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!

-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.

[ Speaking Italian ] There's always room for one more chair at the table.

And there's always room to play with my recipes, too.

This looks delicious.

These clams.

Look at the juice.

Oh, my goodness.

I'm gonna dunk that toast in there and have fun, and so will you when you make it.

My grandmother used to make a lot of warm salads, warm potatoes, warm beans.

Any of those legumes or potatoes will do.

[ Cork pops ] A-ha!

Just the sound.

Fantastico.

This recipe is so easy to multiply.

Delicious and easy family nourishment.

Let's get comfortable in the kitchen.

A little caff, and then we go to work.

You know it's always time for espresso in Italy.

Whenever I cook, the memories -- food memories -- are some of the most vivid memories I have and I'm sure that you have, too.

I just remember how open our home was.

Whoever came, they were welcome.

They were invited.

It's almost expected to say, "Sit down.

Grab a chair."

And so it is.

And, you know, I remember that when we were kids, there were two steps actually going down into this big kitchen.

If an adult came and there were no more chairs, we kids would take our plate and sit on the step and eat on the step while the adult got our chair at the table.

Okay.

Off to the kitchen.

[ Indistinct conversations ] Are we ready?

-We are ready.

We're set.

And...yeah.

Go ahead.

Vongole Veraci alla Triestina.

Buongiorno.

Benvenuti to my kitchen.

I'm going to make some clams my favorite way.

But, first, what's important about any fish, but especially shellfish, is that it is fresh -- and clams, mussels, that they are still alive.

So how do you check on that?

Look.

They're opening.

Just take it and squeeze it like that.

You see?

It's pulling in.

It's alive.

And you go down the line.

You know?

You squeeze them like that.

If they don't close, if they stay open, then you can discard those.

Now, there's always a little bit of sand or a little bit of dirt in shellfish, so we're going to let it sort of purge.

Just plain water like that.

Mix them around a little bit.

You see they're closing up already.

They think they're in the sea, but they're not.

[Laughs] Let's leave them for about 15 minutes, and we'll get the sauce going.

You want a nice pot where all the clams will fit.

And keep in mind that they will open, so you need a little extra space.

Some good olive oil.

Let's do some onions.

And this is one of those easy recipes.

You can use regular littleneck clams.

You can use mussels.

The big-neck clams, they're too big for this because we're going to eat them individually.

And garlic.

Chopping garlic.

The more you cut the garlic, the more flavor you get out of it, so chopping it will give you maximum flavor, but it will stay with you.

And the way to sort of avoid is you squash it like that and you throw it in.

This way, you can pull it out.

Or you can just slice it.

Let's put the garlic in.

[ Sizzling ] Onion and garlic.

What aroma is better than that?

A little bit of peperoncino... just to give it that extra punch.

So I'm going to cut the scallions, the white part, and I'm going to put that in now to cook.

And then I'm going to put the green part to dress it at the end.

Okay.

So here I have clams that have been soaking for about 15 minutes.

Sometimes they do have sand.

Sometimes they don't.

And if you leave them in the water, they'll release it.

So I'm going to take them just like that, put them right in.

So, you can see that there's a little murkiness.

There's a few things on the bottom here.

This is what you want to clean out of the clams.

Let me put this away.

Let me throw in some thyme.

And the whole sprig is fine.

Some bay leaves.

Fresh is best.

If you don't have it, dry bay leaf is fine, as well.

Use one extra if it is dry.

And just wine.

Some good dry wine.

Just like that.

And you let the clams open.

It doesn't take long.

[ Cellphone dinging ] Oh!

I think I hear!

I hear something.

I always entertain calls or messages from my grandkids and my children.

That's important.

So let's see who is doing what.

Alright.

A text from Lorenzo.

"Ciao, Nonna!

How do I host for lots of people when I don't have a large table?

I want to cook a full meal for everyone.

How can I make a small space work?"

You know, he's doing his PhD, and he loves to entertain.

They grew up in this kitchen right here.

They were all around with me cooking.

So, Lorenzo -- and all of you out there -- if you have a small kitchen, you can still do a great meal.

Buffet style is the logical way.

And what is a good spread?

Things that you've kind of done before.

A nice salad.

Lorenzo, you know, you love your octopus and potato salad.

That's a good one.

String beans and potatoes is good.

You can do lasagna.

You're a great lasagna maker.

Vitello tonnato is also a good one.

Set it up.

And you know what?

Then when they're finished with the main course, you use the same system for dessert.

Spread out the dessert and let them have the dessert while you have the coffee, the espresso machine going.

Alright.

So...

Okay, Lorenzo?

Send me pictures.

You, too -- write to me.

Look at this.

Alright.

They're beginning to open.

They're opening up.

Let's leave it.

So, the scallions.

I'm going to add this the last minute.

And it's a great way of using everything.

You know I don't like to waste anything.

And breadcrumbs.

You say, "Lidia, why do you have the breadcrumbs?"

This is a very good tip.

When you cook mussels or clams, you have a lot of sauce, a lot of juice.

One way... to kind of densen it up is I am putting some breadcrumbs.

And this will cook with the sauce and make the sauce thicker.

I think this is fine.

Now, this -- five minutes, and we'll be ready to serve.

I'll clean up, and we will enjoy.

Alright.

Let me check what you guys are writing to me.

I just love receiving e-mails from you because you start giving us a good sense of what you need to know and what you want to know and who's watching.

So, this is from Annette.

"I watched your show where you made the mussels with potatoes and Italian sausage.

I ordered mussels from a butcher, and we had a fantastic Friday night dinner.

Thanks for inspiring me."

And there's a photo.

Oh, that looks good, Annette!

Good for you.

I am proud of you.

I think my recipes work fine for you.

Keep on watching, keep on cooking, and keep on writing.

Ciao.

Alright.

I have some bread grilling.

You know, dunk bread in that sauce.

Look at these.

Look at these, how beautiful they look.

They're open.

They're ready.

And the sauce.

You see the sauce?

I told you.

Just a little bit of bread will give that density.

So let's put in the scallions that I chopped.

Just give that one twirl.

You know?

Italians, we like our parsley.

And I kind of like my parsley a little coarse, you know?

So you see it around.

Parsley is very good for you.

So here we go.

Okay.

I am ready to serve here.

I have the thyme.

I'll pull that out.

It gave its flavor.

I'm looking for bay leaves.

Here's one.

You can remove them, as well.

Let me serve you now.

Let me serve you.

Mamma mia!

Okay.

A nice ladle will do the trick.

Mmm!

Don't forget the juice.

Ooh.

What a beautiful aroma.

I'm getting the l'acquolina in bocca.

L'acquolina in bocca means water in my mouth.

That means that my taste buds are working.

Okay.

This one is empty, so let's take it out.

Look at this.

Let me put some juice on top of that.

Mm-hmm.

I have some grilled bread.

Let me put another fresh -- Nice and hot.

And I'm going to need one for Lidia.

You love when I taste it and I tell you how it tastes.

I know you'd like to be here with me, but you're going to have to make it yourself.

Half an hour, it's done.

Not even.

Okay.

Mmm!

Okay.

Perfect.

I love to kind of get a little bit of the sauce and...

Delicious.

I don't have time to tell you because it's so delicious.

Soak it up a little bit.

When you have some left over, take the clams out of the shell, put it in the sauce, and leave it in the refrigerator.

And then, next meal, you cook yourself some pasta and dress it with this clam sauce, and it's a delicious second meal.

Mmm!

Just make sure that your clams, your mussels are super-fresh.

Insalata Tiepida di Scarola con Fagioli Cannellini e Sgombro.

Skimming through my books always gives me idea of new things or maybe things that I want to really give you more of.

And one of them is this warm escarole salad with cannellini beans and mackerel.

Now, the mackerel - I added it because I like mackerel.

And this is canned mackerel.

It's good for you.

But you can even cut the mackerel out.

You can use sardines.

You can use anchovies.

You can use shrimp.

You can really modify the simple recipe.

Dried cannellini beans I say here, so that means you have to soak them and wash them, but it doesn't say that you can't use canned beans.

I think that would be okay.

The bay leaves, the rosemary, and the peperoncino -- you need that to cook the beans.

If you cook the beans, you got to start -- Soak them overnight.

And then you boil them with those herbs in there, and you drain them, and when they're room-temperature or even warm -- because escarole is a tough green and the warmth of the beans will kind of mellow it.

But if you're using arugula or a lighter kind of salad, then the beans should be cold.

Then extra virgin olive oil.

Some red-wine vinegar.

A small red onion.

And capers drained in brine.

And this is all to toss the salad.

And you add to that two cans of mackerel.

You drain it, and then you add.

Or you can, you know -- You can put the mackerel on the side or just coarsely break it and just fold it in.

You want pieces that you can fork into.

My grandmother used to make a lot of warm salads, especially with greens that have a texture.

Sometimes even arugula, if it's the older or the wilder cut, can withstand a little bit of warmth.

And she would put in beans, sometimes warm beans.

She would also boil potatoes and use warm potatoes sort of as a softener of these winter greens.

Dandelion.

She would make wild dandelion.

This concept of making salads I do all the time.

I use Grandma Rosa's warm potatoes, warm beans, lentils.

Any of those legumes or potatoes will do.

Scaloppine di pollo con prosciutto e piselli.

Prosciutto and peas.

What a great combination of flavor.

You can use it for pasta, for risottos, for chicken, for pork.

In this case, I'm going to do some chicken cutlets.

And this is a recipe that -- you're coming from work, half an hour, it is done, and you get vegetables and proteins all in the same dish.

So, this is a rather large chicken breast, so I opened it up a little bit and I'm going to pound it.

When you're butterflying a chicken breast, be gentle, be on top, and feel through your hands.

You know, I mean, cooking is all about seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling.

All of that is important in cooking.

So, you know, you have a mallet, flat.

Kind of just enlarges... And, yes, you could put plastic wrap.

And you notice that as I'm pounding, I kind of push out.

Let me just set it up.

I'm going to season it.

A little bit of salt.

One side is enough because we're going to put prosciutto.

So, whenever you're cooking elements together, you know, you've got to sort of think about the ultimate end.

You don't want it over-salty.

A little fresh pepper.

[ Whirring ] Now I want to add sage.

Sage has a pronounced flavor.

One little leaf of it is just fine like that.

And then I'm going to put some in the sauce, as well.

And prosciutto.

Okay.

This will kind of fit into this.

Okay.

Get this.

Get this going.

You don't need a lot of prosciutto.

It has a lot of flavor.

You used the back of the knife to make it adhere to the meat.

So...

So you're not really cutting it.

It's adhering to the meat.

We're going to put a little bit of oil... and some butter.

You don't want high, high temperatures.

You want mellow temperatures.

Otherwise, the prosciutto hardens.

So let's do a little bit of flour.

And let's put the prosciutto first down.

Just like that.

Okay.

So don't be tempted to put a lot of prosciutto.

You know this.

The flavor is there, and that's all you need.

So let's just clean up a little bit.

Okay.

Let's see.

Okay.

Here it is.

If you cook the chicken in hot oil, it's going to form a crust.

If you do it mild, you can let it caramelize at the end, get that brown color.

Then it remains nice and soft.

You know, let me check what you guys are doing out there.

You always send me some nice communication.

So, this way, we stay in touch.

You know?

I love to connect with you.

"We watched your show for years.

Here's a video of our son when he 2 two years old.

To this day, yours is the only sauce he enjoys."

Smart guy.

"Thank you for sharing your recipes and family with us.

Trasi and Brian."

-Lidia Bastianich.

-Who is that?

Who is that?

-Lidia Bastianich.

-This little cutie has good taste.

Thank you.

Alright.

Let's get back to the kitchen.

Watch this recipe.

Because it's easy to make and you'll like it.

Okay.

We don't want any more cooking than this because we will continue to cook the chicken with the sauce.

And we'll continue the sauce right in here.

You see?

It is not burnt because I told you, not too hot.

Let's put the shallots in there.

Now, you know, you can cut the shallots thinly, but sometimes, you know, I like a little texture.

Shallots and the peas together.

Mmm!

And the flavor of the prosciutto on top.

That's good.

Let's... Now, if you don't have shallots, could you use onions?

Of course.

Shallots have a more pronounced flavor in sweetness, and it disintegrates.

Onions sometimes has a tendency to kind of remain as a whole.

The shallots usually disintegrate more readily.

And I have here some stock.

Chicken stock.

Vegetable stock.

Whatever you have.

You know, I always tell you to save all those little ends of celery, carrots, and whatever, and then make a stock.

And then you freeze it.

And for moments like that -- You know, this is about a pint of stock frozen.

I pull it out, and voil.

So a little bit of sage to flavor it.

A little bit of salt -- just enough for the shallots because the prosciutto is in there.

And I'm going to put the peas in there.

Frozen peas are perfectly fine.

Fresh, of course, are -- In season, they're the best.

You might have to cook them a little longer, but, you know, vegetables, peas -- just about everybody loves it.

But if you don't, you can put maybe little string beans or maybe even corn, add to this.

So, now let me deglaze it.

And Prosecco Doc is from Northern Italy, from Veneto and Friuli.

I come from Friuli, So we enjoy it and also cook with.

So, sometimes you're in doubt -- "What am I going to cook with?

What am I going to drink?"

This will take care of the situation.

[ Cork pops ] A-ha!

Just the sound.

I am going to add some more butter.

Now I'm beginning to make the sauce.

And I'm going to deglaze with the Prosecco.

[ Sizzling ] I want to leave enough to drink with it, but this is great.

Now let's put the chicken back in.

And the juice and everything.

Mmm!

I'm going to put a little bit of the stock.

And let this bubble away.

So, I'm going to clean up, and then we're going to enjoy.

Alright.

There's another e-mail.

And this one is from Nelly-Mai.

"I love your style of cooking.

I was wondering if you had any advice for me as an aspiring young chef, in my second year of my apprenticeship?

Thank you, Nelly-Mai."

Ah.

Nelly-Mai.

If you're passionate about it, it's the best profession, but it's not an easy profession, especially for us women.

One of the important things is that you learn how to balance your life.

And I know you're looking for maybe professional -- what should you be cooking and how?

The important thing that I can tell you is that you got to make a balance in your life and have a normal life as a woman, whatever that means, whether it be mother or meeting your friends.

And then, when you have done that, you allow the time to really get into cooking.

And cooking is like any other art.

You got to keep on practicing.

You got to work with people that you admire.

Sort of working with the masters, the school of.

So choose the chefs that you would like to learn from and make your way there.

Keep on writing.

Send me updates.

[ Sniffs] Mmm!

Fresh sage.

Beautiful.

You know, I always tell you, if you have a garden... Beautiful.

Put it out there.

You have a windowsill, put it on the windowsill.

You'll get your herbs growing just like Lidia.

And they're delicious.

So, this is cooked.

It's ready.

The meat is done.

Looks nice and tender.

The sauce is just perfect.

And it's time to plate it.

A nice platter will do.

And let everybody help themselves.

Let's start with the protein.

You see how beautiful it looks?

And I can tell that it's not overcooked.

And here we are.

Let's put some of the sauce on top.

And I am serving away here.

But you know what?

How about Lidia?

Oh-hoh!

I need to get a little plate for myself.

And what I'm going to do, I'm going to cut here, where nobody will notice, a little piece of the chicken.

You can't see it, right?

Nah.

Now, let's continue with sauce for Lidia.

And a sauce for the family.

I love my food.

I love when it looks good.

And I love presenting it.

So, I have the fresh sage that I picked from my window.

Fresh herbs.

Yes, I cook with them.

You get the flavor in there.

But like this -- fresh.

With the heat, they release their flavor, so you get all that beautiful aroma right as you're seated and ready to eat.

Now, the salad is here.

I have nice, just simple bread.

And, of course, the Prosecco Doc.

Okay.

This recipe is so easy to multiply.

Your family will love it.

Let's taste.

Mmm!

Delicious.

You know, the peas make it sweet.

The savoriness of the prosciutto, of the chicken.

Delizioso, as I always say, and invite you.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare e bere!

Salute!

-[ Singing in Italian ] -You know, I took two sips.

You go to a bar in Italy, you order un caff, and you get this caff, this little thing.

You're wondering what's in there.

But that's the way it is.

And the Italians will take it all in one slug.

All down.

None of this tasting bits.

So, uh, I did it in twice, but I like to savor.

-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...