.salmon asparagus lasagna.

A couple weeks ago, I had a little food challenge here where I had people leave the three ingredients they'd like to see used in a dish. The winning ingredients were salmon-asparagus-fresh mozzarella. I thought about it awhile and decided to try making a spin on lasagna. Here's the dish I came up with!



CHEESE FILLING:

Ricotta cheese. Don't use this big of a container. I had tons leftover.
Put it in a bowl.

Break in one egg.
Add salt and pepper.

Grate 1 cup fresh parmesan cheese. Add to bowl.

Cut up about 4-5 asparagus spears. I cut them at a diagonal for visual interest.
We need to blanch these so put a pot of water on to boil.

Dump the asparagus into the hot water and let boil for about 3 minutes. Pull out using a serrated spoon and dumping them immediately into a bowl of ice water. This will stop them from cooking.

Add the asparagus to the cheese mixture. Stir everything together.
Set aside.

I wasn't sure how the sauce would cook these noodles (when I make normal lasagna I don't pre-boil my pasta). Go ahead and cook them according to the package and set aside.



LEMON DILL SAUCE:

Mince a few cloves of garlic.

In a saucepan, heat some olive oil. Add the garlic and 1 tsp dill weed. Saute for a minute to release the flavors.

Add 1/4 cup lemon juice.

In a bowl, mix together 4 cups milk and 1/2 cup flour. Whisk well to get rid of all the lumps.

Pour the milk/flour mixture into the saucepan. Season with salt and pepper. Stir until the sauce begins to thicken.

It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Add 1 Tbsp butter and stir in. This will give the sauce a little richness in flavor.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside.

Take salmon fillets and using your knife, cut at a 45 degree angle. We want really thin slices of salmon here. Set all the salmon slices on a plate. We're ready to start putting everything together!

Take your baking pan and put some of the sauce on the bottom.

Put down some lasagna noodles.

Put down a layer of thinly sliced salmon.

Use a spoon to spread out some of the ricotta cheese/asparagus mix.
Repeat the process until your pan is full. SAUCE - PASTA - SALMON - RICOTTA

Take 1 lb of fresh mozzarella cheese and grate. If you're working with a cheese like this that is really soft, put it in the freezer for about half hour. This will firm it up a little, making it easier to grate.

Top the lasagna off with the cheese.
Put this in the oven at 350* for about half hour or so.

What you're looking for is a wonderful golden top. Pull from the oven and let sit for about 5-10 minutes before serving. This will help everything firm up a little.
Cut and serve. I made caesar salad to go with this.
A wonderful variation! I made enough lasagna to make two so one is in the freezer waiting to be cooked at a later date. Enjoy!

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_59ffssq5ck