After tasting a special farmstead cheese from Fiscalini Farms* called Lionza, based on a region of the Swiss Alps, I knew I had to come up with a special recipe. Fiscalini Cheese Company has won numerous awards for their cheeses. Enjoy!

Serves 4 to 5

Courtesy of Debbie Moore, Food Writer / The Pen and The Pear wwwthepenandthepear.blogspot.com/

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
½ shallot, finely chopped
1 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 baking potatoes, russet, peeled and sliced thinly
2 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 ¾ cup milk (2% or 1% is okay to use)
¼ c. heavy cream
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of Fine Herbs** (dried – chervil, tarragon, parsley and chives)
1 c. Lionza (Fiscalini Farms*) cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.

2. Breadcrumb Mixture as Topping:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter mixed with 3 tablespoons of seasoned breadcrumbs and 1/3 cups Lionza cheese

3. In a large saucepan melt 1 tablespoon of butter and add onions, garlic and shallot. Sauté onions until translucent - about 5-6 minutes. Set aside in separate bowl.

4. Using the same saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add flour (roux) and stir constantly. Slowly add milk and whisk thoroughly. Add salt and pepper and fine herbs, and then slowly add the heavy cream. Turn off heat and set aside.

5. Using a glass baking dish (I like to use a loaf pan), spray the dish with a cooking spray. Put some sauce in bottom of dish, enough to cover then add sliced potatoes, then onion mixture then 1/4 cheese. Continue with the next layer; sauce, potatoes, onion mixture and cheese. Continue with the third layer. Cover with any remaining sauce.

6. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture on top and any remaining cheese.

7. Bake for about 50-60 minutes. Potatoes need to be fork tender, and potato mixture should be bubbly.

8. Remove from oven and allow to cool - about 10-15 minutes. Using a spatula, cut into slices. If cool enough, slices should stay together when removed and look like a slice of cake.