This makes a wonderful Valentine’s day dish in that it contains seafood, can be prepared the day before and only needs to be heated and cooked on the day. This is also really fantastic comfort food for the cold depths of winter. Note that if you are making this ahead and storing it in the fridge over-night, you will need to extend the cooking time by about 15 minutes.
Prep time 35 minutes/Cook time 40 minutes/Serves 6
Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil2 medium leeks, trimmed and finely sliced
400ml (1 2/3 cups) single cream
400g (14 oz) crab meat, white and brown meat separated
14g (1/2 oz) flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
zest of ½ lemon, plus a squeeze of the juice
250g (1/2 lb) pack fresh egg lasagne sheets
40g (1 ½ oz) Parmesan, finely grated
Method:
Heat the butter and oil in a medium pan and when frothy, fry the leeks on a gentle heat with the lid on for 10-15 minutes until very soft and falling apart. Add 200ml (4/5 cup) cream to the leeks. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes until slightly thickened then stir in the brown crab meat and season well. Take off the heat and set aside.
In a bowl, mix together the white crab meat, 100ml (2/5 cup) of the remaining cream, the parsley and lemon zest together with some seasoning and set aside. Add a squeeze of the lemon juice to the cooling brown crab and leeks.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/360°F/gas mark 6). Pour a kettleful of boiling water into a shallow dish or roasting tray on a heat-proof surface (use this for soaking the lasagne sheets). Put 2-3 tbsp of the brown crab mixture in an ovenproof dish, approximately 20cm x 15cm (8 x 6 in), and spread in an even layer, then add 2-3 tablespoons of the white crab mix over the top in another layer.
Add one of the lasagne sheets to the hot water for 1 minute, until soft and pliable. Scoop out with a slotted spoon or tongs, drain, and add to the dish (trim if needed, to fit the dish) over the crab.
Soften the lasagne sheets one at a time (so they don’t stick together) and repeat (you may need to replace the water after a few sheets if it cools down too quickly), layering up the brown crab, white crab mix and pasta. Do this so you have 6 layers of crab and pasta. When everything has been used up, pour over the last 100ml (2/5 cup) of the cream and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Transfer to the middle of your pre-heated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbling. It is ready when a knife goes through easily when you pierce the middle. Grill (broil) for 3-4 minutes to get a really golden top, if you like.
Tagliarini with Scallops, Prawns, Courgettes, Tomatoes and Capers
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This is an excellent seafood pasta dish for Valentine’s day that is fairly quick to make and delicious to eat. For me this is also part of extending my pasta repertoire, with taglierini being the flat pasta style that’s closest to spaghetti.
Prep time 10 minutes/Cook time 30 minutes/Serves 2
Ingredients:
200g (7 oz) baby courgettes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
8 fresh scallops, trimmed and halved
6 large prawns, peeled and halved
4 fresh plum tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and chopped
1 tbsp small capers in vinegar, drained
1-2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
150-200g (6 oz) dried egg taglierini pasta
Method:
Slice the courgettes into quarters lengthways. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan. Add the courgettes and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes until they’re a light golden colour (this gives more flavour). Add the garlic, scallops and prawns; increase the heat and fry for 2 minutes until they’re a creamy-white colour. Stir in the tomatoes, capers and parsley. Season and remove from the heat.
Cook the taglierini in a large pan of boiling salted water according to the pack instructions (usually about 15-18 minutes).
Drain the pasta, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water. Mix the pasta with the sauce and add the reserved cooking water to loosen the mixture a little. Toss together and heat gently for a minute or so before serving.
