A Very Green and Creamy Lasagna (with Potatoes & Mortadella)

1. MAKE THE HERBY CREAM:
Peel and coarsely chop 2 medium shallots. Peel and firmly smash 8 garlic cloves. In a medium saucepot, combine shallots, garlic, 1 large sprig of rosemary, and 1 ½ cups heavy cream. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, then cover with a tight fitting lid and let steep off heat for 15 minutes while you do some prep.
2. MEANWHILE, PREP THE REST OF THE LASAGNA :
Preheat the oven to 400.
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.
Thinly slice 2 pounds yukon gold potatoes (to about 1/4 ” thick). Place the potatoes in a large bowl and cover with cold water until ready to layer into the lasagna.
Coarsely grate 1 pound of fontina and finely grate 4 ounces parmesan cheese (if not already grated).
Lightly grease a 9” x 13” baking dish with olive oil. Grind some pepper over the pan.
3. COOK THE NOODLES AND FINISH THE HERBY CREAM:
Once the water is boiling, stir in ½ lb dried lasagna noodles. Set a timer for 2 minutes. They will be far from done, but we just want to cook them ever so slightly so they are malleable enough to layer into the lasagna. Stir the noodles every minute so they don’t stick together. Drain well, and toss the noodles with a little bit of olive oil so they don’t stick as they hang out.
To the base of a blender, add all of the steeped cream and its contents (except for the rosemary, which you can pluck out and discard), along with the remaining 2 ½ cups cold heavy cream,1 tablespoon of salt, the finely grated zest of 2 lemons, and the leaves and tenders stems of 1 bunch of basil, 1 bunch of parsley and ½ bunch of dill. Blend on medium-low until it turns a bright spring green color. Add a few really good cranks of pepper, taste for salt and add more as needed. It should taste seasoned!!!
4. ASSEMBLE:
You’re going to get layering, and repeat the pattern until the lasagna pan is about ¾ full–you may not need all of every ingredient but you should more or less use it all up. The order of operations is this:
½ cup of herby cream
1 layer lasagna noodles
½ cup herby cream
1 layer potatoes (not shingled, just next to each other)
Season the potato layer with salt and pepper
½ cup grated fontina
A handful of grated parm
1 layer of mortadella (to cover the surface area)
Repeat until almost all the ingredients are used up. For the finishing layer, add a final layer of thinly sliced potatoes to the last round of mortadella, shingling them in between pillows of mortadella. cover the potatoes in some herby cream and scatter generously with whatever grated parm remains. Season the top with salt and pepper.
5. BAKE AND SERVE:
Cover the baking dish tightly with foil. Bake, covered for 35-40 minutes, until it’s beginning to brown a bit, the edges of the cream are gently burbling, and a paring knife inserted into the center does not meet much resistance from the potatoes (there can be a little).
While it bakes, finely chop the leaves of 1 more sprig of rosemary. After those 30- 35 minutes, remove the foil, scatter the chopped rosemary over top and return to the oven to bake until the cream sauce is burbling and the top of the potatoes are speckled golden brown, 20-25 minutes longer. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving!