Nonna Elvira's Lasagna Verde from Angelini Osteria

I am now 20 weeks pregnant and finally feeling good. My appetite is back and I am constantly craving Italian food. Thank goodness for yoga or I would be putting on some serious pounds.

My favorite Italian restaurant is Madeo which I have mentioned before, I always order the same things, raw baby artichoke salad, the sea bass, spinach ravioli and the chocolate tart. Another restaurant I love which is in walking distance to my house is Angelini Osteria. Many would argue that this is better then Madeo but I would disagree, although it is delicious. One of the things they are famous for is their Lasagna Verde, I have heard about this from many people and Giada showcased it on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" but for some reason I had never ordered it. A few months ago I went to The Taste of Los Angeles and Angelini Osteria there was serving this so I decided to try it and wow did I become hooked. It is indescribable, needless to say this is now what I order.

My friend Anne just had a new baby so I decided to make one for her family and one for mine. I have to say it came out pretty amazing and Olivia loved it!!!

Nonna Elvira's Lasagna Verde with Beef and Veal Ragu -

ingredients

Ragu

* 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
* 2 carrots peeled, finely chopped
* 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
* 1 onion, finely chopped
* 1/2 pound lean ground beef
* 1/2 pound lean ground veal
* 1/2 pound chicken livers, finely chopped
* 2 cups water
* 1/4 c. tomato paste
* 1 cup dry red wine

Bechemel

* 5 T. butter
* 5 T. all purpose flour
* 2 1/2 c. whole milk
* 1 3/4 inch diameter black truffle, finely chopped (about 4 tsp. optional)

Lasagna

* 1 pound lasagna noodles, preferably spinach
* 1 1/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
* 3 T. butter, melted
* olive oil for frying
* 2 c. baby spinach leaves

preparation

For Ragu: Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add carrots celery, and onion. Cook until soft, stirring often about 8 minutes. Add beef, veal and chicken livers. Cook until meats are cooked through, stirring often and breaking up lumps with back of spoon, about 5 minutes. Whisk 2 cups water and tomato paste in small bowl. Add to meat mixture. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes. Add wine. Bring to boil then reduce heat to medium. simmer until almost all liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made ahead. Chill uncovered until cool, then cover and keep refrigerated.)

For Bechamel: Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Gradually whisk in milk, then truffle (if using); whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes. (Can be made one day ahead. Chill uncovered until cool, then cover and keep refrigerated.)

For Lasagna: Preheat oven to 400. Cook lasagna noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain; rinse under cold running water. Pat noodles dry. Butter bottom and sides of 15×10x2 glass baking dish. cover bottom of dish with noodles. Spread 1/2 cup of bechamel over noodles. Spread one cup ragu over bechamel. Sprinkle with 1/4 c. Parmesan. Repeat 3 more times noodles, bechamel, ragu and cheese. Top with layer of noodles, spread remaining bechamel over, and sprinkle with 1/4 c. cheese. Drizzle with melted butter. Can be made 8 hours ahead. Keep refrigerated.

Bake lasagna until bubbling at edges and golden, about 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Meanwhile, pour enough olive oil into heavy large saucepan to reach depth of 2 inches. Heat oil to 375. Working in small batches, place spinach leaves in hot oil (will splatter). Fry spinach leaves 20 seconds. Using slotted spoon transfer fried spinach to paper towels. Garnish lasagna with fried spinach.

Instead of truffles I used truffle oil (make sure you get a high quality oil which will be expensive but a little goes a long way) I like Terrabianco Tarufo which I usually get at www.deananddeluca.com but they currently don't have any.

I got the ground beef and ground veal from Huntington Meats at the Farmers Market in Los Angeles www.huntingtonmeats.com (this is where I get all of my meat)

I got the chicken livers from Puritan Poultry at the Farmers Market in Los Angeles

bon appétit

Jamielyn xoxo

Dinner with the neighbors....

I hope everyone is enjoying Spring! I am loving every minute of it. My tomatoes are growing rapidly and I just subscribed to a CSA with Silverlake Farms. I signed up for a ten week program which gives me a variety of fruits and vegetables from local farms. Yesterday's pick up included the following:

beets

yukon gold potatoes

strawberries

blood oranges

romaine

minzu

purple carrots

cherries

goat cheese

I could not be happier, for info go to Silverlakefarms.com they also have a really great blog you can follow with terrific recipes!!!

We live in a great residential neighborhood off of Melrose and some friends of ours just bought a house up the street so we had them and the couple across the street over for dinner last week. I often entertain and always like to make new things so I decided on Duck Ragu from Gwyneth Paltrow's new book "My Father's Daughter" this is the first thing I have made from this book and it was delicious, the dinner party was a huge success......

Duck Ragu

Serves: 4–6

• 1 organic large duck, washed and dried
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 slices duck bacon, finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 2 medium stalks celery, finely diced
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 5-inch sprigs fresh rosemary, stems discarded and leaves finely minced
• 3 14-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes with their juice
• 1 cup Italian red wine
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 pound pappardelle (fresh or dried)
• Gremolata Bread Crumbs or freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Trim off excess skin from the opening to the duck’s cavity and back end. Rub the entire duck with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, inside and out. Roast it for a total of 2 hours, flipping it from its back to its breast (and vice versa) every 1/2 hour. Let it cool in the pan until you can handle it. Drain off the fat and either discard or reserve it for another use, such as roasting potatoes. While the duck is roasting, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the duck bacon. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until starting to crisp. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, and rosemary. Turn the heat down to low and cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes, or until softened. Add the tomatoes and their juice and put 1/2 cup water into one can, swish it around to get all the tomato stuck to the sides, pour into the next can, and repeat again with the third. Add the tomato water to the Dutch oven along with the wine, a good grind of pepper, and a healthy pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down very low and let simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

After the duck has cooled down a bit, remove and discard the skin and bones and shred the meat. Fold the duck meat into the ragu along with the tomato paste and cook on very low heat, uncovered, for at least 1 hour (and up to 4), adding splashes of water if necessary to keep it from drying out (continue to season with salt and pepper as you splash).

To serve, cook the pasta, divide it among bowls, and spoon a generous amount of duck ragu over the pasta. Top with the Gremolata Bread Crumbs or Parmesan.

Active preparation time: 50 minutes
Total preparation time: 4–5 hours

Gremolata Bread Crumbs

Yield: 1 cup

• 2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs, toasted and coarsely ground
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
• Small pinch of coarse salt

Toss everything together.

Total preparation time: less than 5 minutes

recipe from Gwyneth Paltow's blog Goop.com

Enjoy xoxo

Jamielyn

How to buy and store fish..........

I try to take a trip downtown to the fish markets at least once a month. If you haven't been I would highly recommend it. Not only do you get the freshest fish available but you also cut out the middle man which is a tremendous savings to you.

I would suggest going to:

La Fish Company

420 Stanford Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90013

213-629-1213

Hours Mon-Fri from 6:00 am - 11:00 am & 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Sat from 6:00 am - 10:00 pm

Key to buying fish

• it should never smell like fish it should smell of clean water
• look for bright, clear eyes (when the fish is whole)
• fish should be shiny, metallic and clean
• fish should be resilient so when you press it with your finger the print should disappear
• if there is liquid on the fish it should be clear not milky

A friend of mine just asked me the best way to freeze shrimp so here a few important things to know. I just bought a 4 lb box of jumbo black tiger shrimp and here is what I did.

• remove shells, tails and devein
• rinse in cold water and dry
• divide shrimp into portions sizes you expect to use them in (I bought 100 shrimp and divided it into five portions)
• fill a large ziplock freezer bag 1/3 full with cold water add shrimp to the bag carefully remove as much air a possible
• essentially you are freezing shrimp into smalls blocks of ice

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to buy shrimp from the grocery store and then throw it directly into the freezer....this is why it may smell fishy when defrosted.

When you take the trip downtown also stop at the flower mart and then have some dim sum in china town!!!

enjoy

Jamielyn xoxo