Lidia Celebrates America

- Now I'm curious about your hot house.

Wow.

Oh, you have the strawberries?

- Yes, that's the strawberries.

Please pick one.

- Yeah, yes.

- I'll pick the biggest one.

- Yes.

- Do like this.

( Patricia blowing) (Lidia blowing) And it's good to go.

- Good to go.

- Good to go.

- Mm.

(upbeat music) Delicious.

- Yes.

- And then you're gonna teach me how to make some good ice cream with this, right?

- Yes, I am.

- Okay.

- My grandmother was always teaching me something that related to food and family, and that always stuck with me.

Those are the strawberries from my backyard, okay.

With all of the great fruits growing up, my favorite recipe.

Okay, here we go.

- Yes.

- Was strawberry ice cream.

- Cream.

- Heavy cream, whole milk, vanilla extract, and sugar.

- Yes.

- Okay.

And then we're going to add the strawberries.

- Just like that.

- Mm-hmm.

Every cousin that I had, we churned that ice cream.

And it seemed like six hours.

Pour in our ice cream maker.

No churning, like when I was a child.

My grandmother would tell us what the flavor would ultimately be when it was finished.

(ice cream maker whirring) - Delicious.

- Strawberry.

- It's very strawberry berry.

- Yes.

Yes.

The little seeds that are around the strawberry, you can taste those when you bite into 'em.

Juice runs down your mouth.

And you see that the juice gives it the extra little pink color.

- Food is best seasonally.

In Italian, we call them (speaks Italian).

Primo, first, the first of the season, whether it's the first wild asparagus, the first spinach, the first fava beans, the first porcini mushrooms, and so on down the line.

It's kind of an anticipation, but it also reflects.

Reflects the terrain, the climate.

(bright upbeat music) - Being able to see the abundance of food, how it grows, what it really tastes like, and be nurtured with food.

- Five minutes and we're done?

- Five minutes and we're done.

Those were those things that my grandmother gave me.

- Buon appetito, as we say in Italian.

Patricia's son Isaiah joins to taste.

- Yes.

- Oh, yeah.

That's good.

- Delicious.

- Grandma Lily, this is for you.

- Ah, okay.

- This is her recipe.

- Grandma.

Grandmas are the best.

- [Patricia] Mm-hmm.