Salmon Lasagna

Dinner

Layers of fresh pasta, tender salmon, wilted spinach, and a generous homemade béchamel, finished with golden gruyère. Each layer brings something tasty, the salmon flakes apart, the spinach is silky from the cream, and the pasta absorbs everything around it into something completely satisfying.

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients 

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Lasagna

• 9 fresh lasagna sheets
• 600 gr salmon fresh fillet, skinless and boneless, cut into 2cm cubes
• 700 gr spinach fresh
• 1 shallot finely sliced
• 20 gr unsalted butter
• 80 gr gruyère grated

Béchamel

• 60 ml plain flour
• 60 gr unsalted butter
• 600 ml whole milk
• 1 pinch nutmeg freshly grated
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch white pepper

Equipment

frying pan

saucepan

whisk

baking dish approx. 30 x 20cm

colander

tongs

Instructions

Cook and drain the spinach

• Melt the butter in a wide pan over a medium heat. Add the shallot and cook for 2 minutes until softened. Add the spinach in batches, turning with tongs until completely wilted, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a colander and leave to cool slightly, then press firmly with your hands to remove as much liquid as possible. Roughly chop and set aside.

Make the béchamel

• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a low to medium heat. Add the flour and stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes until the roux is smooth and smells faintly biscuity. Add the warm milk gradually, whisking constantly, until you have a smooth, thick sauce. Season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Set aside.

Preheat the oven and prepare the dish

• Preheat the oven to 180°C fan / 200°C conventional. Butter a rectangular baking dish approximately 30 x 20cm.

Assemble the lasagna

• Spread a generous layer of béchamel over the base of the dish. Lay 3 lasagna sheets on top. Spread half the spinach evenly over the pasta, then scatter half the salmon cubes over the spinach. Spoon over a layer of béchamel. Repeat with 3 more sheets, the remaining spinach, the remaining salmon, and another layer of béchamel. Finish with the last 3 sheets, the remaining béchamel spread generously to cover the pasta completely, and scatter over the grated gruyère.

Bake and rest

• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is deep golden and bubbling at the edges. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving, this helps the layers hold together.

Notes

• Squeeze the spinach well. This is the most important step. Fresh spinach releases a lot of water when cooked. Drain it in a colander and press firmly with your hands to remove as much liquid as possible. Wet spinach will make the lasagna watery and the layers won’t hold. 
• Raw salmon goes in. Don’t pre-cook the salmon. Cut into cubes and place directly into the lasagna raw, it cooks perfectly during baking and stays moist and tender. Pre-cooked salmon tends to dry out in the oven.
• Fresh lasagna sheets give a softer, more tender result and need no pre-cooking. If you only have dried sheets, pre-cook them in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, drain, and lay flat on a clean cloth before assembling. Add extra béchamel if using dried sheets as they absorb more sauce.
• This recipe makes slightly more than the standard single batch of béchamel, lasagna needs generous sauce between every layer. Always start and finish with béchamel.
• Frozen spinach works well if you don’t have fresh. Thaw completely and squeeze very firmly to remove all liquid before using. You’ll need about 400g frozen to replace 700g fresh.
• If you want to make ahead, assemble the lasagna the night before, cover with clingfilm, and refrigerate. Add 10 minutes to the baking time if cooking from cold.
• Salmon lasagna freezes well after baking. Cool completely, portion, and freeze. Reheat covered with foil at 180°C for 25 minutes from frozen.

About this recipe

I still think about that Sunday afternoon. My neighbour Nathalie, her mum, her husband, and me, eating outside on her patio. Nathalie always makes something pescatarian when I come for lunch, which I find incredibly thoughtful, and I always thank her for it probably one too many times.

This salmon lasagna was a total surprise and obviously I went for seconds! It was outright perfect and I had to make it at home and share it with you as it is such a simple recipe of a lasagna with white sauce instead of the more known red one.

Why a white sauce lasagna and not a red one

Most people think of lasagna and immediately picture bolognaise, tomato, the Italian classic with the meat sauce. And that’s a great dish, no argument there. But this version, made with a generous homemade béchamel sauce for lasagna instead of a tomato base, is something else entirely. It’s lighter, more delicate, and the flavour is completely different, creamy and savoury without any acidity, which makes it the perfect backdrop for salmon and spinach.

Did you know that lasagne white sauce is actually a traditional Italian dish? Lasagna comes from Northern Central Italy, specifically Emilia-Romagna, and if you walk into a trattoria in Bologna, the lasagna will almost always be made with béchamel, not ricotta or tomato. In Italy, besciamella (their name for béchamel) is the classic sauce for lasagne al forno, cannelloni, and pasta al forno. It binds the layers together and stops the top from drying out during baking. So when Nathalie made this salmon lasagne with béchamel, she wasn’t doing anything unconventional. She was doing exactly what generations of Italian and French home cooks have done.

Why béchamel and salmon are such a good match

The reason this combination works so well in this salmon lasagne is actually quite simple. Tomato sauce would fight with the delicate flavour of the fish and the acidity would overpower it. But Béchamel wraps around it instead. The creaminess carries the salmon, softens the slight bitterness of the spinach, and pulls everything together into something incredibly tasty.

The nutmeg in the béchamel is a must if you make it traditionally. You won’t taste it outright, but it adds a warmth in the background and the sauce would feel flatter without it. Personally I always add a generous pinch, but if you’re not keen on the spice, you can add a smaller amount of course.

About the salmon

Fresh salmon is what you want for this salmon lasagna, and it goes in raw. I know that sounds counterintuitive but it makes complete sense when you think about it. The salmon cooks in the oven surrounded by warm béchamel, which means it stays moist and tender all the way through. Raw salmon cubes placed directly into the lasagne salmon dish cook perfectly during baking and stay flaky and tender between the layers. If you pre-cook it first, it ends up going through the oven twice and dries out, which is the last thing you want.

Some French versions of this salmon lasagna add a small amount of smoked salmon alongside the fresh, which gives a slightly more pronounced flavour and a subtle saltiness that cuts through the cream nicely. It’s worth trying if you like that combination. Just don’t overdo the smoked, it’s salty and you don’t want to take it over the other delicate flavours.

The spinach

Spinach and béchamel have been paired in French cooking for as long as anyone can remember. Épinards à la crème is a classic French side dish and the logic is exactly the same here, spinach wilted and surrounded by cream becomes something silky and almost melting, completely different from its raw self. In this lasagne salmon, the spinach absorbs the béchamel as it bakes and becomes part of the sauce rather than sitting as a separate layer, which is exactly what you want.

The one thing you absolutely cannot skip is squeezing the cooked spinach as dry as possible before it goes into the dish. Fresh spinach holds a huge amount of water, and if that water gets into the lasagna it will dilute the béchamel and make the whole thing watery and loose. Squeeze it firmly in your hands, more than once if needed, and everything else will fall into place.

The pasta

Fresh lasagna sheets are my preference here, and they make the assembly significantly easier because they need no pre-cooking. Most good supermarkets carry them. If you can only find dried sheets, they work perfectly well, just pre-cook them briefly in boiling salted water and add a little extra béchamel to the layers since dried pasta absorbs more moisture as it bakes.

How to serve

Leave the lasagna to rest for about 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven before you cut into it. I know it’s tempting to go straight in, but the layers need a little time to settle or the whole thing will slide apart on the plate. It’s worth the wait, I promise.

Serve it with a simple green salad alongside, something with a sharp vinaigrette to cut through the richness of the béchamel. A fennel salad works beautifully here for example. A glass of cold white wine, something crisp and dry like a Burgundy Aligoté or a Loire Muscadet, is very much encouraged.

This lasagne salmon reheats brilliantly the next day, either in the oven covered with foil at 180°C for about 15 minutes, or in the microwave if you’re not standing on ceremony. The flavours actually deepen overnight, which means leftovers are something to look forward to!