We tap the experts at Belgian Beer Café Torenhof for a recipe and beer match perfect for these cooler months.

This winter warmer combines the delicate flavours of seafood with the texture of a delicious buttery sauce and the astringent bite of spinach. The sauce ensures close contact between all the ingredients while the lasagne is baking in the oven and creates the unity of flavour that makes this dish so tasty. Match with: Hoegaarden White. Serves: 4.

Ingredients

• 6 mussels in the shell
• 6 oysters in the shell
• 300ml white sauce
• 15ml Hoegaarden White
• 4 scampi, halved lengthways
• 4 scallops, halved lengthways
• 10 lasagne sheets
• 50g spinach

Method

1. Place the mussels in a pan over heat and leave them to open. Remove from shells.
2. Using the strained mussel juice and the juice from the oyster shells, make a smooth, thick sauce by bringing the liquid to the boil and whisking in sufficient white sauce.
3. Poach the raw oysters briefly in the beer and add the poaching liquid to the sauce.
4. Halve the scampi and scallops lengthwise and use raw in the lasagne.
5. Assemble the lasagne in an ovenproof dish. First some sauce to prevent sticking, followed by a sheet of lasagne, cut to fit the dish. Top with a thick layer of mussels, oysters, halved scampi and halved scallops.
6. Cover with a layer of spinach, a generous quantity of sauce and another sheet of lasagne.
7. Repeat at least once more, finishing with a sheet of lasagne.
8. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for at least 10 minutes.
9. To serve, cut into portions and carefully arrange on plates so that the layered structure remains intact.

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