 500g/1.1lbs raw peeled prawns, blended or roughly chopped into small pieces
- Salt, black pepper and sugar for seasoning
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
For Bechamel Sauce
- 100g/3.5ozs butter
- 100g/3.5ozs flour
- 4 cups/1 litre/1quart milk, hot
- 120g/4ozs grated parmesan cheese
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
For Lasagne
- 500g/1.1lb dried lasagne sheets
- 125g/4ozs flaked parmesan
- 85g/3ozs grated mozzarella
- Chilli oil to serve (see recipe below)
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 BASIL OIL - Place the olive oil, basil leaves, garlic cloves and red chilli flakes and place on low heat and gently heat and wilt the basil for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Then blend the mixture until you get a smooth basil oil.
Step 2 SAUCE - In a large pot on medium heat, melt the butter. Place onion halves cut side down and fry for 2 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and bring to a simmer, cook for 15 minutes. Stir in the basil oil and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Remove the onion halves. Add the prawns, breaking them up with a wooden spoon or spatula so that they are distributed in the sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in lemon zest and season with salt and pepper. If the tomatoes are still a bit sour, add in a teaspoon or so of sugar.
Step 3 BECHAMEL - Add the butter to a medium saucepan and melt. Add the flour in and stir with a flat bottomed spatula mixing the two for 1 minute. Switch to a whisk and add in the milk gradually, whisking out any lumps. Allow to thicken on low heat. Stir in the parmesan cheese and salt. Thermomix method: add butter, flour, milk, parmesan and salt to the TM bowl and set to 12 minutes, 90C, speed #4.
Step 4 ASSEMBLE - Preheat oven to 180C/350F conventional or 160C/320F fan forced. Have a very large ceramic or glass lasagne tray ready (at least 32x25x7cms or 12.8x10x2.8 inches). This is a big boy! Layer some tomato sauce and lasagne sheets (I always dip the pasta sheets in tap water first). Then alternate with bechamel for every 2nd layer. You will have more tomato sauce than bechamel so make sure to reserve some bechamel for the final layer. Cover with a final layer of bechamel and sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan cheese evenly. Place on top of another tray to catch any drips.
Step 5 BAKE - Bake for 35 minutes. Then increase heat to 240C/464F conventional or 220C/428F fan forced and cook for 10-15 minutes to brown the top. Rest the lasagne for at least 2 hours. I usually make this a day ahead and heat it in the oven. Serve with chilli oil (below).
To reheat lasagne from cold, heat in a 180C/350F conventional or 160/320F fan forced oven for 30-40 minutes.
Quick Chilli Oil - In a saucepan add 50ml/1.7flozs oil with 2 crushed cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon chilli flakes, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon chopped chives, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon chilli powder, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1/3 teaspoon salt. Heat gently for 3-4 minutes on low medium heat.
Personal Note
I heard of a very strange thing with lasagne recently. It's called a "Lasagne battery". Some people bake a lasagne in a disposable foil tin or metal dish because it's easier to transport especially if you're bringing it somewhere else. But there's a reason why if possible, you should use a ceramic or glass dish for lasagne.
A "lasagne battery" occurs when an acidic or salty food, like a tomato-based lasagna, is cooked in a metal pan and covered with aluminum foil so there is metal on the top and the bottom. It creates an accidental galvanic cell.
The different metals (steel pan and aluminum foil) act as electrodes, and the lasagne itself becomes acts as the electrolyte, creating a small electric current that causes corrosion. I only found out about it on the show A Man On The Inside and the result were metallic patches on top of the lasagne that vaguely resemble mould!
So while you can go ahead and bake a lasagne in a foil or metal tray, just cover it with something other than foil when bakingor covering it. This lasagne doesn't need covering with foil when baking but just make sure to avoid covering it in foil if you're using a metal tray!
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever heard of a lasagne battery? And have you ever tried a seafood lasagne?