Lidia's Kitchen

-Buongiorno.

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

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

I'm showing off.

Does this look like a good meal?

So, make it.

For me, food is about gathering around the table to enjoy loved ones, share a meal, and make memories.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

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

-Authentic Italian cured meats.

Paolo Rovagnati -- The true Italian tradition.

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

-Olitalia -- From chef to chef.

-We're in my kitchen, but the sun is out, the birds are chirping, so let's go out and cook.

No cookout is complete without a salad.

And this colorful combination will surely be a favorite.

Cheeseburgers always hit the spot, but I give it new life when I bring a little Italy to it.

It's a cookout, the Lidia way.

Cooking outside in Italy, it's done.

Wood is the source of heat and energy.

Coal is not used as much in Italy for grilling, and I think it's better because the heat that comes from wood gets mellower, it's not as intense.

Whole animal on a spit -- You see that continuously traveling through Italy, especially on holidays.

Fish on a grill is also very popular.

And steak.

I mean, you go to Tuscany, bistecca alla fiorentina, that massive piece of T-Bone steak on the high-heat grill.

So it depends on what the topography of the area is, and topography reflects the pastures, and the pastures reflect the animals.

So cookouts are different, but they're delicious in the fact that you do get the aroma of the grill, of the wood and just the fun of cooking outside.

"What's for dinner?"

You know, that's always on an Italian's mind.

Even when we're eating lunch, we are talking about what we're going to eat for dinner.

And here I am in my garden, so it's the appropriate place to think about dinner -- rice salad.

Especially if you have buffets or in the summer or you're going out, even you're taking the food with you, a picnic.

Rice salad is the perfect thing, and Italians love it.

To begin with, you cook some Arborio rice with some bay leaves, salt, and water.

Cook it, drain it just like pasta, and you let it cool off.

Remove the the bay leaves.

Let's get the rice in the bowl.

So when you cool it and -- it sort of remains detached.

Spread it out so it remains detached like that.

And so, when you toss it, it kind of flows.

Now we're going to add all the other good ingredients to it.

A nice cherry tomato, just like that.

Do I have enough there?

Yeah, maybe I'll chop one or two more.

And depends on how big they are.

When you make a salad like that, sort of think about the pieces that you're putting in.

Are they going to disappear in it?

Do I want a bite-size?

And that's all up to you.

You can make it smaller, a little larger.

This is fine as far as the tomatoes.

Artichokes -- Canned artichokes in brine, not in oil, because we're going to dress the salad.

But in brine.

So, again, I'm talking about pieces.

I like to get a nice little piece of artichoke in my mouth.

I don't like little pieces, so let's cut it in quarters.

Sometimes if it's a smaller artichoke, even half will do.

And again, you know, you could alter this recipe.

You wanted more vegetables, you put more vegetables.

You want more rice, less vegetables.

Capers -- The smaller the caper is, the better.

More intense.

Roasted peppers.

You know, we love our peppers.

So I'm looking at this.

Yeah, why not?

Olives.

These are Gaeta olives.

They're pitted.

And celery.

I kind of like this like this, even the leaves.

Sometimes you don't use the leaves, but celery leaves a great in salad.

Yeah, I think that's good enough.

And now for the savory element in here.

I like provolone, and provolone is a cheese full of flavor.

And you can certainly -- you buy it in slices like this, but you have kind of cute options, especially if you have your guests and they see that.

They say, "Oh, where did you get that?

Did you go to the cheesemonger?"

So a cut of the provolone.

And I'm looking, you know, the portion.

I think this is enough.

It's pretty soft, but a little bit I like to.

Sometimes, provolone has -- actually has -- like here, it has a waxy coating, just like that, and that protects it from really drying and becoming a dry cheese.

This leaves the humidity in the cheese.

So that's why the provolone is intense in flavor, full of flavor, but it's a semisoft cheese.

And I like that, especially for this salad.

So, how do I want it?

Well, I think I want -- you know, we have pretty chunky things, so maybe like this.

[ Birds chirping ] Do you hear the birds chirping in my garden?

You know, I have my garden, so I have seeds.

I have a lot of good things for them to pick on.

So we have a lot of birds, and I love it.

In the morning when I have my coffee, I sit out here, and they're chirping.

They're serenading me early in the morning.

So, here is the provolone.

Now, this is the way I like my salad today.

All right.

And this is a pretty full bowl, but we'll get to mix it.

The artichokes are salted, so...

I salted the water for the rice, so not too much salt, but I need a little salt.

Peperoncino, of course.

And I like a lot of that.

And oil -- olive oil.

We need to dress.

So, you know, we need to dress the rice.

And vinegar.

So just like a salad.

But usually, you know, a rice salad is something that, in Italy, the women make at home so they don't have to cook a lot.

They boil the rice, and the rest is all about fresh vegetables or cured vegetables, like olives or like artichokes, some cheese.

And you've got yourself lunch.

Going to clean this up, and we're going to deliver it to the table, enjoy with the family.

Welcome to my library, to our little corner, where we share information.

Here is Brenda.

She says, "I cook rice, and it always turns into sticky rice.

How can I get fluffy rice?"

Well, Brenda, there's many different kinds of rice.

They're all cooked, in a way, differently and with different result.

You know, the Italians, we like our short-grain rice, and that does get sticky and makes a great risotto.

But let's go to the rice that I usually cook with -- long grain rice.

Rinse the rice.

Make sure you put enough water in the pot so that, when the rice is cooking, it's releasing starches, doesn't stick onto the rice, then floats into the water.

1 cup of rice, 3 cups of water.

I would season that with a little salt, maybe put a bay leaf or two.

And you let it cook.

You put a lid on, you bring it to a boil, and then you lower it and let it finish cooking.

Make sure you don't overcook it because overcooking releases all of the starches, and it sticks.

And then you drain it.

Take it, spread it on a sheet of some sort.

Let it cool off like that, and then you gather it and put it together.

You know, if you put a little butter or oil, that will prevent it from sticking while it's waiting for whatever you want to do with it.

So, Brenda, I hope that helps you.

Rice is the one food that it's eaten and cooked the most around the world.

So get that rice technique down.

All right.

We are ready to serve.

I have a nice table set.

Some grissini, some taralli, some extra cheese.

And let's plate the rice.

Mmm, mmm.

Oh, the bees are joining us for dinner.

You know dinner is good, then.

You know, I always like a little extra to the table.

In this case, I have prosciutto cotto.

You can just buy your prosciutto cotto nice and sliced thin.

And this is a slate top.

And it's nice to just drape.

When you put your prosciutto or prosciutto cotto, you just drape it like that.

Don't lay it flat because people won't be able to pick it up, and it will begin to stick, and it won't be as beautiful as this rosettes.

This is thinly cut.

So even if it's thinly cut, if you drop it like this, it's like draping it.

Okay.

So up where I come from, in Trieste, in that area, we use a lot of horseradish.

And I have this horseradish in my garden.

And the horseradish is a root.

And what you do with this root, you cut off the big pieces, and then you peel it like a potato, just like that.

You see?

So you get all the dirt out.

But here I have a nice piece that I've cut that I've used, actually.

You use a grater and... Mmm!

And plenty of horseradish for me.

Now, if your guests -- some might not like it.

You can put the grater and the horseradish just next to this, but otherwise, I would present it just like that.

And here we are.

So let's make Lidia's little tasting plate.

Mmm!

Okay.

And a little prosciutto.

And I'm going to taste for you.

Mmm.

This reminds me of so many of those light dinners in Italy, when you visit somebody, when you make something.

So you ask, "What's for dinner?"

Here it is, a nice rice salad.

I'll come to your meal any time.

Some of my favorite times in the kitchen has been teaching my grandchildren to grow into confident cooks.

In these days, even though they are living on their own, that doesn't mean they stop asking for advice.

I get little messages from my grandchildren when they want to FaceTime with me, and I know they're interested in some information from me.

And so, Ethan is going to call me, and here he is.

Hi, Ethan.

How you doing?

-Hi, Nonni.

I'm good, Nonni.

How are you doing?

-What's up, Ethan?

What are you doing?

-Oh, not much.

I've just been studying hard and, you know, making sure I'm well-fed at school.

-Good grades and being well-fed -- important.

-We've been having barbecues.

We've been cooking outside.

We've been tailgating.

-Oh, you're tailgating.

Oh, that's nice.

That's fun.

-Yep.

-Are you going to invite me?

-Everyone wants you to bring something special to the tailgate, Nonni.

They're tired of eating the pigs in a blanket, and they want the giardiniera back.

-They're smart because the giardiniera, you know, that sort of crunchy vegetables in a vinegar and water kind of pickling, it's delicious.

My grandmother used to make it with the hard winter vegetables, like carrots, like turnips, like parsnips and all cut in different little shapes.

And then you put to boil half water, have vinegar.

And then put herbs, like fennel seeds and peppercorns, all of that.

And you seal it, and the vegetables stay for the whole winter.

That's how they preserved, you know, vegetables because wintertime didn't produce vegetables, and there were no freezers or anything.

So the giardiniera is delicious still because it's crunchy, it's acidic, and there's a lot of vegetables.

You can put it on top of everything.

You know, you can chop them up and put it on top of a sandwich.

Put ham, bologna, whatever.

Actually, in New Orleans, I think they have a muffaletta, which is a sandwich like that.

-I enjoy putting it on the hot dog more.

But, you know, to each their own.

-Okay.

No, no.

We can have some hot dogs.

Hot dogs are the easiest.

-Are you going to bring anything else, though?

You know, there's a lot of people to feed at the tailgates.

-Oh, my goodness.

Absolutely.

Let's see, the hamburgers, the frankfurters.

We can do the -- lots of cold cuts and do the muffaletta sandwiches.

Then, I guess, I have to go a little bit for baked pasta of some sort, huh?

Baked ziti, maybe?

-Baked ziti is one of my favorite pastas.

-What else?

You want dessert, too?

-I think we'll have to save dessert for after the game.

We don't want to work you too hard before coming up to visit.

-How considerate of you!

But when you grow up and work and all that, you got to return all this to Grandma.

You got to take Grandma out with your friends, all the friends that she fed through the years.

Take me out to dinner.

Is that a deal?

-Yes, it is a deal.

I'm going to be late to class, Nonni.

I'm going to have to let you go.

-Okay, Cocco, I love you.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

-Love you, too.

Bye.

-I love a good hamburger, but I like it a little bit on the Italian style, and that's what I'll do today.

Let's start with the bun.

I make it Italian by using a nice crispy focaccia.

This is perfect.

And right in here, I put the tomatoes.

And I'm going to kind of cook them a little bit, almost like ketchup.

Just a little bit.

[ Sizzling ] A little salt just to bring out that flavor.

Now we make the burgers themselves.

I have here some oregano.

I like these kind of little bouquets of oregano, wild oregano, that's dried.

And you take it, you just kind of squeeze it a little bit.

This is enough.

Just like that.

And into the mixture it goes.

Some fresh onion.

The onion brings a lot of flavor to a burger, and in this case, I shred it, and I mix it in the meat so it almost disappears but the flavor lingers.

Salt right in here.

Some fresh pepper.

Grinding fresh pepper is always a good idea.

Okay.

Here we go.

And my burgers are mixed.

Okay.

Equal size.

The tomatoes, I think, are done.

Let's see.

Yeah.

Okay.

So a little bit of oil, just like that, so the hamburgers don't stick.

[ Sizzling ] Good.

Good sound.

I like to hear that sound.

That means temperature is on.

But, you see, I go like this, the back of my hand.

I guess I have a thermometer here.

I sense at which temperature the pan or the oil is at.

And we're going to use a low-moisture mozzarella.

When the hamburgers are halfway done, we'll flip them, and we can add the cheese on it.

You know, being Italian, you got to have a little green, a little insalata.

So let me take two of these little peperoncino.

And these are the Tuscan peperoncino.

You just cut the stem off and remove the seeds, and then you cut it in little strips.

And I'm looking forward to this little crunch here.

Put that in there.

Let's see where the hamburgers are going.

Let me just flip it.

The temperature is pretty high.

I'm going to lower it now a little bit.

And I have these beautiful little cucumbers growing right out of the pot.

And I just couldn't resist.

Just going to slice it, just like that.

Oh, the smell that's coming out, it is delicious.

You know, that's one thing I can't give you through television, is the aromas.

That tells you one thing.

You have to do it yourself.

You have to get these things and get cooking.

Okay, let's put this all right in here.

It's time to put the mozzarella on.

Do not over-pile it because then it's going to take longer to kind of melt.

And if you're concerned about melting, shredding the mozzarella really helps that.

I am going to cover this.

Maybe a little salt because the pickles.

Do I like it a little spicy?

Of course I do.

A little peperoncino, just like that.

Now, there is a little bit of the brine right here.

Just like that.

Let's do a little bit -- just a little bit of the oil.

Not too much.

And let's toss this.

You don't want to make it too wet because you don't want to wet the bun.

So, let's get ready for hamburger all'italiana.

And here, Nancy, she's sending a picture.

"Every year," she says, "I make at least one garden tomato, onion, mozzarella, and Parm pie.

Here, I'm also setting up to make mustard pickles based on the old family recipe.

I was busy getting everything ready when I looked up and saw how pretty it all looked."

So let's take a look.

Oh, my, what a spread you've got here.

Looks good, Nancy.

Cucumbers, pickles look great.

The tomatoes, the pie dough is made.

Looks very nice.

Beautiful, beautiful setting.

I'm so proud of you, Nancy.

You kind of captured the product at its best, when it's ripe and all that, and you kind of saved it, preserved it.

Yes, it changes a little bit, but you preserved it.

And in the middle of the winter, you can have those sunny tomatoes and crisp cucumbers.

Bravo, Nancy.

All right.

Look how good these look.

Okay.

So...

There is one.

There is two.

Mmm!

There is three.

And there is... Oh, all that cheese.

Lidia's got the best one.

Tomatoes.

One... two... three.

A little bit of this insalata, whatever you want to call it -- all'italiana.

Cucumber here.

Mm-hmm.

Just like that.

So let's cover them.

This is -- This is a little bigger one.

Going to press it just a little bit.

Okay, so I am ready to serve these.

Mmm!

And Lidia's.

Wow, I gotta be steady.

Steady, steady, steady.

Okay.

And okay.

I think I have a good use for my kitchen towel.

Get ready for these hamburgers all'italiana.

[ Chuckles ] Mmm.

I can't talk to you and eat that, so I'm going to cheer to you with a little sip of beer.

I'm going to invite you -- Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

And I am going to get to this table and continue to eat.

In grilling outside, there are certain constants.

In America, you have to have the potato salad, you have to have the grilled corn.

In Italy, the equivalent would be a rice salad because it's cold.

Rice is starch.

We need our starch.

And, of course, they put the different vegetables in there, whether it's the giardiniera or the beans or the roasted peppers and so on.

And, you know, a lot of times, I kind of turn American elements into a little bit of the Italian.

For example, the hamburgers.

I used mozzarella cheese instead of American cheese.

And I sometimes just put grilled tomatoes on top of it instead of ketchup.

And that sort of Italianizes it for me.

So that's the fun in combining the two cultures, taking what's the best of each and putting them together.

-[ Speaks in Italian ] -Si!

-[ Speaks in Italian ] -Si!

[ Singing in Italian ] -The food from this series makes Italian cooking easy for everyone and showcases simple-to-prepare recipes that require fewer steps, fewer ingredients, and less cleanup, without sacrificing flavor.

The recipes can be found in Lidia's latest cookbook, "Lidia's a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl," available for $29.95.

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

And by... "Lidia's Kitchen" studio provided by Clarke, New England's official Sub-Zero and Wolf showroom and test kitchen.