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Cooking with ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’s’ Teresa Giudice
Life in the fishbowl of reality television notwithstanding, Teresa Giudice knows how to cook. The popular star of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” and author of the best-selling “Skinny Italian” has penned a new cookbook — “Fabulicious!: Teresa’s Italian Family Cookbook” (Running Press, $18.95), a collection of Giudice’s favorite Italian recipes.

Even if you’ve never watched her Bravo series, you’ll love her book. Especially once you’ve made Giudice’s meatballs with spicy red sauce, her crumb-topped baked flounder oregano, or her Calabrian pork chops with hot peppers and potatoes. Her father-in-law Franco’s fettuccine with creamy portobello sauce is pretty darn good, too.

“These are all family recipes,” Giudice said by phone from Chicago during a recent book tour stop. “I wanted this to be a memoir for my daughters (she has four younger than 10) to pass down this tradition. They already love to cook and they’ll be cooking for their own families one day.”

The daughter of Italian immigrants, Giudice says she grew up helping her mother prepare meals.
“My mom always encouraged me to cook with her,” she said. “She enjoyed it. Even washing dishes. I remember washing dishes when I was 5 years old. You want to do whatever your mom is doing. I notice that with my kids.”

Giudice says food is an important part of her family’s life. She and her husband, Joe, have dinner with their daughters at least five nights a week. And many of the ingredients she cooks with are homemade
“We make our own tomato sauce. We bottle it every August for the whole year,” she said. “We also make our own dried sausage. And my husband makes his own wine. And we jar our own eggplant. You add olive oil, parsley and garlic and it lasts for months. You add it to sandwiches. Oh my God, it tastes delicious.”
As for her reality TV life, the third season of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” which began May 16, highlights her family — and her cooking — more than ever before.

“This season, (viewers) will see a different side of me. They’re going to see the family side of me,” she said. “This season you’ll see me cooking on the show and doing the photo shoot for the book on the show ... you’ll see me cooking on some of the holidays — Thanks-giving and Christmas.”
The recipes in the aptly named “Fabulicious!” are both easy to make and delicious.