Our Florentine Style Salmon Lasagna combines smoky hot smoked salmon with a creamy asiago-parmesan sauce and is layered between hand cut spinach lasagna noodles. The result is a seafood masterpiece perfect for all seafood lovers.
Combine the shredded asiago and shredded parmesan in a bowl.
Break the smoked salmon into small chunks and place in a bowl. If present remove any skin from the fish.
Making the Spinach Noodles
Heat the spinach in a skillet over medium low heat, pressing the spinach with a spatula to expel some of the excess water. You do not want the spinach completely dry, it should remain moist, but when you press on the spinach with the spatula and water no longer pools, it is perfect.
Combine 1 cup of flour and the salt in a bowl. Form a well in the center of the flour and add the eggs. Mix the flour and eggs until well combined, then stir in the spinach. Continue to mix until the dough is uniform. At this point the dough is likely still too wet. Slowly add a bit of the remaining ½ a cup of flour. You may not need to use all of it. Ideally the dough will be uniform and you should be able to press your thumb into the dough without it sticking.
Remove the dough from the bowl or mixer and knead for about 5 minutes. Divide into 6 equal sized balls and let rest for 30 minutes.
Starting with the thickest setting pass each dough ball through the machine a couple times then place on a lightly floured towel. You will need a fair amount of counter space for this. Repeat this process with each dough ball, then decrease the thickness size by 1 level. Pass the noodles through the pasta maker again. Repeat this process until you reach at least level 5-6 on your pasta machine, or the noodles reach the width of your pasta machine.
When you have reached your desired thickness, cut the noodles into 8 inch lengths.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Next to the boiling water prepare a bowl with some ice water. Working with a few sheets at a time boil the noodles for about 20 seconds then remove from the boiling water and place in the bowl with the ice water to halt cooking.
Remove the noodles from the ice bath, and gently press out the excess water from the noodles. Place on a plate or tray lined with paper towels. Repeat the cooking process with the remaining noodles.
Making the Mornay Sauce
Combine the milk and cream in a large measuring cup.
Melt the butter over medium heat. When it is starting to foam stir in the flour and whisk continuously for 1-2 minutes. Make sure to scrape the edges of the pan and do not let the flour burn. Slowly add the milk/cream mixture about ¼ cup at a time, stirring continuously until well combined and thickened before adding more of the milk mixture.
Once all of the milk/cream has been added, stir in ¼ cup of the cheese mixture and mix until the cheese is melted and the sauce is uniform, then remove from the heat,
Reserve about ½ a cup of the sauce for the top and bottom of the lasagna and set aside. Add the salmon chunks to the remaining sauce and mix to combine.
Assemble the Lasagna
Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray then spread a couple tablespoons of the reserved sauce on the bottom of the pan. Place lasagna noodles over the sauce. Depending on the width of the noodles this will typically take 2 noodles.
Spread about a heaping ⅓ cup of the salmon-sauce mixture evenly over the noodles.
Top with about ¼ cup of the parmesan-asiago mixture. Repeat this layering until you have used all of the salmon/sauce mixture. Place one more layer of shredded parmesan/asiago and top with noodles. Finally top the noodles with the remaining reserved Mornay sauce and sprinkle with a little bit of remaining parmesan cheese.
Baking the Lasagna
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Bake the lasagna uncovered for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through. The cheese on top should be melted and slightly browned.