Lidia's Kitchen

-Bonjourno.

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".

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-Olitalia -- from chef to chef.

-I love trying new foods, and in my travels, when I get an opportunity, I taste everything I can, and I encourage you to do the same.

I first tasted this creamy orange risotto in Emilia-Romagna while traveling on a family vacation.

To counteract the sweetness of the squash, I crumbled Gorgonzola Dolce on top, maybe a little different.

You want to always learn new things.

This is one of my favorite unexpected pairings.

Sweet gorgonzola filled celery.

So simple and so perfect.

Finger-licking good?

[ Both laugh ] If you like liver as much as I do, you'll love this.

Just like my mother made it, with a mushroom onion sauce.

This liver is delicious with mushrooms.

It might just be your favorite too.

Go ahead, give it a try.

Embrace the new.

I love discovering.

I love traveling.

I am always challenged by new flavors, new cultures, new food.

But within my own culture, I find new things now and then.

I remember bottarga.

It's salted and dried eggs of mullet fish, usually, and then it is grated on top of pasta to really give that complexity.

Where I come from, up north, even though we're fishermen, we didn't do that, but for me, that was a powerful flavor of fish.

That brings that kind of umami to it, and I've been using it ever since.

Risotto de zucca.

Welcome to "Lidia's Kitchen".

We're going to have some fun today.

I'm going to teach you some new things.

Some things you might know, some things might be new for you, but it's going to be fun, and I'm going to try to coax you to try them.

So, we're going to do a pumpkin risotto.

This happens to be calabaza.

Pumpkin, squash -- they're all kind of in the same family, and in Italy, they're used a lot, especially this calabaza.

The first thing, of course -- clean all the seeds out.

Scrape them out with a spoon, just like that.

And it has a tough skin.

Cut in wedges.

Just like that.

And you don't want to use the outside skin because it's tough.

You can't peel it with a potato peeler like you would a zucchini or something.

So, this is the way to do it.

Get it in a manageable piece so it's comfortable for you.

You might use your paring knife just to scoop it all up like that.

You know, in Emilia-Romagna, where the prosciutto, the grana, the parmigiano, are very traditional.

Especially Modena.

They use a lot of squash.

So, let's begin with the olive oil with onions, and regular onions.

You can do shallots, you can do a combination.

And as you know, I usually salt all my ingredients as I go along.

So, you want the onions to slowly kind of wilt and let me just talk to you a little bit about risotto, because risotto is all about a technique.

So, one cup of rice will yield two cups of risotto and will take about three cups of a good stock to get there.

So, you need a good stock -- I have here in the background -- to be sort of bubbling away, awaiting to be put into the risotto.

Could you make a risotto with water if you have nothing else?

Yes.

I tell you that as well.

But you want to make an elegant risotto full of flavor, make sure your stock is flavorful.

So, I'm looking at the onions.

I'm going to put just a little bit of stock in there because I want them to wilt.

You don't want the onions to get brown because then they won't disintegrate.

Okay.

Just like that.

I add just a little bit of stock, but I'm going to have all the stock dissipate because there's over a thousand different versions of rice.

Rice is the one food that feeds the most amount of people on this planet.

Italians like short grain rice, which Arborio or Carnaroli is.

The short grain rice actually releases its starches, and that's the beauty of risotto, because those starches, as I'm making the risotto, make the risotto creamy.

So, why does it do that?

Because rice is a kernel that has a bran.

We mill that away, and you get this white rice, unless you want to use brown rice.

Now, brown rice with the bran will not yield a creamy risotto, and it takes about 45 minutes to cook.

This rice, the risotto will take about 18 minutes.

So, that's the difference.

What we want to do is toast it on the outside.

I want to toast it because when I add the hot stock, the rice won't fall apart.

When do you know that it's toasted?

It doesn't change color.

You hear, like, a little bit of clackety-clack?

I want the starch to seep out, but I want the rice to stay whole.

Cooked, but stay whole, so you have those kernels that are nice, al dente in your mouth as you're eating a risotto.

You hear it?

You hear the clickety?

Okay, that's what you want.

I'm going to add wine.

"Which wine?"

you ask.

A white wine.

A wine that I would drink.

Now, after I toasted it, it was thirsty.

It drank all the wine, so what that means is that the rice itself is going to be flavored.

I'm going to prepare myself with stock.

Boiling temperature.

Just add that a little bit at a time, and the idea is just that you add enough liquid so that the starches begin to come out, the rice is cooking, and you move on.

I'm going to put in the squash.

And also, you can flavor the rice with shrimp.

You can do it with saffron.

You can do it just with gorgonzola.

Keep in mind how long the ingredients that you're adding takes to cook.

Now, let me put the salt for the squash.

I'm hearing crack-crack.

It needs a little bit of liquid, enough to cover it all, just to cover the rice.

This is enough liquid to cook this risotto.

I'm going to continue to do just that.

Sage goes very good with zucca.

So let me get some sage out here and chop it up.

Sage is a wonderful herb, especially good with chicken, especially good with rice.

But spread the goodness.

Another element that is used a lot in Emilia-Romagna is nutmeg, and you don't need a lot of it.

Let's get it in.

And you can use nutmeg in your home cooking, in flavoring some of the sauces, but more on the savory and sweet, not tomatoes.

Nutmeg and tomatoes don't have a good marriage.

More mellow flavors.

But keep in mind, it is very, very pronounced.

Let's take the time -- You know, I check on my social.

You guys send me your social, and I encourage that.

Please send me some more.

This is Jeff.

"My favorite cheese is gorgonzola.

How would you use it in a recipe, especially in a pasta dish?"

Well, Jeff, that's a good question.

You can make a sauce of gorgonzola in a pan with a little of the pasta boiling water, a little butter, with a little bit of cream, you know, sort of you carry on the message of the milk of the cheese, and you have your sauce for pasta.

So there's many ways of enjoying your gorgonzola.

Thank you very much for the e-mail.

Keep them coming.

I'm going to finish off with a little bit of fresh scallions.

Parsley is a common sort of fresher-upper, but I love scallions too.

Just like that, and the green part, too.

Almost all the way up.

Okay.

And let me put this right here, ready to go.

So the gorgonzola usually comes wrapped in foil because wrapping it in foil paper works.

So, this way, the oxygen doesn't get there.

It doesn't increase the growth of the mold, especially in blue cheeses.

Cut it in pieces because I'm going to mix it in.

I'm gonna add the scallions at the last minute.

Mmm.

The gorgonzola, the last minute, again, because I'm going to have maximum flavor of the gorgonzola when I add it like this.

You can see how it is melting in there.

Let's go with the butter here, and I have the cheese.

The butter -- room temperature.

Spread it around like that, and mix it in.

So, the risotto, the one thing, once it's done, you got to serve it.

You got to tell your guests to be seated.

That risotto is coming to you.

A little bit of Grana, and you can put grated cheese on the table for everybody, but you need a little bit making Mantecare.

Let me taste now here.

Look at the creaminess.

Mm-mm.

Mm.

So good.

So good.

You must make it.

And a little plate for Lidia.

And I also usually use the little plate to kind of escort me to the plate so I don't dribble all over the place.

Mmm.

And a little for Lidia.

Let's serve this to the table nice and hot.

Let's taste.

Creamy.

Nice.

Mm.

The squash is perfection.

It's cooked, but yet, it retained its shape and its texture.

The gorgonzola and the squash is a marriage really made in heaven.

It's so delicious.

The sweetness, the complexity, the earthiness of the pumpkin, and then comes the gorgonzola, the topping, the richness of this risotto.

And I'm going to finish it.

And I hope you took notes.

It's something that you really have to try.

-Sedano e Gorgonzola.

-Sedano e Gorgonzola.

-Guess who came in today?

-Lorenzo.

-Ciao, Nonna.

How are you?

-Oh, great.

Ooh.

Last time, you asked me to get ideas for you, for your parties.

-Little hors d'oeuvres.

-Yes.

-And I'm going to make the simplest and the most delicious hors d'oeuvre.

-I love it.

-Perfect.

-I'm going to do celery stuffed with gorgonzola and a little bit of chopped walnuts on top.

Celery and gorgonzola -- you've had that flavor before.

-Well, my dad is Roman, so gorgonzola is a staple.

So, I've had it many a time, as a matter of fact, with him in Rome, at home.

-Okay.

So, I'm chopping this up.

It's at room temperature.

You can do it with other cheeses, too, if you like.

Blue cheese or whatever.

And I would like to just soften it because I want to spread it.

Why don't you do that for me, and I'll go for the celery.

So, a nice celery.

The ribs nice and crunchy.

This one looks nice.

-Anything special you do with the leaves?

-They're good, and I leave them on, and we'll use them for decoration.

And we'll see.

We'll use them on top.

So this is a little large.

I'm going to cut it just a little bit to make it all the same size, and all this leftovers, they're all great for soup, of course.

You entertain a lot?

-Yeah.

I like having people over.

I like cooking for people.

I like making party style dishes, lasagna, hors d'oeuvres, that kind of thing.

So, this is great.

-They're going to love this.

Okay, so I think this is enough to fill.

-Oh, you did a good job.

-I try.

-Okay.

Here.

I see that you're... -Ah.

A little... -Yeah.

Grandma would lick it, but okay.

[ Both laugh ] Okay.

You have a bottle of wine in front of you.

Are you curious as to what it is?

-I am, yes.

So, what is this?

Recioto.

-Recioto della Valpolicella.

It's a sweet wine.

Now, with cheese, you know, sweet wine, you can have -- There's Vin Santo.

And so, like this, and here, I have chopped toasted walnuts.

You don't need too many.

Just a little bit.

It's stuck to it.

And we'll continue.

Why don't you open the Recioto?

So, "orecchio" means ears.

So, you know the cluster of grape, the red grape, the Corvinone?

-Yeah.

-Usually, sometimes, on top of -- where there's the stem, there's two little clusters of grape that usually stick out.

So, they cut that because that's mature and sweet, and they make the Recioto out of that.

-Okay.

-Let's switch.

You come over here, and I go over there, and let's see what happens here.

Look at the color.

-Oh, beautiful.

-Look at the intensity.

Okay.

Let me taste.

Mm.

That's delicious.

So, now, look at this.

-Absolutely.

-Is it finger licking good?

-[ Laughs ] -Move over.

Move over in the kitchen.

-Just grabbing some parsley.

-Just like that.

And you know, you can make this in advance.

It stays well in the refrigerator.

So, now, this is yours.

This is mine.

-Cin cin.

-Alla salute.

-Si.

-Buonissima.

Wow.

-Okay.

Take a piece.

Why don't you take that?

-That's nice.

-Ah, beautiful.

Yes.

-I love celery leaves, too.

-Yeah?

-Salute.

-Alla salute.

-Hmm.

Yeah.

-Crunchy.

And just like that, you have hors d'oeuvres.

You could be making this at home very easily.

-Oh, I will.

-Fegato alla Veneziana.

Liver is great.

So, let's begin with the onions and the mushrooms.

So, the liver, you're going to saut it quickly, and then we're going to have the mushroom onion sauce ready.

And I like to kind of have a crunch to my onions.

So, the slice is not too thin.

And this is sort of a take on the Veneziana.

I kind of embellished it a little bit so that you would try to cook it.

Here we are.

I have some olive oil.

Let's put it in.

The liver goes with lots of onions.

I'm going to add some bay leaves to this.

One, two, three, four.

I always tell you, you know, these are the bay leaves fresh from my garden.

I have my little bush, which I adore because I love bay leaves.

But count how many you put in.

That's how many you want out.

And we're going to put a little bit of salt.

The salt pulls out the water of the onions.

We will do the mushrooms now.

You're going to say, "Oh, gee, which mushrooms?"

Well, the royal trumpet, shiitake, the regular champignon.

I have a little bit of everything because I want you to know that you can do it with just one kind of mushroom or different, even oysters.

I love to work with my hands, with the vegetables, and whenever I can, do it without the knife.

And the smell of mushrooms -- I love mushrooms.

I love cooking with mushrooms.

This liver is delicious with mushrooms.

With a wet paper towel, clean them good.

I kind of like to see the shape of the mushrooms, so cutting it like this.

Although this is a big slice, so let me cut it like this.

Okay.

Once the onions have begun, you can put the mushrooms right in, and you know, you say, "Oh, Lidia, but will it all fit?"

You know, mushrooms have a lot of water, so let me add some salt.

OK.

I'm going to add a little bit of wine right here.

Get it going.

And slowly mix it and let it simmer.

You can make this in advance.

You have people coming.

I think what's important is that you sear the liver to order, but this you could make in advance.

I'm going to put it in the back burner on a low flame, let it cook away.

Cover it and let it simmer.

Let's go for the liver.

And we'll use this piece right here, just like that.

Put this away, and let's remove the skin first.

So, the liver has a skin, and you get underneath and you grab the skin just like that, and you just need to pull that.

Okay, so let me cut it in slices and then I'll cut it in pieces.

And if you like grill slices, just simple like that.

We are ready to cut in cubes.

I am going to put in the butter, so it gives it a little flavor and moisture.

I lowered the flame a little bit, and let it simmer away while we prepare the liver, because the liver, we're going to sear separately.

And here, I have a little polenta on the side, keeping it warm because I recall liver was almost always served with polenta.

So what you want to do is you want to cut nice pieces, not too small.

Some of you might like rare, medium rare.

It's up to you how you like it.

Just make them all the same size.

This is a cow's liver, but chicken liver is delicious, it's inexpensive, and it has just about the same nutritional values.

So, you can always substitute chicken liver.

So, I'm going to flour it lightly.

I'm going to sear it in some vegetable oil, and, of course, season it with a little bit of salt.

The flour kind of seals it off, and I kind of like the crunchiness of the flour on the liver.

Very light flour.

So, you don't want to overcrowd the liver.

If I put all of this in it, it would fit, but you would stew the liver.

You want it nice and crispy.

No problema.

Just like that.

That's cooking.

So, I have a little time.

I'm going to go just wash my hands.

That's coming along.

We'll flip it over on the other side.

You see the nice crust on one side?

And yeah, don't wait too long.

You don't want to overcook it, unless you want it well done.

Okay.

We'll use that for the liver.

This looks fine.

Again, you don't want to overcook it.

And we'll put in the rest.

Okay, here we are.

So, we can clean up a little bit here.

My polenta.

I made the polenta.

I cooked it.

Brown it in a little bit of butter in the pan just like that, or you can grill it.

Absolutely.

So, let's collect it all.

Here we are with the liver.

Let's pull forth our mushrooms, and let's see how they're doing.

Let's keep the polenta warm.

Mm-hmm.

I'm looking at this.

Mmm.

It looks good.

Remove the bay leaves.

Typical Venetian style of liver Veneziana.

It's with a little bit of vinegar.

Red wine vinegar.

That's what Grandma had.

That's what I still use.

And that's enough.

That will give an acidity to the super sweetness of all of these onions.

Black pepper.

And you want pepper added the last minute, and you want the flavor, the aroma of pepper.

You don't want the sort of tannin, the astringent part of the pepper to come out.

And now we're ready.

I'm going to add the liver.

Just with the heat of the onions, the liver will continue to cook.

So, give it a little mix.

And here we are.

We're almost ready.

A little plate for Lidia just here.

So let's see.

Polenta.

I'm going to put one.

This is a nice toasty.

I'm going to take that one.

The polenta -- I can handle you with my hands.

That's it.

Okay.

And just kind of grab it like this and just serve it.

Mmm.

Mmm.

I like them sort of -- mine medium rare, so I'm just looking for the little chunkier part.

That's it.

And this looks beautiful.

Here we are.

Mmm.

And a little decoration.

Do your parsley just like that, and just put it in there.

Wow.

A little parsley?

Sure!

And I guess it's time to taste.

Let me taste a little piece.

Mmm.

Just perfect.

A little mushroom.

Really good.

If you've never tried it before, Lidia guided you.

I am going to continue and finish this, but I always invite you.

So tutti a tavola a mangiare andiamo.

Our first restaurant, Buonavia, in '71, was based on the Italian-American cuisine, because that's what America knew then, and it's delicious food.

But regional cuisine of Italy is a whole other cuisine, and I was determined to sort of bring in the regional cuisine with the Italian-American cuisine.

And at Buonavia, I would make a big pot of polenta, which wasn't yet on Italian-American menus, and maybe a guazzetto, a sauce of whether venison or chicken and whatever, and as the main course would go out, I would go out, I had a little plate of polenta with a little bit of sauce, and I would put it on the table, and I said, "Try this.

This is polenta.

This is what I grew up on."

I felt even then, I wanted to share, and this was my way.

They weren't going to buy a whole plate of polenta and venison, but if I gave them a taste, they might taste, and next time, they might order it.

[ Singing in Italian ] [ Applause ] -Brava!

[ Speaking Italian ] -[ Speaking Italian ] That means that you're scattered all over the place.

-[ Chuckles ] You better believe it.

[ Both laugh ] -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.

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

-And by...