-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.

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-Olitalia, from chef to chef.

-Eating together is not the only way for friends and family to bond.

Cooking together is another way of making a great connection.

So, let's get in the kitchen and cook dinner together.

For easy cleanup, I cook cauliflower with penne and dress it all with a green olive pesto.

With a little bit of planning ahead, this salad is a complete meal, packed with protein, vegetables, color, and flavor.

Gather around the table, and the kitchen counter, too.

Let's make dinner.

When family or friends come in and say, "Oh, Lidia, I want to get behind the ranges with you," sometimes, I kick them right out.

I say, "No, no, there's no room."

If you're frying hot sometimes you have to look at the safety of it.

Sometimes you have to look at the time, you know, because if somebody cooks with you, you have to spend time in teaching them or directing them.

So, plan the dish that you're going to make and delegate.

Are they capable of cleaning onions, chopping garlic, kneading pasta, frying?

And don't overload your kitchen.

Crowded kitchen is conducive to accidents, but it could be really fun, especially if you're talking about grandkids or friends or whatever, to share what you know with them.

But then on the other hand, you can make it, like, a lesson.

You are the professor.

One can stir, one can add the stock, and you are controlling the movement.

You are the maestro here.

You have to lead this.

It certainly could be lots of fun having people in the kitchen to help you and ultimately prepare the meal, and it's kind of collaborative, but certainly, you have to plan at it.

-Penne con cavolfiori e pesto d'olive verdi.

We used to eat a lot all'aperto, in the open, in the garden, in the summer, and I just loved it.

This is my garden.

You hear my birds serenading me.

I'm cooking and we're going to eat right here.

So, pasta.

Everybody loves pasta.

We're going to make some penne -- simple penne, or you can use any pasta that you want, with a little bit of cauliflower and a pesto sauce.

So, salted water.

When you put the pasta in, you give it one mix so it doesn't stick.

And no oil in the pasta cooking water.

There's been this rumor going around that oil in pasta water is good.

Tch!

Only in lasagnas, in large, wide pasta, so they don't stick.

But here, you don't want it.

You want nice clean pasta.

That sauce will stick to it.

And to that, we will add cauliflower.

It's right in there, cooking it all together, and just florets, you know, little bite-sized.

That's what you want.

I think that's good.

So, cauliflower takes a while, so we'll put it in together.

When the pasta is in there, maybe about five minutes, you add the cauliflower, just like that.

cooking the vegetables with the pasta.

It's an old tradition in Italy.

It just makes sense.

Why would you put another pot to cook the vegetables when you can throw them right in here?

So, just make sure that the timing, you know -- "Okay, how long does the ziti need to cook?

12 minutes?"

The cauliflower needs about eight minutes, nine.

So, you time it.

If you put zucchini in there, it takes much less.

If you put string beans, in between, and then you can dress your pasta any way you want.

So, let's go to the pesto, and the pesto here is a simple pesto.

You know, pesto, everybody thinks of basil, pine nuts, and garlic.

Well, you don't see any basil, any pine nuts here.

Garlic, yes.

But you can make pesto out of everything that you like that you have that same season.

Pesto.

Pestare.

You know, to chop.

And that's what this is all about.

So let's put lots of parsley in this one.

And here, we're going to put some olives.

Pitted, of course.

They'll give a lot of flavors to this pesto.

And here I have walnuts.

You can use any nuts.

How's that?

You can use hazelnuts, you can use almonds.

And of course, pine nuts are for the traditional pesto.

And sometimes garlic takes a while to chop up, so I'm going to crush it and just give it a head start.

Just put that in there, and we're going to flavor it now.

Salt, certainly.

The olives have salt.

You know, they're in brine.

They're brined olives.

So, I'm always careful.

I always think about when I add salt, what is salted already in this ingredient list?

Peperoncino, of course.

And so, I think we're ready to begin to chop.

[ Food processor whirring ] I'm going to stop in between if I want to tell you something.

Otherwise, it's very noisy.

We're going to slowly drizzle oil in there to make the pesto happen.

[ Food processor whirring ] And I'm looking at it and I like it a little chunky.

So, let me show you a little bit of the pesto.

It looks pretty good.

Chunky.

Nice green nuts.

So I like the pesto like this, chunky, because it'll give character to the pasta, and you can really process that and make it creamy if that's the way you like it, or you can leave it chunky like this.

I'm going to wait for the pasta to cook, then we'll just dress it, and that's how easy this dish is.

Are you amazed?

I'm sure you are.

And it's delicious.

Buongiorno.

Benvenuti to my library.

It's my little special getaway place where I read your e-mails, watch your videos, and I answer all your questions.

Here.

I have a video now.

Chris sent in a video.

-Hi, Miss Lidia.

My name is Chris Hernandez.

I would like to know, how do you know when your pasta is ready?

My wife is getting really tired of me throwing spaghetti onto the wall and waiting for it to stick so that I can know that it's ready.

What's your method?

Ciao.

-Oh, Chris, that's great.

I love that.

Yes.

The old saying goes, "[ Speaking Italian ]" So, the meaning to that is really to tell you that the pasta, when it's cooked, it has a little sticky side to it that should be left on the pasta, because that's where the sauce adheres to.

But I would say, you know, first of all, look at the box, see how much time they tell you it should need.

So, stay around that time.

Secondly, before you reach that time, just pull out a strand of one pasta and taste it.

I like my pasta very al dente.

I don't know how you like your pasta, but if you taste it, you will know.

So, now, you have become the guardian of that pasta cooking in there and you have the duty to taste that pasta and to tell your wife, "It is cooked.

Pull it out.

Drain it."

And you know what?

I hope you painted that wall after you got all the pasta off of it.

Thanks for the question.

So, the pesto is done in a bowl and we're going to put the pasta right in here.

But I want to show you how nice and chunky and beautiful it looks.

Never mind the tasting.

It looks beautiful.

And this pesto, you can use on many other things.

Now, let's say that you're grilling a piece of chicken, nice, and sometimes chicken can be a little dry.

This little pesto -- just a spoonful on top of it would be good.

You can toss fish with it, sauté scallops.

And pesto, you don't cook, so whatever you do to whatever you want to do, you cook it first, and then you add the pesto and toss it or on top or whatever you like.

Vegetables -- you steam some vegetables, spoonful of this pesto gives it a whole new meaning to vegetables.

So, we're all set.

Let's check on our pasta and cauliflower.

This is a piece of equipment in the kitchen.

Simple, inexpensive, but it helps you with everything -- with vegetables, with pasta.

We just dig it out.

You don't have to run to the kitchen sink and drain it.

And it's better for the pasta.

Let's put it in, just like that.

So I want to collect it all.

All the cauliflower, all the penne, everything.

I mean, you know, when you cook pasta, you cook for two, for four, whatever, you measure it right, but leftover pasta is always reusable.

You can certainly reheat it a little bit.

Okay.

And just toss it.

Toss it well, go all around, make sure that the pesto comes up and the cauliflower and the pasta is all dressed.

I can see it is.

I'm looking at it.

It looks shiny.

It looks -- It doesn't need any oil.

We have enough condiments in the pesto.

Cheese, yes.

Now, let's put some cheese, although I always suggest you put a nice piece of cheese on the table with a grater, because as you're grading it, you're releasing the aromas, and as it's hitting the hot pasta, all the aromas actually goes into the diner's senses.

So, you can see the cauliflower has also broken into the pasta, which is good, which I like.

So, if you put it a little earlier, it will break, you know, the cooking time.

So, if you like, a crunchy cauliflower, then put it a little later in the water.

Now we're ready to serve.

Let's get the plates for you.

That looks good, and I'm going to use Lidia's plate to accompany my plating so I don't dribble all over the place.

♪♪ [ Bird chirps ] You hear my little bird?

How beautiful is this?

Amongst my garden, my flowers, my trestle, the birds singing.

Hmm.

[ Bird chirping ] A little cheese for me.

Chunk of cheese.

And let me put some cheese on yours as well.

Pesto is a pronounced flavor.

So, you can serve Chardonnay or a Sauvignon or a blend.

This one is Chardonnay Sauvignon and Picolit blend.

Picolit is from Friuli, so it brings me back home a little bit and it has a nice body.

So, let's dive in here.

Mmm.

Actually quite mellow, and the cauliflower has really cooked and it becomes almost creamy.

So, let me taste the wine that I suggest because the only way to learn about wines is to keep on tasting them.

That make sense?

Mmm.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Perfecto.

It's good.

It's a nice sort of merenda.

Mmm.

Yeah.

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.

"Sharing Recipes: The Art of Pasta".

Buongiorno.

Good morning.

I am taking you to Bologna today to meet two wonderful sisters.

They make the best pasta in the world, I'd say.

How's that?

So, good morning, Monica.

How are you?

-Good morning, Lidia.

I'm fine.

What about you?

-Good.

Daniela, good morning.

-Good morning, Lidia.

-You guys look good.

I know you're in your shop, Le Sfogline, which is just behind the market in Mercato delle Erbe in Bologna.

What are you doing this morning?

-We are going to prepare tortelloni.

My sister has already stretched the dough, as you can see.

-It's like a piece of silk.

What do you have to do to make a dough beautiful like that?

First, quality of flour, and eggs should be very yellow, and it's a particular kind of egg we can find in Emilia.

The tradition of pasta all'uovo is typical from Emilia.

So, we start making the dough with 100 gram of flour double-zero and egg.

-And then you work it by hand, or can you do it in the machine?

-We always make dough of about 20, 25 eggs, and so it's impossible to use hands.

Okay, I'm very strong, as you can see, but it's very hard to piece together so many eggs with about two kilos of flour.

-Takes a lot of rolling, huh?

-Yes.

-So, you know, I always learn something when I come to visit with you.

Last time, you were showing me, I think, a tortelloni filling.

Can you tell us a little bit about it?

-Yes, of course.

This is a variation of the typical tortelloni of Bologna.

In Bologna, we use cow ricotta cheese and Parmigiano-Reggiano and parsley.

This is the typical from Bologna.

But we decided to take off the parsley.

We want to be seasonal.

To us, lemon zest is springtime to summertime.

-Absolutely.

Can you show me and our viewers how you make a tortelloni?

-Sure.

Of course.

-Yes, of course.

It's a pleasure.

-My sister is cutting the dough to make squares, and then in the middle, we put the filling.

Fold and stick, and then we have a triangle.

Then put index here, squeeze the belly of the tortelloni, wrap the finger.

This is our tortelloni.

-Beautiful.

Bravo, bravo!

Italy has 20 regions, but they call Bologna La Grassa.

And there's nowhere in Italy that you eat as good as supposedly in Bologna.

So you ladies are really carrying on the tradition.

You know, last time I was in your store, I was impressed with all the rolling pins.

-Da da da da!

-They measure.

We start with this one, and we finish with one.

-You need a lot of strength to roll that.

It makes a wide dough, so you have a lot of tortellini to make.

-Si!

-The Americans love to come to Italy.

If they want to visit with you, they should go to Le Sfogline.

I really want to thank you.

It's been great seeing you again, even at a such distance.

But I'm coming soon to visit with you, okay?

Ciao.

-Ciao.

-Ciao, Lidia.

-See you soon.

-Ciao.

Ciao.

They are the best.

Nobody makes pasta like these two ladies.

So listen and watch and learn.

Insalata di pollo alla giardiniera.

Sometimes you're cooking for the meal, but you're actually cooking two meal in one.

And this could be one of those situation.

We're going to poach a whole chicken, and we're going to make a salad with the meat, and we're going to have a great stock left to, really, make another meal.

Let's add the onions.

This is a whole chicken in there.

Celery.

Some salt.

And here I have the stems of parsley.

I picked them and put them aside because I'm going to use them in the dressing.

But I always tell you to save those stems.

Celery, parsley, whatever you're doing, you can put them in the freezer, and they're still good.

And you just put them in for the flavoring of this, let's say, chicken cooking and stock.

Carrots, of course.

♪♪ And I will put the water.

♪♪ Oh, that's good.

That's enough to reach up to the whole chicken in there.

So I have everything in here.

I need some bay leaves.

It's my favorite herb.

And I have a little tree that I guard and I give lots of love.

I pull it in the house every winter, and I continue to clip the leaves and use them, because I love bay leaf flavor and aromas in my cooking.

So here is everything set.

I think I'm going to need a little bit more water just to cover the chicken.

And in about an hour and 15 minutes, it should be ready.

Here is a video from Trevor.

So let's take a look.

-Hey, Lidia.

Name's Trevor.

Big lover of food, but most definitely a big lover of food with family.

I want to ask you a question real quick.

What's your trick to making rice?

Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

-[ Chuckles ] Bravo, Trevor.

What a nice message.

And "tutti a tavola a mangiare" was right on the mark.

Good.

Yeah, food is all about family and getting together.

But, you know, it's also about friends getting together and neighbors and people that you love.

Food connects everybody.

Trevor, if you want to go on cooking rice, it takes 2 cups of liquid, of water for 1 cup of rice.

Season it with a little salt, olive oil, bay leaves, simmer low, cover it, and let it cook.

The rice should be cooked when it absorbs most of the water.

Italians do rice mostly in a risotto.

Italians like the short-grain rice that make a good, creamy risotto because it releases all the starches.

Trevor, so nice to hear from you.

Keep on watching and eating with the family, with the friends.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare, as you said.

So I've de-boned the chicken.

It's cool.

Room temperature I like it.

Okay.

The chicken is ready and shredded.

Now, I told you that you get a lot of mileage out of this recipe, and you have the chicken, and we'll make a beautiful salad, but also have a great stock here.

So I strained it, and I'm going to mark it, and then I'm going to freeze it, and I'm going to use it to make another meal.

You can put some rice in there.

You have soup.

You can put some pastina in there.

And it's endless what you can do with this.

So whenever I make a salad with boiled meats, I up it up a little bit with pickled vegetables.

So here I have some artichokes, which are the marinated artichokes.

You buy this in a jar, and they're delicious.

You can cut them smaller.

I like them chunkier.

Even a little bit of their juice is perfectly fine.

Some tomatoes, a little cherry tomatoes, as long as they're ripe.

Okay.

And here I have the giardiniera.

The giardiniera is a great Italian kind of treasure, if you will.

In the summertime, when the vegetables are plentiful, you know, we used to pickle it, just like that, into a giardiniera.

And this way, you have vegetables for the whole winter for sandwiches, for salads, and so on.

So giardiniera is really very handy.

And you can make your own, or you can buy them in jars.

There's plenty around.

Just like that.

I'm trying to cut the pieces so they're all about the same size.

So what does it have?

It has cauliflowers, it has olives, it has celery, it has carrots, all the good things.

And then I'm going to add some greens.

A lot of parsley goes good.

I like my parsley.

So now, this is chicory.

You can put frisée.

You can put escarole.

You know, look at the beautiful white part.

That's what you want.

So I'm going to kind of pluck a little bit of the outer leaves, just like that.

And I'm going to save them right in here.

And these tougher outer leaves, you can make a soup.

You put a little garlic and oil, you put the greens in just a little bit of water, peperoncino, and you got yourself a braised green, which is delicious.

And the rest, you just kind of cut it just like that.

And I'm going to put it right in here.

So you can see, you know, it's one chicken.

There's a lot of meat, but it goes a long way.

With all these additions, you can have here a meal for four to six people.

So now I have to dress it.

I put the salt for the chicken.

Let me put some for the greens.

And I think that's it.

And now dress it.

Oil.

So there's a lot of salad here.

And vinegar.

♪♪ So here I am.

Let me plate it for you.

I think I'd like to plate this kind of family style.

So if you have a buffet, or you can put it right in the center, and everybody can help themselves.

And it looks beautiful.

It has a beautiful presentation.

I'm trying to make it beautiful for you.

So let me bring this to you.

And I think that looks good.

Let's get tasting.

I have to tell you how it is, as I always do.

A little chicken, a little giardiniera.

Mmm!

It is really good.

The crunchiness of the giardiniera.

Then you have the chicory.

Then you have the mellowness of the chicken.

Beautiful combination of textures and flavor.

Are you ready to come?

So, tutti a tavola a mangiare.

Your lessons could be complicated recipes or could be staples from your cupboard.

And you divide the task.

One can cut the olives and make the pesto.

The other one can shred the chicken.

Just put everybody in their place, keep it in control, and then pull it all together into a great meal.

You have your family to help you.

You're looking in the cupboard.

Think of all the things you have there.

You have olives, you have capers, you have giardiniera.

Just pull them all out, and you got yourself a good meal in quick times with help.

-[ Singing in Italian ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -[ Speaks Italian ] -[ 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... ♪♪