Jasper Mirabile, jr


Tomorrow is going to be a fun day! My friend and fellow Sicily traveler, Judy Witts Francini of Tuscany, had a recipe on her blog for Pancetta Arrotolata that sounded like something I wanted to try. I contacted my good friend and leader of the Sicily trip, Jasper Mirabile of Jasper’s Restaurant, and asked him if he was interested in trying the recipe. He responded with much gusto, so tomorrow is the day.
This “pancetta” part of the recipe is several pounds of fresh pork belly. Not knowing where to go shopping for such an item, I contacted Mr Pork himself, my friendly pig-killer, George Richter. CEO of Smithfield Foods. George is definitely the man to turn to with pork questions.. I told him what I was looking for and he very kindly said he would order one for me. Out of concern for me, he had the 10 pounds of pork belly cut into 8 pieces so I could handle it more easily. And he had the butchers remove the skin. In hindsight, I see I should have emailed the recipe to him so he would have known I needed it in one piece, with the skin. To make things right for me, he has reordered the pork belly..
Now, I have these hunks of pork to deal with! Jasper has been in Boston teaching a cooking class for the last several days, so when he arrives home he is going to find an email and this blog telling him I am relying on his genius to come up with the perfect way to use the pork belly! I can’t wait to see what we do with it!
Of course, I intend to have our picture taken in his kitchen so that I can post it here on my blog. Stayed tuned….more to come!





While you are waiting, check out Judy's blog. She went to Tuscany 28 years ago with $4000.00 to see what she could learn. She learned she loved Tuscany, she loved Italy, so she stayed! Go to http://divinacucina.blogspot.com/ and read her "Over a Tuscan Stove" blog. It is delightful!