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: Meals & Memories."

-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.

-Grana Padano -- authentic, Italian, rich in tradition, yet contemporary.

-Authentically Italian Prosecco DOC -- the Italian sparkling art of living.

-For over 140 years, Auricchio traditional handcrafted provolone, made in Italy.

-Olitalia -- from chef to chef.

-Food is meant to bring joy, and this meal will surely bring smiles to any table.

When making this salad, take the time to make the cheese toast.

It adds that extra something to an already colorful dish.

So should I taste for you?

Of course.

I need to tell you.

And I am curious, too.

Individual meat loaves dressed in a mushroom sauce make this family favorite a special treat while cutting the cook time in half.

Let's get your dish here.

I know you're waiting.

I know you're waiting.

There's nothing better than a table full of smiles.

A meal to make you smile.

My whole life, ever since I can remember, food was at the basis of who I was, where I was, and what I was up to.

Even as a child, in the aftermath of the war, of course, food was scarce.

So the growing of vegetables, harvesting of fruits, drying those fruits for the winter, having pigs, goats, chickens, Grandma and Grandpa had all of this, and I was raised in this.

The smell of the rosemary hedges -- You know, as kids, you play hide and seek in rosemary hedges.

All of this is very vivid in my mind, and collecting all of these flavors, and they stayed with me forever.

And now when I cook, I go and search for those flavors, and I want to cook like the flavors that I recall.

And I guess that's where my passion was born.

But it's beyond that.

It's loving.

It's caring.

it's nurturing and the respect for food that my grandmother instilled in me.

Nature gives that to us.

We need to use it wisely, and we need to respect it.

Insalata di Radicchio, Indiva, Mele, Pecorino, e Tostoni di Formaggio.

You know, sometimes you feel like treating just yourself and you don't want to cook a big meal.

Well, this is a nice salad, has a lot of diversity -- a treat for you.

You deserve it.

So here I have some Fontina cheese.

I have some bread toasting on one side, some Pecorino cheese.

Just mix it.

And when you have cheeses like this one, that melts quickly, toss, toss, toss the two cheeses and -- you see -- it makes them flow better.

And now we're going to put these on top of the toast.

The toast is toasting on one side.

We want to get the other side with some cheese.

Good to the last drop.

Just press a little down.

You want the cheese to sort of be pressed down.

Let it heat a little bit, begin to melt, and then we'll flip it over.

And this will be served with the salad.

Radicchio like this, which -- And you can cut the salad.

You can rip it sometimes, You know, just ripping a salad is a good feeling.

Radicchio is in the chicory family.

So is endive.

So it has a little bitterness, which is really good.

So let's flip these toasts.

Just quickly flip them over, and the cheese will melt and will make a nice crust.

Okay, let the crust -- Now, cheese, you have to be careful, because cheese melts and browns rather quickly.

And if it -- if you let it cook too much, it becomes bitter.

So we'll keep an eye.

And, you know, your nose is a good guide for this.

You can smell right away when the cheese is kind of coming on that burning edge.

So the endive, cut it a little bit like this.

And these are salads that you can basically find year-round.

You can make it with other salad.

But I like the crunch of the salad.

And then there's this bitterness and sweetness that I like.

So let's check on the toast, I need to sort of press it down a little bit.

Now we'll make a little bit of the dressing.

I like white wine vinegar.

And usually how much white wine, how much vinegar, how much oil you put -- usually, you know, about -- a little bit more oil than vinegar, I usually put.

Some salt, and I'll put the salt in the dressing, as well as a little bit in the salad.

Some fresh pepper.

Okay.

And... Let's put all of the salad in here, because this is where we're going to mix our insalata.

There's a little bit more space.

You need a little bit room to toss the salad.

In it, I'll add some chives.

And the parsley, I'm looking at it.

Well, I kind of like also the leaves of the parsley, but just let's do it a little bit, just like that.

So nice pieces of parsley, not the chop-chop usual.

And some walnuts.

And again, let's chop a little bit.

Not too much.

I toasted the walnuts.

You know, you always toast the nuts, because it really brings out the flavor.

Now let me check on these.

Yeah.

Okay.

Nice and toasty.

We had some bread here.

I had some already made, some additional one.

And this goes great with the salad.

Absolutely.

Now, the apple.

The apple is Granny Smith apple.

Very abundant all over.

And I like them in little match sticks just like that.

Should I cut a little more?

Maybe another little piece.

Okay.

Yeah, that looks good.

Let's toss this.

So I have the dressing on the bottom.

I have to get to the bottom.

And I want all the ingredients to get mixed up, but I also want the dressing to coat.

It looks like there's enough dressing.

Very nice.

And this is great family style.

Yes, you can bring it in a bowl just like that, but a platter also kind of really showcases this wonderful salad full of colors.

And of course, a little plate for Lidia.

And this is a salad that you have to serve when you dress it, because the vinegar will sort of wilt it.

So whenever I put a plate in the center and you make it come down, fall where it may.

You know, sometimes food has its own way of settling into beauty.

And a little bit for Lidia.

Here is the salad.

Now, this is a beautiful salad for a buffet table, but also you can think of this making smaller portion, put a few drapings of prosciutto or prosciutto cotto or a nice buffalo mozzarella next to it, and you got yourself an antipasto or a main course.

To add some complexity, some Pecorino cheese.

Pecorino is 100% sheep's milk, and it's real pronounced.

Pecorino is a kind of a piquant cheese.

And just shavings like that.

Now, you can shave it on the box grater.

You can just cut pieces and put it on.

But I think, you know, this potato peeler does the job.

Okay.

So should I taste for you?

Of course.

I need to tell you.

And I am curious, too, never mind.

Okay, so let's... Mmm.

Refreshing.

Good.

Acidic.

Bitter.

Sweet from the apples.

You have your salad, and it's complex and delicious.

You have some cheese toast here, nice and crunchy.

Goes perfect with this.

And some ros prosecco.

This could be a little party for yourself.

-Salute!

-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.

Buongiorno.

I'm so excited.

You know, I'm passionate about food, but I love music.

And I go often to the symphony.

And over 20 years, I developed this great friendship with Maestro Gianandrea Noseda, and he's going to call me today, and I'm very excited, because he's a good cook, too.

He's calling.

Ciao, Gianandrea.

Come stai?

How are you?

-Ciao, Lidia.

I'm very well.

It's nice to be connected with you.

Such a long time we missed each other.

-This is great to connect with you.

You are the musical director of the National Symphony Orchestra in D.C. Tell me some of the things that you conduct that you're into.

-Lidia, you know, I'm a very curious person, so I try in the programming to give a big span of repertoire.

So for instance, a big project with "American Masters" -- So how to combine Beethoven symphonies, very well known, with less-known symphonies written and composed by George Walker, William Grant Still, Florence Price, African-American female composer.

So incredible, too, for me to discover this music and to put together these kind of things.

It's incredible how the variety we can present without only doing, you know, Brahms, which I love, Beethoven, which I love, Verdi, which I adore.

But trying to find different kind of things, say how interacted this music, one to each other.

-You're getting into American composers.

I love it, but so appropriate.

You're in Washington, in America's hub, if you will.

So I'm very excited to come to see.

But you also get involved in education.

-Music is for everybody.

It's like food.

A good food should be tasted by the largest possible people.

So I find time to go to the orchestras in the schools to see them, how they approach something which is a monumental piece.

And after that, after half an hour rehearsal with them, my aim is just to make the music to look familiar, not something detached from the day-by-day life.

-Very important because I know, you know, I said my passion is cooking, but I am stimulated by the arts.

Music -- That stimulates me, gets me going.

-You know, the love you have for the ingredients and the way you cook is the same thing we do as musicians.

So we take care of the details.

But the details are not important if you don't put in the bigger picture.

-The passions overlap each other, get us excited.

But you were talking about food, and I know that your favorite is risotto.

So what is your instruction to the viewers out there about what makes your risotto special?

-Lidia, I'm so embarrassed.

You are the master of kitchen.

And sometimes I don't go to the market to buy food.

So I open the fridge, and I say, "Oh, let me see what I have there," because risotto has a particular ability to go well with whatever you put together.

I mean, if you find in the fridge some vegetables or some sausage or mushrooms or sometimes asparagus.

My grandmother from part of my mom was from Veneto.

And in Veneto, they sometimes put together berries with risotto, so blueberries, raspberry.

So I don't have a special recipe.

Of course, being from Milan, the risotto alla Milanese with saffron and done, you know, when you prepare the soffritto, with the onion, a little bit of butter, a little bit of oil.

After that, you put the rice, and when it becomes a little bit blond, a bit of wine, and you know the recipe, what I can tell you.

-No, no, no, no.

We want to hear you.

-[ Laughs ] -You know, for me, risotto is like composing a symphony.

-Correct.

-It's harmonizing the elements, and it becomes smooth and mellow.

-And you can still detect the flavors, the different one, but they come together to make something unique.

-Gianandrea, I'm so proud to be your friend.

We'll get together, and I'll listen to your music, and you'll taste my food.

How's that?

-That is a fantastic idea.

But I want to help, just to share together the experience of food and music.

-Saluto, eh?

-[ Speaks Italian ] Lidia.

-Ciao.

Mwah.

-Ciao.

-Mini Polpettoni con Ricotta.

Who doesn't love meat loaf?

But meat loaf, you know, it's a big meat loaf, and it takes some time.

Here, we're gonna make some small meat loaves in a sauce, and it's easy, and it's quick.

So what I have here is pork and beef, 50-50.

Now we're gonna flavor the meat loaf.

I'm going to put in some ricotta, some scallions.

The green part is also very good.

I use it as much as I can.

I go all the way to the end.

Let's put that right in.

Now, to bind it all, we'll put an egg.

Okay.

Just whisk the egg.

I'll put the milk right in here.

And add that.

Then the ricotta.

Grandma used to love ricotta.

And so when I made meat loaf, there was always ricotta in there.

It makes it softer and delicious.

Some grated cheese.

Bread crumbs.

Parsley.

Let me put some salt.

We have the seasoning in, the eggs, the ricotta.

Now for the nutmeg.

Nutmeg is great for stuffings.

It has an intense flavor.

It brings a lot of flavor, so not too much.

And Italians, we love it in the stuffing of our raviolis.

And in this polpettone, as we call it in Italian, it's really good.

All right.

Everything is in there.

Let's mix up a little bit.

Okay.

Now I'm gonna dive in because this needs a good mix.

Looks like it's thoroughly mixed.

Now let's shape these little meat loaves.

A little flour.

I will make four.

So let's kind of divide.

Rough divide.

And then we go and make the polpettoni.

One portion each.

That's a healthy portion.

But if you're hungry, absolutely.

Slightly flour.

Just like that.

Okay.

Here's one.

Two.

Just lightly flour them.

Okay.

Okay.

So we're all set.

I'll let them rest a little bit, wash my hands, and then we'll proceed to make the sauce.

Welcome to my library.

I'm here.

I'm reading, watching your photos, your videos, your questions.

And I'm happy to answer them.

Here I have an e-mail from Francesca.

"Your show brings me back to my childhood -- the memories of my mother and grandmother cooking and the wonderful aromas throughout the house.

So the question is, how do you know that garlic is fresh, and what is the proper way to store it so it lasts longer?"

Well, the first thing is the touch.

So a nice, firm garlic head will indicate that this is a fresh garlic.

And as far as storing it, the whole head, that is, the way I store garlic is in a cool place, in a refrigerator, in a plastic wrap first, and then in a container.

Grazie, Francesca.

And here is an e-mail from Bernadette.

"What is the difference between mild, sweet, and hot sausage?

Basically, a mild or sweet is more of the same.

When it's hot, that means that a lot of peperoncino is added to the mix, and that is the difference.

But the flavor of sausages go way beyond that.

The Italians are known for their fennel seed sausage.

I happen not to like the seed itself, so I look for sausages that have fennel powder in their mix.

So, it's simple.

It's the intensity of heat or peperoncino in the sausage mix.

Enjoy your sausages, because there's many ways to prepare sausage al Italiana.

Thank you.

[ Sizzling ] I have the meat loaves frying, getting the flour fried, and just kind of pull them together.

And we're gonna make the sauce right in here with the mushrooms and some marinara that I have.

Mushrooms -- Just sliced champignon mushrooms.

You can use any mushrooms that you have.

Let's flip these little meat loaves.

Oh, they look nice.

So be gentle when you flip them over because the ricotta and all of that.

They need to sort of gel all together.

So let's rest them out here while we begin with the sauce.

And the sauce, you make right in here.

We'll put the mushrooms right in there.

We'll season the mushrooms with a little bit of salt.

I like mushrooms, and I think this is really a great addendum to the mini meat loaves.

But, you know, if you don't like mushrooms, you can put peas.

Why not?

But you need to put the peas a little later, especially if you use frozen peas.

You defrost them, and they're almost cooked, so you put them at the end.

So here I have the marinara sauce.

Let me put all of it in here.

I will rinse with some water.

Because we put it in the oven and the meat loaves need to cook thoroughly, you need a little bit of extra liquid.

So let's get the meat loaves back into the sauce.

Okay.

You want to bring this back to a boil.

Let's put some basil.

I'll put a whole little branch of basil, and then I'll take it out because it gives all the flavor to the sauce.

So let's cover it and let it percolate for another 15 minutes on the stovetop.

Then in a 400-degree oven, another 15, 20 minutes, and you've got dinner ready.

So here I have an e-mail.

It's from Tom and Kathy.

"Every month, we have a 'Lidia Night' with our friends, Mark and Sharon.

We each make one of your recipes, and the guys are in charge of aperitifs."

Mmm, sounds good.

"Tom and I recently made your turkey meat loaf with mushroom sauce, and here is the picture.

Thanks for the inspiration, Tom and Kathy."

So here is the picture.

Mmm.

Looks good.

And that sounds like a great idea.

You know, I do get e-mails where there's a gathering, whatever, and everybody makes one of my recipes, and then they gather together with some good wine, and it's a Lidia party, and I just love that.

I am not invited, but my flavors are, and I love that.

Now let's go on to the next e-mail here.

And it looks like Mark and Sharon sent their own photos from Lidia Night -- a simple chicken parmigiana.

And here it is plated.

Continue Lidia partying.

Thank you very much for inviting my flavors to your party.

All right, dinner's ready.

I always tell you -- Out of the oven, the handle is hot.

Cover it so nobody grabs it.

First of all, let me get a little plate for Lidia here.

Let's get your dish here.

I know you're waiting.

I know you're waiting.

All right.

So first, let's pick up one of the meat loaves.

I think one is enough per person.

And let's do the mushroom and the sauce.

Okay.

I'm gonna steal a little corner here.

Nobody will ever know the difference.

Okay, let me put a little bit of sauce.

That's for Lidia.

To decorate, I will put a little basil to sort of bring back the flavor of the basil in there.

I think that is perfect.

And here is my gift to you.

My gift to the family.

Ooh, it's hot.

Okay, let's leave this here still, because it's hot.

I chose as far as wine a Ciliegiolo.

Ciliegia is "cherry."

And in Maremma, which is part of Tuscany, they make a lot of this wine Ciliegiolo.

And so I thought that with this dish, that would go really good.

So let me taste.

Mmm.

Delizioso.

It is delicious.

It is tender.

It is good.

And I'll take a little sip of the Ciliegiolo.

And I am going to invite you, because I have enough.

And I know you are not gonna go right and cook it right now, so come and join me.

And as I say always, tutti a tavola a mangiare.

Mmm.

For me, food is positive, and it makes me positive, because it gives life.

It nurtures life.

I got that from my grandmother, but from my mother.

Being a young mother, she was always positive.

I remember she was always smiling.

She had her radio on.

She was cooking.

She was singing.

And I think that that instilled in me, you know, the gratitude that one should have in life.

Food was scarce sometimes.

I spent two years in a refugee camp.

I ultimately came to America and was given this great gift and these great opportunities.

How can you not be happy?

[ Singing in Italian ] [ Speaks Italian ] We have to learn some of the lyrics, but we're doing okay.

[ Laughs ] That's a cute one.

That's -- I remember that one.

-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... 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.

-Grana Padano -- authentic, Italian, rich in tradition, yet contemporary.

-And by...