Wasn’t going to post this one, it was good, just felt like it was a lot of work. Keep in mind my dinners have to be “stick and move,” or I’ll end up in the drive-thru. Keep reading
This was made in one 12” pan and a large Pyrex to cook. Several prep bowls. Maybe I could have laid out everything better, perhaps I could have started before starving, who knows. It’s been in 2 more feedings since then, and all I can say is ewweee that was good!
Clean, dry, and sprinkle shrimp and scallops with Cottonmouth or your fav. Set aside.
In your 12 in pan spray with nonstick if you need to and cook 6 slices of bacon.
Crumble 5 slices of bacon for spinach and save one piece for topping.
You’re going to be cleaning this pan so the nonstick helps a lot.
Now we’re going to make a redneck béchamel. Proly not a béchamel at all however it is our sauce base and important part of our party.
Turn bacon grease down to medium low.
We gotta make a light roux. Sprinkle flour in grease and stir until incorporated.
If too dry add a little olive oil until you get a “wet sand” consistency.
Stir or push around for about 2 minutes.
Pour in half & half
Turn heat up to medium.
Stir until incorporated. You will notice it puff and it gets a lot thicker.
Pour in a cup of milk and keep stirring. If too thick add more milk. I did, it’s a lot of flour to tame.
Sprinkle in a cup of parmesan and stir until smooth.
Get sauce to a paint consistency and add milk to accomplish. The redneck béchamel will thicken as it cools.
It took two ladles of sauce over each layer. The amount made was about 35 ounces or equivalent to 2 1/2 jars of 14 ounce shelf sauce. You could use a shelf sauce and cut time considerably. Then just use the bacon grease as the spinach wilter and put butter back in fridge.
Taste test salt requirements, add or don’t.
Pour redneck béchamel in large bowl and set aside.
Clean the 12 inch pan.
Dry and heat 12 inch to medium.
Spray non stick and drop in 4 tbsp of butter.
Drop in garlic slices and stir till golden brown.
Add 5 crumbled slices of bacon.
Dump in spinach and start tossing in the garlic butter.
Pull spinach from heat just before completely wilted.
Put 12 inch back on stove to medium high heat.
Drizzle some olive oil and drop in shrimp.
Cook both sides quickly but not completely. Just and outer fry.
Pull shrimp set aside.
Do the same thing to the scallops. Just a sear. Pull and set aside.
Done with the stove top...
Lasagna Layers
When I got the oven ready lasagna noodles all they had was the high dollar ones. From experience I knew they were too thick and if any overlapped you could tell when eating. In hindsight I should have avoided overlapping noodles or get what I know which is Barilla. They aren't too thick and a little more pleasant when overlapping happens. Just a personal preference, it may not bug you ;)
Cover bottom of Pyrex with your redneck béchamel.
Lay a layer of noodles.
Cover noodles with redneck béchamel.
Ad your shrimp. I used 20 shrimp that were 4 width x 5 length and about 1 inch apart from the other.
Fill shrimp layer spaces with scallops.
With ricotta cheese use hands to make about 1-2 inch ball and place one on each shrimp. I lightly salted my ricotta but this is not necessary.
Crumble any leftover ricotta around the shrimp.
Lay a layer of noodles and lightly press down.
Cover lasagna noodles with redneck béchamel.
Lay in the par cooked spinach to cover corner to corner.
Drizzle over some more redneck béchamel.
Add last layer of noodles.
Cover them with redneck béchamel.
Evenly sprinkle over mozzarella cheese.
Add remaining shrimp and scallops to look pretty.
Sprinkle over last cup of parmigiano.
Take sixth piece of bacon and crumble over top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minute covered with aluminum foil.
Pull foil and broil for about 10 to 15 minutes until cheese is browning.
Notes
This is 2 layers stacked about 5x5 squared. Next time I’ll do 3x3 or 4x4 squared.