Recipe: How about Crab (or Mock-Crab) Lasagna with Mornay Sauce

Page: If this is a progressive dinner, are you arriving at your house the same time the other folks arrive? If so, how much time do you have to prepare? I am a big fan of "green and white lasagna" (chicken and spinach) for a mixed group. I posted a recipe below for another request.

However, here is a crab lasagna recipe I found on the web that sounds very nice.
Hummm...I think I smell it baking....Hummmmm

Lasagna casseroles can be made especially elegant to look at if you line the inside edges of your pan with cooked lasagna noodles so the edges are "fluted" by the noodles.
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Mock-Crab Lasagna with Mornay Sauce

Note: fake crab is marketed as "Sealegs" which is a processed fish, such as pollack (Boston Blue Fish) etc, that
is artificially flavoured and coloured to resemble crab meat.

Ingredients (4 servings)

8 No-boil lasagna noodles

RICOTTA/SPINACH MIXTURE:
8 oz Ricotta
1 Egg
1 pk Frozen spinach, defrosted, and squeezed dry
Salt & pepper

MORNAY SAUCE:
4 tb Butter
3 tb Flour
2 c Milk
1 c Gruyere cheese, grated
1 ds Nutmeg
1 ds Cayenne pepper
1 ds Ground mustard
2 dr Worcestershire sauce
Salt & pepper

REMAINDER:
1 c Fake crab, shredded or more
Extra gruyere cheese, grated
Parmesan cheese,fresh grated
Pepper

Instructions

Preheated 350 deg. oven

COOK LASAGNA: Bring water to a boil, and when boiling, add no-boil lasagna. Parboil 3 minutes. Why parboil no-boil lasagna? Because it makes it taste more like fresh lasagna noodles, thin and tender. Now that's glorious. When noodles are done, rinse thoroughly in cold water and set somewhere in a way that they won't all stick together.

MAKE RICOTTA/SPINACH MIXTURE: While water is coming to a boil, whip ricotta and egg together with hand mixer or by hand with whisk to make it nice and light. Add spinach to your desire. (I'm guessing on the amt. of ricotta, but based on the amt. of spinach, the combo should be about 1/2 and 1/2. At least that's my preference, b/c I don't like ricotta that much.) Add salt and pepper to taste and some parmesan cheese if you like. Set aside.

MAKE MORNAY SAUCE: Heat milk in a pan or in the microwave. Over medium to medium high heat, melt butter in a saucepan. When butter has melted turn heat down a little and whisk in flour. Let cook a few minutes, whisking continuously and making sure roux does not turn brown. Slowly add milk, whisking and adding alternatively, until all the milk has been added. Let simmer a few minutes until thickened. Slowly add grated cheese, whisking to incorporate the cheese. Add nutmeg, cayenne, mustard, worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Remember the sauce should taste a little salty; in the lasagna, the salt will balance out.

MAKE LASAGNA:

Use pan that will be big/small enough to make 3 layers using the 8-9 lasagna noodles. Spread a little sauce on the bottom of the dish and put down the first layer of lasagna. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the noodles and then spread 1/2 the ricotta mixture or as much as you like evenly over the noodles. Distribute crab generously to cover ricotta mixture. Spread 1/3rd of remaining sauce over crab. Repeat next layer: noodles, parmesan cheese, rest of ricotta mixture, crab, sauce. Put last layer of noodles and on top of that, put a layer of crab and the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle top with generous amout of parmesan and gruyere cheeses. Top with some breadcrumbs if you like.

A tip: When you're layering lasagna noodles, it helps it stay together when cutting for serving to layer the noodles in alternating directions (e.g., 1st layer vertically, next layer horizontally). This means you will have to cut lasagna noodles to fit the pan for some layers.

COOK LASAGNA:

Cook lasagna fifteen minutes at 350 deg. Uncover and cook ten minutes or until bubbly at the edges. Run under the broiler if you want the top to brown a little.
Take out of oven and let sit five minutes. Cut and serve.