Lidia's Kitchen

-Buongiorno.

I'm Lidia Bastianich, and teaching you about Italian food has always been my passion.

Just like that.

You got that right.

It has always been about cooking together and building your confidence in the kitchen.

For me, food is about gathering around the table to enjoy loved ones.

Your family is going to love it.

Share a delicious meal and make memories.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

"Lidia's Kitchen: Tradition to Table."

-Funding provided by... -Every can of Cento tomatoes is born in Italy, where they are grown and ripened in sun-drenched fields and then harvested by local farmers who select them just for us.

Cento -- trust your family with our family.

-It's the Italian way.

Prosecco DOC ros.

A toast of Italy.

-Locatelli Pecorino Romano cheese from Italy -- handcrafted from 100% sheep's milk.

-It's not always about the final dish.

It's about the shopping, substituting, and repurposing the leftovers.

So, cook with a plan.

This fortifying vegetable soup is enriched with the addition of poached eggs for a simple but nourishing meal.

This is a great lunch dish that will leave you with leftover stock to create another meal for the price of one.

Shop wisely and cook deliciously.

The respect for food was instilled in me since I can remember.

Grandma didn't waste one crumb of anything.

There was a consciousness about only picking the fruits and the vegetables that you wanted to eat, not over-picking, not over-buying.

Using it.

Thinking of the dishes.

If the zucchini were in season, well, we had zucchini frittata.

We had zucchini soup with rice, fried zucchini for sandwiches.

But it didn't stop there, you know.

If it was overripe, then the animals would eat it, which, in turn, gave us the eggs and gave us the meat and so on.

And, of course, we had no refrigerator.

So it was a question of cooking it, preparing it, or drying it or salting it, you know, if it was meat, for a time when these elements will not grow, this fruit will not be here, so for the winter time, but in essence, really not wasting.

And all of these things really remained in me, how to really utilize to the maximum.

It was all used.

Buongiorno.

Welcome.

Welcome to my home.

Welcome to my yard.

This is my little cortile, as we call it in Italian.

I do a lot of cooking here.

The birds are chirping.

What do you want more in life?

It is beautiful.

And I'm gonna show you how to make this wonderful soup, a soup with lots of vegetable flavor, but not too many ingredients.

The carrots, the celery, and the onions will give you a wallop of flavor, and the Swiss chard will finish it off.

So what is Swiss chard?

Swiss chard is this leafy greens, and I love them.

I grew up on them.

My grandma had them growing in the yard.

So I'm gonna save this.

I cut this first because I'm gonna make a pestata out of that.

And the leaves take less time to cook, so we're gonna save them, but I'm going to shred them anyway so that I am ready to go when I come back to the pot with them.

That's about that.

Now, one of the bases for a minestrone or soup or all that, I remember always my grandmother was making a pestata.

A pestata -- she was there with the cleaver and she would pestata with the vegetables, whether it would be bacon, whether it would be garlic.

But today we have this convenience here, so let's do it.

To this, I'm gonna add the celery, the carrots, and the onion.

The garlic.

And the parsley.

And we're just gonna whirl it until it's nice and fine.

So, you could have it a little chunkier if you like to see more.

But I like it fine just like that.

Let's put some oil in a nice soup pot -- and I like a nice, heavy pot -- so that, you know, it sort of perks away.

And I'll render this down a little bit, just give it some flavor.

This will cook plenty in the soup.

I will add some salt to it, some peperoncino, and we'll let just the vegetable water evaporate and get just a little flavor.

And then we will continue with the tomato paste and the bay leaves.

One of my favorite herbs is bay leaf.

Bay leaf -- I like the intensity.

I use it especially with a lot of meat when I do vegetable soups.

We used to have -- let me, let me first take you to my little courtyard, where I grew up in.

Big courtyard, because I was little.

At that time, it was a big courtyard.

Now I go back, and it's a little courtyard.

Things are relative in life.

But in this courtyard, going to the garden, there was hedges of bay leaf, really, trees of them.

We called them alloro.

But let's get back to the soup now.

So let me put the bay leaf in, and I'm gonna make a little hot spot.

You know I like to make those hot spots.

And I'm going to put the tomato paste right in there, just like that, and sort of spread it around because when you toast like this, the tomato paste, you just give it another layer of flavor, and I can smell it coming up.

This toasting of tomato paste -- you know how smells can take you in distant places, in distant times it takes you all over?

Well, this is taking me in Grandma's kitchen.

Okay.

This is at the point I wanted.

I'm gonna add just plain water.

So, you know, sometimes you have recipes, add stock, a beef stock, chicken stock, turkey stock.

How about water?

Water is just fine.

Actually, I like it.

It gives it a nice, clean flavor to this meal, so... And plenty of water because this is gonna cook for a while, and we want to get all the flavor out.

Okay so let's cover this.

Covering, your save energy and time.

And in 40 minutes, we'll add the chard and we'll finish our delicious soup.

Hello.

Buongiorno.

Welcome to my library.

So let's take a look at the social media.

Let's see what's in there.

Georgia writes, "Do you have to worry about measurements and what vegetables you use when making a vegetable broth?

I save every scrap when I prep my meals, so I end up with a lot of random bits and pieces."

Georgia, the more of the flavorings that you put in, whether it's the roots, the leaves, whether it's the bones, the more flavor you'll get out of it.

You know what I would stay away from are the bitter greens -- the broccoli di rape, kale, eggplant.

These are greens that have a bitter aftertaste.

But otherwise, all the other sweet vegetables -- put them in.

Georgia, I'm so glad you listened to me and saved all those vegetables.

I'm proud of you.

The soup is done.

Look at this.

Looks great.

Let me just kind of show you.

You see how -- how nice all those vegetables, that a pestata, and the chard, and I put the soup in this.

You wonder, what happened to the other pot?

Well, it boiled down, and then I put it in this wide pot because what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna poach the eggs right in here, in the soup, and therefore, I need the space.

I'm gonna do three because it's just us.

But you can fit up to six eggs here and have six people enjoy this delicious soup dish.

So it has to be at a boiling, but not really vigorously boiling because when you put the egg in, it would kind of mix up the eggs.

So you want it to boil, but you want it to be gentle.

A little bowl like this is practical.

Just make sure it has a drop of water in there.

This way, the egg glides.

Nice and gentle.

And I'm just gonna rest it right here.

Slide it not where there's a lot of liquid, but where there is some support of the vegetables underneath so it stays on top.

And I'll put this one right here.

I'm gonna put a little bit of cheese just on top of it, just like that.

Okay.

Here we go.

So let's cover this a few more minutes.

Let me grab your dishes.

I'm almost ready to serve you.

And a little plate for Lidia, of course.

And what we'll put on the bottom is some nice, crusty, toasted bread.

Two-day-old bread.

You toast it a little bit, maybe with a little butter if it's a little drier, but otherwise, just like that.

You put it on the bottom, just like that.

And I'm gonna put one for -- for Lidia here.

That's nice.

That's beautiful.

So let me check on these.

Done.

The eggs are just right.

You want them a little soft.

So let me just shut off the heat and let me put some soup first.

Great.

That's perfect.

Now let me just -- and how about Lidia?

I don't want to break the eggs, but I do want to put some for Lidia.

And now let me pick up the egg with a slotted spoon, just like that.

And you put it right on top of the bread.

Let me sprinkle some cheese right here, just -- just like that.

Just like that.

Well, this looks like a lunch, for sure.

Let me deliver it to you guys in your special place here.

One.

Two.

So, let me taste for you.

Let me just take a little bit of the egg, a little bit of the bread, a little bit of the soup.

Mmm!

Delicious.

It is light.

It is flavorful.

The bread.

The Swiss chard.

The soup that's here.

And a little bit egg on top with some cheese.

Beautiful combination.

Really good.

So are you gonna make this?

I hope you do, because it's worth it.

-Salute!

-It always brings me such joy to connect through food.

My friends are everywhere, from Italy to New York.

We always end up discussing all things delicious.

I'm going to introduce you to Mark Randall, a honey of a guy who loves his bees.

He said he was gonna call me, and we're gonna talk some honey food.

[ Computer chiming ] So here he is.

Hi, Mark.

-Hey, Lidia.

Nice to see you.

It's great to see you again.

-Yeah.

Pleasure.

I'm waiting to be sweetened up with all the goodies that you send me.

But, Mark, you are a designer, actually, by profession, and a teacher, right?

-Yes, yes.

I teach at Parsons School of Design in New York City.

-All right.

But what you really love is... -Honey and bees.

-It would look difficult to me, but you seem to be very much at ease around your bees.

-Yes, I've been doing it for a long time.

In my bee yard upstate, I actually house my bees in an old chicken barn to keep them away from the bears.

On Saturday, I went and picked up bees and I put them in the hive to get my colonies going so that they can start making honey.

-So you send me a light honey here.

What is a light honey?

And I'm gonna taste it.

This one right here.

-The color of the honey is dependent on which flowers the bees are going to.

So the bees where I am in upstate New York, they're going to wildflowers.

-So now I'm gonna taste this darker honey.

When is the season for this honey?

-So that honey is made in late August and early September.

And to me... -Mmm!

-...that's the best honey that my bees make.

-Smooth, molasses and so.

-Yes.

-In Italy, we have a dark honey chestnuts.

And we have a specific use for it.

And you just drizzle it on the crumbled cheese, and it is delicious.

Now, honey ice cream.

Ice cream is your other passion.

-What you're having is just honey and dairy.

-Mmm!

-No refined sugar.

-Delicious!

Delicious.

-Thank you!

You really get to taste the complexity of the honey, even though it's through the ice cream.

-Absolutely.

You see?

You're talking.

I'm eating.

I'm -- This is delicious.

There's a sharpness to sugar when you are eating it.

There's no sharpness here.

There's a mellowness, a soft-- -No, no, absolutely.

-I use honey when I cook and I want a nice crust.

I always mix in a little bit of honey on proteins, on vegetables.

Now, you have sent me some of my own cookies.

I have them.

-Oh!

Well, you sent me that great recipe.

I have some here, too.

-They're called in Italian panmelati.

But tell me how you made my recipe.

-You know, what I really liked about it was, again, like my ice cream, it's -- there's no refined sugar in it.

It's just a few simple ingredients.

It's, you know, ground walnuts, chopped-up orange peel, dry breadcrumbs, and then honey.

-It's simple because you cook the bread in the honey with the orange.

And once it reaches a certain consistency, you let it cool a little bit.

And then you take spoonfuls and you put a little bit of oil on your palm and you roll them like truffles.

-They're almost like honey-nut orangey caramels.

They're delicious.

And so then I thought, well, they might be great on ice cream.

I chopped them all up and I put them on the ice cream, and it was fantastic.

-I have to come and visit your bees.

-Come in the summer so you can come and get some ice cream.

More ice cream, too.

-You know, I usually kind of share things, but I'm thinking I'm gonna put this one in the corner.

[ Laughs ] This is gonna be for me.

-Right.

Yeah.

-All right.

Thank you so much.

And thank you for your passion, for the great products that you do, and for sharing it with all of us.

And I'll see you upstate.

-Ah, look forward to it.

Goodbye.

Thank you.

-Ciao-ciao.

Sometimes you're cooking for the meal, but you're actually cooking two meal in one.

And this could be one of those situations.

We're gonna poach the whole chicken.

And we're gonna make a salad with the meat.

Then we're gonna have a great stock left to really make another meal.

Let's add the onions.

This is a whole chicken in there.

Celery.

Some salt.

And here I have the stems of parsley.

And you just put them in for the flavoring of this, let's say, chicken cooking and stock.

Carrots, of course.

And I will put the water.

Oh, that's good.

That's enough to reach up to the whole chicken in there.

So I have everything in here.

I need some bay leaves.

It's my favorite herb.

And I have a little tree that I guard and I give lots of love.

I pull it in the house every winter, and I continue to clip the leaves and use them because I love bay leaf flavor and aromas in my cooking.

So here is everything set.

I think I'm gonna need a little bit more water just to cover the chicken, and in about an hour and 15 minutes, it should be ready.

Here is a video from Trevor.

So let's take a look.

-Hey, Lidia.

Name's Trevor.

Big lover of food, but most definitely a big lover of food with family.

I want to ask you a question real quick.

What's your trick to making rice?

Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

-[ Laughs ] Bravo, Trevor.

What a nice message.

And "Tutti a tavola a mangiare" was right on the mark.

Good.

Yeah, food is all about, uh, family and getting together.

But, you know, it's also about friends getting together and neighbors and people that you love.

Food connects everybody.

Trevor, if you want to go on cooking rice, it takes 2 cups of liquid, of water, for 1 cup of rice.

Season it with a little salt, olive oil, bay leaves, simmer low, cover it, and let it cook.

The rice should be cooked when it absorbs most of the water.

Italians do rice mostly in risotto.

Italians like the short-grain rice that make a good, creamy risotto because it releases all the starches.

Trevor, so nice to hear from you.

Keep on watching and eating with the family, with the friends.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare, as you said.

So I've deboned the chicken.

It's cool -- room temperature, I like it.

Okay, the chicken is ready and shred.

Now, I told you that you get a lot of mileage out of this recipe, and you have the chicken, and we'll make a beautiful salad, but also have great stock here.

So I strained it, and I'm gonna mark it.

And then I'm gonna freeze it.

And I'm gonna use it to make another meal.

You can put some rice in there.

You have soup.

You can put some pastina in there, and it's endless what you can do with this.

So whenever I make a salad with boiled meats, I up it up a little bit with pickled vegetables.

So here I have some artichokes which are the marinated artichokes.

You buy this in a jar, and they're delicious.

You can cut them smaller.

I like them chunkier.

Even a little bit of their juice is perfectly fine.

Some tomatoes -- a little cherry tomatoes, as long as they're ripe.

Okay.

And here I have the giardiniera.

The giardiniera is a great Italian kind of treasure, if you will.

In the summertime, when the vegetables are plentiful, you know, we used to pickle it, just like that, into a giardiniera.

And this way you have vegetables for the whole winter, for sandwiches, for salads, and so on.

It has cauliflowers, it has olives, it has celery, it has carrots -- all the good things.

And then I'm gonna add some greens.

A lot of parsley goes good.

I like my parsley.

So now this is chicory.

You can put frise.

You can put escarole.

So I'm gonna kind of pluck a little bit of the outer leaves, just like that.

And I'm gonna save them right in here.

And these tougher outer leaves, you can make a soup.

You put a little garlic in oil, you put the greens in, just a little bit of water, peperoncino, and you'll get yourself a braised green, which is delicious.

And the rest you just kind of cut it, just like that.

And I'm going to put it right in here.

So you can see, you know, it's one chicken.

There's a lot of meat, but it goes a long way.

With all these additions, you can have here a meal for four to six people.

So now I have to dress it.

I put the salt for the chicken.

Let me put some for the greens.

And I think that's it.

And now dress it.

So there's a lot of salad here.

So, here I am.

Let me plate it for you.

I think I'd like to plate this kind of family-style, so if you have a buffet, or you can put it right in the center and everybody can help themselves.

And it looks beautiful.

It has a beautiful presentation.

I'm trying to make it beautiful for you.

So, let me bring this to you.

And I think that looks good.

Let's get tasting.

I have to tell you how it is, as I always do.

Little chicken.

A little giardiniera.

Mmm.

It is really good.

The crunchiness of the giardiniera.

Then you have the chicory.

Then you have the mellowness of the chicken.

Beautiful combination of textures and flavor.

Are you ready to come?

So, tutti a tavola a mangiare.

As a professional chef, and as I make these recipes of the Italian culture, sometimes it just astounds me how this is repurposing.

This is recycling some of the same ingredients, how they're used in different ways, with great results.

And there are certain elements in cooking that will do that for you, whether it's olives, whether it's capers, whether it's the herbs.

And then it's your imagination that you can combine this to really make something different and something new.

And I think the fun of cooking is precisely that -- understanding, how can you deliver a lot of flavor to a simple thing?

Okay.

You know, pasta -- it's a blank canvas.

You can add to it dried tomatoes with a little bit of basil, with a little bit of garlic.

But at the same time, you can make a pesto -- dried tomatoes with a little bit of garlic, with a little bit of basil, a little bit of oil.

You make it into a paste.

Or you can turn all of that into a risotto.

Just is endless.

It's -- It's up to you.

Simple ingredients will take you a long way in developing delicious recipes.

And be frugal.

-[ Singing in Italian ] -Are you hungry?

-A little bit?

-I want your opinion on this chicken dish.

This is with peppers.

I'm gonna cut you a piece.

I know you like the -- the thigh.

Okay.

Here.

-Mmm!

-And?

-Buono.

-Now try the chicken also.

Let's see what you think about the chicken.

-The chicken I will never refuse.

-Mm-hmm.

-Perfetto.

-Oh, perfect.

-Perfetto.

-How do you like that?

-Salute, eh?

-Salute.

-Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

-Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

-Venite!

Venite!

Enjoy.

-The food from this series is a celebration of the Italian dishes Lidia cooks for the ones she loves the most, from the traditional recipes of her childhood to the new creations she feeds her family today.

All of these easy-to-prepare recipes can be found in Lidia's latest cookbook, "From Our Family Table to Yours," available for $35.

To purchase this cookbook and any of her additional products, call 1-800-PLAY-PBS, or visit shop.pbs.org/lidia.

To learn more about Lidia, access to videos, and to get recipes, tips, techniques, and much more, visit us online at lidiasitaly.com.

Follow Lidia on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, @LidiaBastianich.

-Funding provided by... -At Cento Fine Foods, we're dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of authentic Italian foods by offering over 100 specialty Italian products for the American kitchen.

Cento -- trust your family with our family.

-And by...