Easter Menu Update

Our Easter menu has changed thanks to conscience and happenstance.  Here’s what happened:

• Saw that a Quebec artisan ham was available at Kings so went there and instead bought the Niman Ranch ham you see here which is nitrite free, vegetarian fed, etc.
• The shrimp casserole for Sunday was consumed prematurely by marauding male diners in my home.
• The Sopranos starts Sunday night and our friends are coming over for the dinner and to watch the show.  I must become at least a bit Italian!
• I am baking cookies and cupcakes for an Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday and some will be preserved for Sunday night! 

So, the new menu:

• Asparagus roasted in extra virgin olive oil
• Baked glazed ham
• Seafood lasagne (recipe below)
• Angel biscuits

We will start with the antipasto my friends are bringing before enjoying this dinner. Coffee, cupcakes and cookies along with fresh strawberries during the show.

This Lasagne is amazing, beautiful, pink and creamy.  Perfect for spring dinner!  It comes from the 1983 Cooking with Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey which I love for several of its unique recipes that still hold their own with current day dishes. 

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped shallots
• 3/4 pound peeled raw shrimp
• 1 pint scallops (if sea scallops, cut into bite sized pieces)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
• 2 cups white sauce (made with 4 Tbsp butter & 4 Tbsp flour)
• 1 cup crushed canned tomatoes
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• 9 lasagne strips
• 4 small, skinless flounder filets, 1 pound total weight
• 1 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss

1. Melt butter in skillet and add shallots.  Saute briefly then add shrimp and scallops.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  When the shrimp turn pink, add the wine.  As soon as wine boils, turn off heat.  Remove seafood with slotted spoon. 
2. Simmer liquid and add mushroom for five minutes, then add bechamel.  Stir in tomatoes and simmer 5 more minutes.  Add cream, red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper.  Add parsley and any liquid that has accumulated around seafood. 
3. Preheat oven to 375.  Butter a lasagne dish (9″ by 13″).  Cook lasagne per instructions or use the newer, thinner no boil type following package directions.   
4. Spoon a thin layer of sauce on bottom of dish then top with half of seafood. Top with sauce.
5. Cover with 3 strips lasagne
6. Top these with the flounder in one layer, salt and pepper, then spoon a light layer of sauce over.
7. Cover with 3 strips lasagne
8. Distribute remaining seafood evenly over this layer, then top with sauce reserving enough for the top layer.
9. Cover with final 3 strips lasagne and grated cheese.
10. Bake 30 minutes.

Serves 10.

Finally, be careful with pepper!  In my latest cooking class, several people went wild with pepper and the results were inferior tasting mostly of pepper.  Good pepper goes along way in a delicate dish like this one!

Tomorrow:  Cookies!