Salmon lasagne with herbs and lemon

Serves - 4 to 6

You’ll need

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 leek, trimmed, halved lengthways and finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 40g butter
• 40g plain flour
• 700ml milk
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Small handful dill, finely chopped
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Small handful chives, finely chopped
• 350g salmon fillet, skin removed and cut into large chunks
• 250g ricotta
• 9 lasagne sheets
• 50g Parmesan, finely grated
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Start the leek base

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the leek with a pinch of salt and cook gently for 8–10 minutes until soft and collapsed. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. You want everything sweet and softened here, not browned into submission.

2. Make the white sauce

In a saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1–2 minutes, stirring all the while, until you have a smooth paste. Gradually add the milk, a little at a time, whisking as you go so it stays smooth rather than turning lumpy and difficult. Cook gently for 4–5 minutes until thickened.

3. Add the lemon and herbs

Take the sauce off the heat and stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, most of the dill, parsley and chives, keeping a little back for the top. Season well with salt and black pepper. It should taste fresh and light, not heavy and sleepy.

4. Bring the filling together

Stir the cooked leeks into the sauce, then add the ricotta and fold it through. Add the salmon pieces and mix gently. You are not trying to break it up too much – it is better if you still get generous bites of fish through the finished lasagne.

5. Build the lasagne

Heat the oven to 190°C fan. Spoon a little of the sauce into the bottom of a baking dish, then add a layer of lasagne sheets. Spoon over more of the salmon mixture, spreading it out evenly, then repeat the layers until everything is used up, finishing with a layer of sauce on top. Scatter over the Parmesan.

6. Bake until golden

Bake for 30–35 minutes until the top is golden and the edges are bubbling. If it colours too quickly, cover loosely with foil for the final part of cooking. You want it bronzed and inviting, not caught and bitter.

7. Let it settle

Leave the lasagne to sit for 10 minutes before serving. This is not just culinary fussiness – it helps everything hold together properly when you cut into it.

8. Serve

Scatter over the remaining herbs and serve in generous spoonfuls. A green salad alongside works very nicely, but this is perfectly capable of carrying the meal on its own.

A couple of helpful notes

- You can use hot-smoked salmon for part of the filling if you want a slightly richer, deeper flavour.
- Fresh lasagne sheets will cook a little faster than dried, so keep an eye on it towards the end.
- A handful of spinach wilted into the leek mixture would fit in very nicely if you want to work a bit of green into the dish.