.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Want to learn some tasty ways to cook with Iowa-made prosciutto? Then check out what Thomas Griffiths, dean of the Culinary Institute of America, can create with the dry-cured ham when he visits Des Moines this week.

Griffiths’ visit, in addition to a cooking demonstration at the Gateway Market, will include judging a prosciutto cooking contest at the Iowa State Fair and an appearance at the Downtown Farmers Market. Herb Eckhouse, founder of La Quercia LLC, invited him.

“It’s a small world, so it’s always good to have as many friends as you can,” said Eckhouse, whose Norwalk-based prosciutto plant has gotten the attention of top chefs and won praise from food critics during its initial year of operation. Eckhouse invited Griffiths to visit Des Moines after he sampled La Quercia’s product at the New York Restaurant Show recently.

Griffiths will tour La Quercia’s production plant, and is also scheduled to judge prosciutto dishes on Friday, Aug. 10, at the Iowa State Fair at 2 p.m. On Saturday, Aug. 11, he’ll tour the Farmers Market, starting from Java Joes Coffeehouse at 8:30 a.m. At 11 a.m., he’ll conduct a cooking demonstration at the Gateway Market, 2002 Woodland Ave. His dish, risotto on a bed of grilled vegetables topped with prosciutto and a balsamic vinegar reduction, will be available for lunch at the Market that day. Finally, he’ll be a guest of Mike LaValle that evening with his epicurean group, the Des Moines affiliate of the renowned Chaine des Rotisseurs.