Shrimp Lasagna

I love to make Pastitsio, the Greek lasagna, but often find that lamb is not a hit with about 1/3 of the guests as some do not eat meat or some like our friend Helene Cooper recoil at that fact of any sort of lamb product on her plate. So we have made this mideastern styled meat dish but switch out the beef with the lamb.

• SAUCE
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups yellow onions, 1 cup minced, 2 cups rough chopped
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 celery stocks, minced
• 2 carrots, peeled and minced
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 1/2 cup of full bodied red wine
• 1 cup milk, heated
• 1 1/4 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 teaspoons of allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 28 ounce cans pureed Italian plum tomatoes
• 1 28 ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes strained
• 3 pounds of the largest shrimp you can find, peel, devein and rough chopped
• BECHAMEL
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup red onion, finally chopped
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 5 cups whole milk, heated
• 2 cups heavy cream, heated
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon of allspice
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 5 extra large egg yokes, lightly beaten and at room temperature
  PASTA
• 2 pounds of bucatini (you can also use tubed pasta)
• 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
• 8 ounces of herbed goat cheese, finely crumbled

Making The Sauce

• Heat the broth and tomatoes in a saucepan until hot
• Heat milk in saucepan until hot but do not let bubble, then keep it warm on low flame
• Put the oil in the heavy dutch oven and turn heat to medium high.  Add the onions and pepper flakes,  cook for 5 minutes until translucent, but do not brown, stir frequently.  Add the celery and carrot and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add the flour and stir in and cook for 2 minutes then the tomato paste and mix well
• Add the wine to the pot and cook it down for 5 minutes or until it evaporates. Don’t be impatient as you do not want a soupy ragu
• Add the milk and cook until evaporated
• Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper, and the cinnamon, allspice nutmeg and cloves
• Add the broth/ tomato sauce to the mix and reduce heat to low as well as the two cans of peeked whole tomatoes that have been strained
• Cook on low for 2 hours then add shrimp for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally

Making the Béchamel

• Melt the butter in a medium sized pot over a medium flame. Sauté the red union for 3 minutes and cook for another minute then whisk in the flour, cooking for another 6 minutes to create a pale golden roux, do not let brown
• Mix the cream and milk in a sauce pan over medium heat until it is very hot but not bubbling, then whisk into the flour slowly over the course of two minutes, whisking madly. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese, tablespoon of salt and nutmeg and allspice. Take three cups of the sauce and mix it with the eggs and add that mix back into the rest of the béchamel

Putting it all together

• Turn the oven to 375 degrees
• Make the pasta al dente, drain and stir in one cup of the béchamel sauce
• Take a large baking dish and layer the bottom with some of the sauce, 1/3 of the pasta, layer 3 cups of shrimp sauce on top of that, layer another 1/2 of the pasta on that and the remaining shrimp sauce. Top with the remaining pasta and top that with the béchamel sauce, Sprinkle the break crumbs and goat cheese over the top
• Bake on the middle rack for 45 minutes, until it is bubbly and golden brown, let rest for 10 minutes and serve