Seafood Lasagna

This lasagna is creamy, delicious, and jam packed with seafood.  One of my favorite things about lasagna is you can prep it on a weekend and just throw it in the oven when you are ready to serve it.

Ingredients:

Seafood-

2 pounds shrimp peeled and deveined

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon seafood seasoning

¼ cup chicken broth (or white wine)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 pound lump crabmeat

Bechamel Sauce-

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

¼ cup all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 ½ cups shredded Romano

Spinach Ricotta Filling-

15 ounces part skim ricotta

2-4 cups spinach (I pulsed this in the food processor)

1 cup part-skim mozzarella

½ cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 large egg

To Assemble-

9 no boil lasagna noodles

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella

½ cup shredded Romano

Directions:

1. If cooking now pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and coat a 9×13 baking pan with baking non-stick spray.
2. Sauté shrimp with garlic and seafood seasoning until the pink turn pink.  Then remove the shrimp from the skillet.
3. Add the chicken broth or wine and lemon juice to the pan and scrape the pan to remove any brown bits from the pan.  Bring to a simmer and cook until the mixture is reduced by half.  Remove the heat and stir in the shrimp and crabmeat.
4. Make the bechamel sauce next.  Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until combined. Add the milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook whisking constantly.  Continue to cook and whisk until the mixture thickens.  Remove from heat and stir in the Romano until melted.
5. Mix the spinach, ricotta, mozzarella, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, and egg.  Fold in 1 cup of the bechamel sauce. 
6. Assemble the lasagna.  Spread ½ cup of the bechamel sauce in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.  Spread out 3 noodles (they expand as they cook).  Spread another 2/3 cup bechamel sauce over the noodles.  Spread half the ricotta mixture and seafood.  Then make another layer with 3 noodles, 2/3 cup bechamel sauce, and seafood.  Top with 3 more noodles, remaining bechamel sauce, and sprinkle with Romano and mozzarella. 
7. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil (spray with nonstick spray to avoid the cheese sticking).  Bake covered for 30 minutes.  Then uncover and bake until the top is golden brown 10-15 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
8. Note: If baking after refrigerating bake for 45 minutes before removing aluminum foil.  Then continue to bake until the top is golden brown.