Crab and Shrimp Lasagna

Last Friday, I decided it was time to dig into another Colorado Classique recipe. The entree du jour, as you may have guessed from the title of this post, was Crab and Shrimp Lasagna.


Ooh la la.

Talk about a nice twist on the traditional lasagna (which happens to be one of my favorite meals, by the way). With crab, shrimp, white wine, milk, and four kinds of cheese (feta, cottage, mozzarella, and Parmesan), this dish is rich. Really rich. And incredibly tasty.

Wanna make it yourself? Yeah, I thought you might. So here goes, with one caveat. The recipe I'm going to walk you through serves 8. I halved it for Conservative Hubby and I, but I'll give you the full measurements rather than the amounts I used.

Begin by heating 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 pound chopped mushrooms, 1 cup chopped onions, and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme. (Oops, forgot that, so I used dried.) Cook until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms soft.


Now add 2 cloves garlic and cook for one minute. Then add 1/4 cup white wine and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 1/2 minutes or until the liquid is almost evaporated.

Stir in 2 - 6 1/2-ounce cans lump crabmeat and set the pan aside.


Now it's time to peel and devein 1 pound raw large shrimp, reserving the shells. (Oops, failure number two: I thought I purchased raw shell-on shrimp but when I got home realized mine didn't have any shells. This led to some improvisation a bit later.)

Cut the shrimp in half lengthwise, cover, and refrigerate them.

Now combine the reserved shrimp shells, 2 cups water, 1 1/2 teaspoons celery salt, and 1 teaspoon fennel seeds in a small saucepan. (Since I had no shells, I tossed in a piece of shrimp. I figured that at least would infuse the mixture with a bit of shrimpiness.)

Bring to a boil and cook 15 minutes or until reduced to 1 1/2 cups.


Strain shrimp stock through a sieve and set aside. (Don't have a sieve? Neither did I. So I strained mine through the pan cover I have to keep bacon from splattering grease all over the place—don't worry, it was clean. And it worked.)

Now combine 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese, 1 cup reduced-fat cottage cheese, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, and 1 garlic clove. Set aside.


Place 1/4 cup flour in a small saucepan. Gradually whisk in 1 cup 2 percent milk.


Stir in shrimp stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Spread 1/2 cup sauce on the bottom of a 13x9x2-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. (Remember, I halved the recipe, so you're seeing a much smaller pink Pyrex dish instead.)


Arrange 4 noodles over sauce. Top with one-third goat cheese mixture, one-third crabmeat mixture, one-third of shrimp, 2/3 cup sauce, and 2/3 cup mozzarella.


Repeat layers twice, ending with mozzarella.


Bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Let stand 15 minutes. (I know it's hard, but it's much better if you let it set up first.)


Sprinkle with parsley and serve. According to the wine pairing advice in the cookbook, "the lush ripe pear and apple flavors of Chardonnay would be well-suited to the fullness of crab and shrimp."

Or just, you know, pour some Merlot from the box in the cupboard. That works too.