Cooking With Judy

Words of the Day: "Secret Ingredients"

 

We started our day by picking up Judy and driving to the village where her cooking studio is located, Colle del Velsa.  Then we started shopping for our ingredients for what we were going to make for lunch.  One of the stops was at a butcher shop for our meat.  We found out that the pigs raised for this shop are right up the hill from our villa apartment - so we decided on pork.  In the picture, they are just cutting into a piece of prosciutto - meat that is salted/herbed and hung to dry for at least 18 months.

Once we got back to Judy's studio kitchen, we collected our main ingredients. The vegetables in the picture are from Judy's assistant, Erika's farm.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                             Erika and I got some "bonding time" when we left Judy, Aunt Wende and Uncle Patrick in the butcher shop and we ran around the village to get some other items we needed for lunch. She speaks pretty good English, and being about the same age, we managed to figure out EXACTLY what each other meant. I'm hoping she comes with Judy to America one year, I would love to see her on the other side of the Atlantic too. In the picture, we are holding zucchini flowers that Erika picked that morning for our class - as they are in season right now.

                                                                                                                                                           















Judy was teaching us the difference between the tomatoes Italians eat in salads and the ones they use to make sauce.  She showed us how few seeds, water and air pockets there are in one of the types of tomatoes they use in sauce - it's almost all meat.  We are going to try and find seeds for this type of tomato while we are here and see if I can grow any at home.  I know the climate and soil is different - but these things are amazing- so I'm going to give it a try.

 

 Ingredients are prepped - it's time to cook. Judy put me to work right away.

 

 

Here is our stuffed zucchini flowers in progress - stuffed with fresh ricotta cheese - and cooking on top of our homemade sauce.

 

And here is a picture of our pork dish in progress -which I can't wait to make for my family!  I have sworn Aunt Wende to secrecy about the two secret ingredients.  (Dad - you HAVE to try this - I know you'll love it.)

 

For desert - homemade olive oil ice cream!

I knew the food was going to be different over here, but I had no idea how amazing everything would taste - what DO they do to it?