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.

-It's the Italian way.

Prosecco DOC ros.

A toast of Italy.

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

-Olitalia -- from chef to chef.

-Italians -- we take our holiday seriously.

From the food to the conversation to the wine, they must always be flowing.

Warm, roasted vegetables are tossed with bread and kale to make one creative winter take on the traditional panzanella.

Crespelle were a childhood staple for me.

-I'm gonna do whipped cream and the little, chocolate hazelnuts.

-And serving them with a toppings bar is a fun, festive way to treat your guests.

-Mmm!

-Delicious.

During the holidays, my mother, Grandma Erminia, was the expert maker of the gnocchetti de gris.

All you need is good stock to cook them and let the celebration begin.

What's a celebration without lots of food?

So let's get cooking.

A meal is always a celebration for Italians.

Usually, a celebratory meal is a long meal.

First goes the antipasto.

Soup -- brodo.

Brodo is stock.

Usually it's chicken stock, a little tortellini in there.

And then, of course, the primo -- pasta.

You got to have a little pasta -- some manicotti, whether it's a lasagna, baked ziti.

All of this in the oven, and you bring it out.

And then, of course, the main course is a lot of vegetables -- braised, green vegetables, legumes, potatoes -- at least six, seven, eight different vegetables.

That was a party.

And then, of course, the proteins.

Usually, it's a roast.

It could be pork or it could be lamb.

A little piece will do as long as it's flavorful and tasty and you taste the rosemary and the onions and the bay leaves and all of that.

Some good wine and some good bread.

There's the espresso.

There's the espresso corretto with some grappa, with sambuca... Celebration never stop at an Italian home... [ Singing in Italian ] -...especially if somebody plays us some music, singing.

[ Singing in Italian ] -Mwah!

Salute!

-And it just continues.

Panzanella invernale.

Panzanella is such an iconic Italian salad.

What it means is a salad with some bread -- bread that you have left over.

It sort of absorbs all the dressing and makes a delicious salad.

So, here, I have cauliflower, Brussels sprouts.

We will season them and roast all of this, and then we'll make the salad with it.

So, here I have a washed delicata squash, but you can put any squash -- butternut squash, acorn squash.

Mix it up a little bit.

And I'm gonna leave the skin, because the skin in the delicata usually cooks soft.

And it's good.

It's an added element.

So, you would take away the seeds, just like that.

Okay.

Okay.

Cut it in cubes.

Okay.

So, these are the roasted vegetables, but we will also add some kale in here and lighten it up.

This is thyme.

I want to season the vegetables.

Let's chop it.

Let's put some salt so that the vegetables, when they're roasted, they're gonna be flavorful.

Let's put some olive oil.

And sheet pans -- two.

We'll roast it.

You want to give the vegetables space in the oven, because you want them nice and crunchy and crispy all around.

Let me see.

Maybe just a little bit more.

Not too much, but just a little bit.

Preheated oven -- 425 degrees, nice and hot.

And 20 minutes to half an hour, until they're soft inside, but have a nice, little crust on the outside.

The vegetables are roasting, so let's get the bread going.

Whole-wheat bread, a nice, hearty bread, a bread that's yesterday's bread is perfectly fine.

And I think that maybe even half of this is enough.

Cubes.

I like to leave the crust right on, just like that.

And I like the crust in the salad.

Okay.

So here we are.

I think we have enough.

I'm gonna just wait for the vegetables to finish roasting, and we're gonna be ready to make the salad.

Buongiorno.

Benvenuti to my library.

Here is where I read your e-mails and answer you.

And here, I have a video from Tracy, so let's take a look.

-Hi, Lidia.

I'm Tracy from New Jersey, and I want to make gnocchi.

I see you do it on TV all the time, and it looks so easy.

But I'm wondering, should I make ricotta gnocchi or potato gnocchi?

What's better?

What's easier?

Let me know.

-Tracy, thank you very much for this e-mail.

It looks like you are going to pick up the kids from school and you decided that you wanted to ask Lidia a question.

I love that.

I love to be part of your everyday life.

And you want to make gnocchis.

Well, there's two different things.

The potato gnocchis are the traditional gnocchis, and they take just a little bit more time.

You need to boil the potatoes, rice them, and let them cool completely before you knead the flour in.

Whereas the ricotta gnocchi, the important thing is to drain the ricotta, and then you add the flour and the eggs and you just make it.

So if you're in a pinch and in a hurry, the ricotta gnocchi are the answer.

So thank you for the question, Tracy.

And here I have something from Greta.

Well, you know, you can cook the squash and freeze half of it once it's cooked, because if you freeze the squash raw like that and fresh, it becomes very mushy, and then you never get the texture and the flavor back in cooking it.

So if you cook it first and then freeze it, that's salvaging some of that texture and that flavor.

But I would make something with the other half.

How about a nice puree of squash soup?

And you can freeze that.

Most important is that you are concerned about wasting food, and I love that.

So thank you, Greta, for your message and your question, and keep on cooking.

We are ready to assemble this delicious salad.

The vegetables are soft inside, but have a nice, little crust.

So, here, put them right in the bowl, where we will dress them.

Look how great these vegetables look.

You can use them for any meal.

Roast the vegetables in the oven, put something on the grill, and you're done.

But here, I'm making a panzanella salad.

So let's add the bread -- it's known for its bread -- and the greens.

Here I have kale because we're sort of in a wintry mood.

Let's dress this.

Salt.

The bread is gonna soak up a lot of the juices, the dressing, so we have to be aware of that.

Oil.

So, if you're looking at me, says, "Lidia, too much dressing," the bread takes it in.

This is apple cider vinegar.

Mmm-mmm-mmm!

And let's toss this.

You see the bread is already absorbing.

I'm gonna let the bread steep in the juices and absorb the juices a few minutes.

So, when you make your salad, you know, the kale is resilient, and it will sort of hold up.

So don't worry about making it a little bit ahead of time, and let that bread soak in the goods.

So, walnuts.

Let's just chop some walnuts.

Always toast your walnuts or nuts that you use for baking, for dressing, whatever.

Toast them before, because it sort of lets the oils come out.

Okay.

And I always tell you, dough scraper is a lifesaver for me.

So, let's give it a good toss.

You can just build and build with different vegetables, but also with proteins, you know?

You could put hard-boiled eggs in here.

You could put a little tuna in here.

And then it really becomes a main course.

I'm gonna taste the kale... hmm!

-- and the bread.

What I like about panzanella is exactly what happened.

The bread has taken in the oil and vinegar, and when you bite into it, it squirts that dressing in your mouth.

Boy, is it delicious.

So, let me serve you some.

You can bring the bowl to the table.

You know, this is a big one.

This could be a main course.

And that looks good.

Mmm!

I mean, I've tasted it, but I want to taste some more.

Mmm!

The sweetness of the delicata.

Mmm!

And I know when you go out and eat, you order those salads that sort of impress you.

But you can make your own impressive salad just like this.

-Crespelle Guarnite A Piacere.

[ Sizzling ] -My grandkids are big now, and when they come, it's always a celebration.

So I'm making one of Julia's favorites, the palacinke, Julia.

-They are my favorite.

-So, do you know how to make the batter?

-Um...

I don't know if I remember.

Flour, egg, vanilla, lemon.

What else?

-Water or milk?

-Oh, water.

-And it needs to be like this, just like a melted ice-cream texture.

Of course, I'm going to make some more of these.

I have made a whole pile.

-Mm-hmm.

-And do you want to flip it like me?

-Can you teach me how?

-So, you shake it around.

-Okay.

-And then you push out and you catch it in.

Push it a little high.

-It's gonna go flying.

Oh!

-Well, brava!

-Thank you.

-Okay.

It's inborn.

[ Both laugh ] You ready to stuff yours?

-Yes, but I think I'm gonna take a cold one.

-Yeah, these are hot.

-Yeah.

-And?

-I'm gonna do whipped cream and the little chocolate hazelnuts.

-Okay, good.

That's it.

-Little bed for the chocolate to sit on.

-I'm continuing to make them.

[ Sizzling ] -I think I'm gonna roll it up instead of folding it.

-Okay.

That's the way you always used to like it, no?

-Yeah.

-That's it.

Mmm.

-Mmm.

-Good, just like you remember them?

-Mm-hmm.

Yes.

-Okay.

Let me just a little bit more of heat, and you can flip it while I do mine.

I am going to do rose hip jam.

I used to go with Grandma Rosa at the end of the summer, and we used to collect rose hip, and that was made into a jam.

Shake it.

Yeah.

Is it ready to flip?

-I think so.

-You want to flip it in the air, or you want to flip it with -- -I can try in the air.

-Go for it.

-Uh-oh.

A little bit more push.

-Alright!

Okay.

And just get in there and adjust it.

Don't be afraid of the heat.

Okay.

Now, my rose hip.

-Mm.

That looks good.

-Doesn't it?

And, you know, I like the simple as marmalades like this.

-I remember you always put marmalade on yours.

-Want to try a bite of mine?

-Okay.

Mmm.

That's good.

-You like it?

So, Julia, do you think you'll do this for your friends?

-Yeah.

That sounds so fun.

But I think maybe I would add some, like, bananas in the toppings.

Or could you do berries or something?

-Absolutely, all of that.

It's endless.

And just like that, we're gonna keep on eating.

And she's gonna make crispelle.

You make your own crispelle, right?

Do I get a bacino?

-Mm-hmm.

-Mwah.

Just like that.

Gnocchetti de gris.

When I think about gnocchi de gris, as we call gnocchetti, somehow, a happy feeling comes over me.

It's a feeling where the family is all together, even as a child.

Had this big bowl of soup with this gnocchetti.

We all loved it.

We had firsts, seconds.

And it always graced the table around the holiday time.

My kids love it, my grandkids love it, and I make it often.

It's easy to make.

It's delicious.

They are like little gnocchi, but made out of farina.

We call it gris.

Farina is cream of wheat -- the fast cooking, but not the instant.

One egg.

And of course you can multiply this recipe for as many people as you like.

A little bit of salt.

Whisk that.

And butter at room temperature.

To this, you add the farina all at once, just like that.

And what's important here is to give it a good blend, that it all blends together into a homogenized mixture that is nice and firm.

And we'll cook them right in the soup.

And, you know, I used to remember my grandmother.

My grandmother was dressed all in black, as usually with the little babushka, black.

And she had her apron, and she would sit.

She would make two or three times, this, and put it right between her legs in the apron.

And she would mix this and get it all into.

So there's visions of Nonna Rosa.

And thereafter, you know, my mother made these, my aunts -- everybody.

But it is a tradition of that area.

You know, I was born in Istria.

Istria became Yugoslavia, and then we escaped back into Italy.

And that whole area, gnocchi de gris is the national dish, if you will.

Grandma would let it rest a little bit.

We could cook it like this if you're in a hurry right away.

But if you let it rest like this, with a little bit of plastic wrap like that so it doesn't form a crust.

You let it rest, and this one is ready to go.

As simple as that.

So now we're ready to put them to cook, and we'll shape them in a little canal.

So you need two spoons.

Just wet them.

And you go towards the border.

And then, with this spoon, you push just like that, and you put it right in.

Let's go to the next one.

And you try to make them all the same size.

Just like that.

Very easy.

You don't want them to break apart.

These are actually fun once you get the knack of it.

The kids will love it.

I know what you're thinking.

You said, "Oh, I'll get a bigger spoon.

I'll get it quicker."

But then there'll be big ones.

You don't -- You want nice and dainty ones, because they do double in size.

This is everybody's favorite dish.

Everybody loves it.

Let me pressure it good in.

And voil.

So you can see how cute they are.

We will put the lid on, let them simmer for about 15 minutes -- 15, 20 minutes.

Then let them just rest and serve them.

One of my favorite times of the day is when I get a chance to chat with you guys, because I'm curious.

I want to connect.

You send me the e-mails, and I want to respond.

So let's see what's doing today.

Sherrie -- "Your recipe for gnocchi is wonderful --" All capitals.

Good.

And she sends me a photo.

Oh, they look good.

Brava, brava!

It looks like you have your technique of gnocchi covered.

Beautiful dressing.

You know, something -- onions and tomatoes.

Gnocchi are delicious in themselves.

Butter and sage will do.

Just some cheese will do, some tomatoes.

Keep on making those gnocchi, Sherrie.

Oh, here's Katherine.

I have another e-mail.

Well, potatoes are starch, and when they're cooked, if you mix them too much, they become kind of gummy and pull-y.

So you take a potato ricer -- you know, that mill that you've seen all the Italian grandmas having.

That will make the potatoes fluffy.

Let them cool, and then you knead them.

And don't over-knead them, because if you over-knead it, it becomes gummy.

So don't handle those potatoes too much.

I hope that helps.

I'm here all the time.

Just send your questions, your comments.

Your photos, too.

I love seeing you.

So, the gnocchetti de gris have been resting in the soup, and they are ready -- ready to be served.

Sometimes they might break a little bit in the soup.

No worry.

You know, Lidia says, "It's okay."

The second time, you'll get them right.

But whatever you have in there, the gnocchetti that are left, fish them out, strain the stock, and then any little piece that's left in the strainer you throw away.

And you put the gnocchetti that you fished out back into the stock, and you're all set.

It leaves it a little clearer.

You don't waste the gnocchetti.

The second time, they're gonna be perfect, I guarantee you.

So let's go to the table.

Let's bring it to the table.

And you know what?

Lidia has to taste this.

So let me put a little bit of gnocchetti con gris for me.

And...

These are mine.

I'm gonna let them cool.

And I'm gonna just put a little bit of cheese right in there, just like that.

And what's a good idea is that you do bring the cheese to the table.

And you can have a chunk of cheese and have them grated or just like that with a spoon, ready to serve.

First fish out the gnocchetti, just like that.

Look how wonderful they look.

How many would you serve?

I think, you know, what do we have?

4, 5, 6, 7.

Yeah.

That looks good.

Let's put some stock.

Mmm.

Alright.

That looks beautiful.

So now let's make some Bellini.

What is Bellini?

You've had it.

It's peach juice and then some prosecco on top of it.

But you can make Bellini of any fruit.

Boil the fruit or roast the fruit and then process it.

And then you add prosecco to it.

It's as simple as that.

This drink was created, or so they say, in Venice.

I'm close to Venice, and I'm also close to this drink.

I like it.

But I'm gonna taste a little bit of the Bellini first.

You know, you begin with a toast.

Salute.

Viva la.

Mm-hmm.

This is so wonderful.

So, let me taste this and tell you how it really is.

So, gnocchi, usually de gris, you cut them in half.

I want to show you how they look inside.

They're cooked thoroughly.

If they're not cooked thoroughly, you'll see, like, a darker spot in there.

But these are cooked thoroughly.

And I'm gonna get a little more soup.

Mmm.

Che buoni.

Deliziosi.

You know, there's nothing that takes you into a memory lane like food, like the flavor, the smell of food.

It takes me always to a special place.

Gnocchi de gris always takes me to a very warm and special place.

And sometimes, you know, that's what we do for ourselves.

You know, today, this week has been so-so week.

I'm gonna make myself a nice soup, and I'm gonna make gnocchetti de gris.

And then I feel a hundred times better.

So, let me take another.

Mmm.

Che buono.

So, let's cheer to this plate of gnocchetti with soup.

All the best.

Enjoy your family, enjoy your friends, or just enjoy it by yourself, because you deserve it.

And I deserve it right now, and I'm gonna eat it.

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

Salute!

Wine is very important in a celebration.

It just goes together.

It's a harmony of experiences, flavors, and it's tradition.

Every holiday, party, or celebration has to have some wine at the table to cheer, cin-cin, wish well.

A song goes with it.

-[ Singing in Italian ] [ Glasses clink ] -A viva!

-Wine is omnipresent at every celebration -- let me say at most Italian celebration.

[ Singing in Italian ] [ Speaking Italian ] [ Glasses clink ] -[ Speaking Italian ] -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...