Spinach & Mortadella Lasagne

First, make the pasta. Wash the spinach, then wilt a fifth of the spinach in a dry, non-stick pan. Squeeze all the liquid out of it, leaving you with a small amount of spinach. Put this in a food processor along with the whole eggs and yolk, then blitz to a thin, lightly speckled green purèe.

Tip the flour onto a clean surface in the shape of a mound, then make a crater in the middle of it. Pour the green purèe into the middle, then use a fork to stir and gradually draw flour into the liquid. After a while, use the fork or a bench scraper to turn and chop the flour and eggs into a scraggy mix. Then use your hands to bring the mixture into a ball of dough.

Knead the dough, using the base of your palms to stretch and push the dough, into a smooth, silky but elastic ball. It will take 8-10 mins, but it is therapeutic! Wrap or put in a sealable bag and leave to rest for 90 mins or more (overnight in the fridge is fine).

When ready to roll, cut the dough in half, flatten a little with your palms, then run through a pasta machine, beginning with the widest setting and ending with the pasta around 1mm thick (probably 2-3 settings from the thinnest). Dust with semolina to avoid it sticking and cut to lengths ½-1cm shorter than a 2.5L ovenproof lasagne dish (the pasta sheets will increase in size a little when blanched).

When ready to assemble, par-boil the pasta sheets. Do this in 2-3 batches (to save space and stress), the second two while you are building the lasagne. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and spread 2-3 tea towels over your work surface. Cook one-third of the pasta sheets for 1 min, until they rise to the top of the water. Pick them out with tongs or a slotted spoon and lay over the tea towels. Repeat as required.

Make the white sauce. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan set over a medium heat. Add the flour and stir for 30-60 seconds with a spatula until the combination (a ‘roux’) is slack, light golden in colour and smells only slightly nutty. Add a splash of milk and stir with a spatula until the liquid is completely incorporated. Repeat three or four times, then begin to increase the amount of milk you’re adding and use a whisk instead of a spatula, each time ensuring there are no lumps before adding more milk. Once all the milk is in, add the nutmeg, white pepper, and half the Parmesan, then gently cook over a low heat for 10 mins, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens and generously coats the back of a spoon.

Finely slice your garlic. Wilt the remaining spinach in a large pan, turning and stirring occasionally until reduced in volume, dark and glistening. Drain off any liquid (no need to squeeze this time), return to the heat, add the garlic, season generously with salt, the nutmeg and black pepper, then cook gently for 1-2 mins. Remove from the heat.

Heat the oven to 200°C and assemble the lasagne. Spoon a small ladleful of white sauce over the base of your dish. Lay pasta sheets on top, trimming to fit as necessary. Top the pasta with a little white sauce, around ⅙ of the garlic spinach (gaps between mounds is fine), then slices of mortadella. Add another pasta layer and repeat, making sure to save a large ladleful of white sauce for the top. You should have enough to create 6-7 layers of filling, and 7-8 layers of pasta (depending on the dimensions of your dish), so judge the sauce quantities accordingly.

Cover the lasagne with the remaining Parmesan and bake for 35 mins until fully bronzed and bubbling. Leave to rest for 15 mins, then serve.