Your Private Chef in Central Italy

What can a private chef experience offer you? For a start, you can eat at home at the hour you prefer and wearing whatever suits you. You won’t have to drive anywhere afterward, so you can match a flight of wines to your menu. Those are the conveniences of using a private chef to prepare your meals.

When I plan menus for clients, I take it further by finding the best ingredients available for every dish. Unlike commercial venues, I have no wholesale distributors who sell me generic goods. Meats come from butchers I know who sell meat from farmers they, and sometimes I, know. It is not anonymously reared on factory farms, but by a registered breeder/farmer who may sell only twenty animals in a year. Vegetables and fruits are purchased when possible from farmers who bring them straight from their fields and occasionally I actually pick them myself the very day I cook them. Almost all the herbs I grow myself. I drive to the mountains to choose truffles. I go to the bufala farm and wait for mozzarella to be hand formed at the exact right moment. I choose the Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil that is right for the region the menu comes from. It makes a difference. Not only is it the healthiest food you can get that you haven’t grown yourself, but the difference in flavor is remarkable. I typically spend about sixteen hours and many kilometers to prepare your meal.

Minced veal is minced by me. Dried pasta for dishes that require eggless pasta is from Gragnano and is the best tasting ever. Fresh pasta I make with eggs from one of my neighbors’ small flocks. If I need it, I have super-concentrated stocks that I make from scratch and freeze. There are few restaurants in the world that can be as hands-on with every ingredient as I can be when cooking for you. Menus can be selected from across the diverse regions of Italy.

Prices 2008

Within one hour’s drive of Città di Castello the charge is €65 per person with a minimum charge of €300.
For destinations further away, a journey charge may be required.

My CV

I was reared in a French kitchen, but in America. Some of my earliest memories are of cooking with my mother; the dishes progressing from the simple supper meals for the family to the French country specialties of my father’s family, and then on to baking and desserts.

When I grew up, I applied myself to a career in design. Throughout all those years, cooking was my most important form of relaxation and entertaining friends my most important pastime. My many trips to Italy ensured that Italian cookery became a part of my American kitchen. When I took early retirement and moved to Italy, I waited only long enough for my Italian to be adequate to the task and enrolled in a course for training chefs in classical cucina italiana. Using my training to invent new dishes and to cook for friends and clients is my delight. I also teach Italian cookery with Italian friends and American cookery to Italian friends who are interested in the broad multi-ethnic character of American food — and who madly love American desserts!

I rigorously encourage the most important traditions of the Italian kitchen.

Eat seasonally.

Buy the best ingredients and treat them with respect.

Don’t exaggerate anything to the detriment of all.

What about a recommendation?

The following are 2008 menu suggestions:

Menus do not include drinks.

Sample menus: They are only meant to be guidelines and are not by any means fixed.

Umbrian special
Affetati- cured meats and cheeses
Pasta alla crema di peperoni : sauce based on roasted ripe peppers. Seasonally can also be made of spinach/greens or brocolli
Secondi–
Involtini di tacchino alle castagne : rolls of turkey filled with chestnuts– fall and winter
Or agnello brasato– lamb braised in red wine in spring
Or Pollo imporchetato — chicken stuffed with herbs and roasted

Verdure della stagione– seasonal vegetables to complement the menu and may be uniquely Italian
Dolce

Summery Garden Supper
Pomodori di Liguria — marinated tomatoes served with bread for the juices
Pasta alla Patrizia — a special version of amatriciana
Tachhino tonnnato — turkey breast cutlets with a sauce of tuna and capers
Insalata toscana — green salad dressed with oil and a powerful garlic and salt paste
Dolce estive

(In this menu, everything is served at room temperature except the pasta which must be “fumante” or smoking)

Celebratory Dinner
Crostini ai fegatini e affetati — toasted bread with chicken liver spread and sliced cured meats
Ravioli al burro e profumi — ravioli stuffed with cheese and seasonal vegetable and herbs, served with butter and fresh herbs
Pollo porchetato — crisply roasted chicken stuffed with fresh herbs
Patate arroste — roasted potatoes
Insalata mista mixed salad of seasonal greens
Dolce — seasonal and as fancy as you like

Fish dinner
Bruschetta al’aglio — The traditional bruschetta of grilled bread, garlic and fresh olive oil
Pasta al limone — small pasta with a lemon/parmesan sauce
Branzino al forno — a seafish similar to seabass roasted on a macedoine of scented vegetables– depends on availability and a different fish may be substituted
Verdure gratinate — seasonal vegetables grilled with a highly seasoned crumbing and olive oil
Dolce

Vegetariano
Mezzo maniche all’erbe del campo — a hard wheat pasta dressed with mixed field greens
Sedano alla gorgonzola — celery hearts baked in a gorgonzola sauce
Sformata della stagione — a savory custard of a seasonal vegetable
Farro o fagioli freschi — spelt or fresh mature beans
Dolce

Almost any menu can be worked out with foods from all regions. Especially costly or difficult to find foods may add something to the cost. I prefer not to rely on shellfish, because we are a landlocked region and I have to rely on the shops for the freshness of the ingredients. If, however, you wish to buy shellfish for me to prepare, I will be happy to do so.

Also, refer to my blog http://www.judithgreenwood.com/thinkonit/ for a variety of dishes that are my own original recipes, almost all created from within my training in the Italian cuisine.