I finally found them again……..my FAVORITE chili peppers! I have literally been searching for these peppers since the last time I came to Italy. They’re these little round red chili peppers in oil, that I put in everything. It’s probably been 5 years since my last jar ran out, so you can imagine my excitement at our reunion. Step aside Sriracha, my chili peppers are back!
Tonight, Paul, Kate and I joined Gioacchino in the kitchen to making dinner for the group! The menu featured products from a local fig company and a chili pepper company. We made 4 appetizers, 3 pastas and the fig company provided us with a tasting of their products for dessert. All of us are professional chefs, so it was a lot of fun. We didn’t know what ingredients were going to be available or what type of cooking equipment they were providing us with so it was all done on the fly. Everything was delicious and I have to say, it was so nice get back into the kitchen. I’ve really missed cooking since I’ve been here.
We did a good deal of driving today, 6 hours total with one stop in the middle. It was a really long day but it’s nothing compared with tomorrow…an 8 hour drive to Sicily! Luckily, I’ve been able to do a lot of sleeping on the long drives, which is good because we go to bed so late. I’m used to a 10:30 bedtime at home and here we’re usually just finishing with the aperetivo at that time!
The producer that we saw this afternoon was called Belfiore Massimo. They specialize in making exquisite veggies, condiments and jams all made from the produce that they grow on their property. All of the items that they sell are made by hand; we got to see them processing peppers for their pepper relish. Everything we tasted was amazing and so beautiful!! I am especially excited about their jams which are not overly sweet, have a wonderful texture and the fruit tastes like it was just picked. The peach and the strawberry were my top 2 but they were all delicious. I also loved their whole artichokes and the red eggplant in oil.
We’re just staying 1 night at this hotel, then we finish up the rest of our tour in Sicily. I can’t believe there are only 5 more days left!
Ciao for now,
Megan
After graduating from The Culinary Institute of America with her Culinary and Baking & Pastry Arts Degrees, Megan joined the family business and opened Palmer’s Bakery & Palmer’s Catering. Megan loves cooking & entertaining, dancing, gardening, skiing, and spending time with her daughters and husband.
