LIDIA: Buongiorno.

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

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

So what does that mean?

You got to cook it yourselves.

For me, food is about delicious flavors... Che bellezza!

...comforting memories, and most of all, family.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

ANNOUNCER: Funding provided by... ANNOUNCER: 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.

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

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

ANNOUNCER: Authentic Italian cured meats.

Paolo Rovagnati -- The true Italian tradition.

ANNOUNCER: And by... LIDIA: Did I tell you that some of my best meals require little or no effort?

And today I'm gonna let you in on my secrets.

The foundation of this dish sets up the home cook for success.

The addition of crushed green olives and chunky fennel will make any skillet sizzle.

These quick caramelized lamb chops feature a bright mint sauce, and they're meant to be eaten with your hands.

The crispy potatoes complete this Italian finger food, creating a dish that everyone will savor.

It's about working smarter in the kitchen, not harder.

I remember making sausages when I couldn't be up to the table.

You take little pieces of lean, fat, and you flavor them -- a little garlic, white wine, and it's as simple as that.

It could be different.

You can have peperoncino in it, you can have fennel seeds.

It kind of delivers a pack full of flavors, and knowing how to use that, it really gives you an advantage.

So let's say you want to make pasta.

Take that sausage out of the casing, brown it with some garlic, put some tomatoes in there, and, voilà, you have a nice sauce for your pasta.

You can make meatballs out of it.

You know, it's all flavored.

Put some bread crumbs, put an egg, put parsley.

Mix, mix, mix.

You got yourself some delicious meatballs.

And then, of course, they can be the center of the meal just by grilling the sausages, make them nice and crispy, but sautéing the sausages in a pan with some onions and peppers.

So sausages really are a workhorse in the Italian kitchen, so don't forget to have them.

Sausages with fennel and olives.

A simple recipe, three ingredients -- sausage, fennel, and Cerignola olives.

And, of course, a little garlic on the side.

So, a nice, wide pan, a heavy pan is good for this because you're getting the caramelization going.

First of all, we'll begin, just a little bit of oil.

The sausages have their own fat, but just so they don't stick to the pan.

So, let them caramelize nicely.

And with that, we'll go to the fennel.

Fennel -- a very important Italian vegetable.

We use it an awful lot.

In the south of Italy, they serve it after a meal as a digestif, you know, because it is very good for your digestion.

It has that licorice element in it.

But in this case, we'll sauté it.

So these, the fronds, you save.

Great for soups.

Take out the outer, big -- On the outside, you take out.

And we'll cut it.

And this is the core.

It's a little tough.

So I cut that out.

I use that for a stock.

Okay.

The sausage will cook again after with the fennel together, but you want to get them three-quarters of the way going and cooking.

So, we're gonna begin to braise the fennel.

And to do that, we will use some Cerignola olives.

Now, Cerignola olives are this beautiful, like, meaty olive, and it does have a pit in it.

In order to get that pit out, take the blade of the knife, with the blade away from you, and just give it a whack.

Okay?

Here we are.

The pit... and the olive meat.

Alright.

The sausages are done.

♪ ♪ So, I'm gonna put a little bit more oil in there, and I'm gonna whack this garlic.

I'm in a whacking mood today.

What can I tell you?

But just whack the garlic.

This way, you get a lot of flavor from the garlic.

You can pull it out at the end.

Alright.

So, that's the garlic.

I want to go quickly because I don't want to burn everything.

Let's put the olives in there.

Okay.

Mmm!

The flavors are popping all over the kitchen.

And now let's get the fennel in there.

Just collect everything and throw it right in.

Salt.

Now, the olives have some salt.

So, keep it light.

We want peperoncino.

Just like that.

So, to this, we'll deglaze those delicious flavors of the pan with some wine.

Okay.

We'll cover it because we want the fennel to really break down and cook.

And with the wine -- the flavor of the wine, the olives, everything's gonna be a great harmony.

Buongiorno.

Here I am in my library.

I'm looking at the e-mails you sent me.

Here's a message from Emilia -- "I'm not the best gardener, but I want to grow some flowers in my garden.

What kind do you suggest?

What flowers do you grow in your garden?"

You know, I like perennials.

I like perennials because I plant them and they come back every year.

Let's say tulips.

The bulbs -- You plant them, and they give you beautiful flowers in the spring.

Then they begin to wilt, dry.

Once they're dry, you cut the upper leaves, you leave the bulbs in the dirt.

And next year, you've got yourself some more tulips.

So I would go with perennials, and, of course, look at your climate, region, and what grows best there.

So, Emilia, I'm glad you're interested in gardening.

I love gardening.

Thank you for writing.

Ah.

So, you see?

The fennel, the olives, the caramelization -- nice and soft.

We're gonna add the sausages right to this.

A little bit of wine.

And then nestle those sausages into the fennel so they get a little bit of the fennel flavor.

Lower just a little bit the heat and let it kind of cook together.

The sausages will finish cooking and will absorb some of the fennel flavor.

And here I have a message from Gregory.

He writes, "Olive oil.

I see so many different kinds.

Some are dark green, some are yellow.

What is the difference?"

There's a few thousand different species of olive trees, if you will.

And what species grows better in what climate and what territory -- That determines the color.

What also determines the color is the maturity of the olives.

They go from a period of green, speckled, and then they become dark, purple, or almost black, and that's mature.

So at which level of maturity you pick the olive and you make the olive oil makes a difference in color.

The more mature, the less of the green, because the green is gone.

So it's more yellow.

The later you harvest and make olive oil, there's less aromas.

So when you're picking that oil, you know, you got to taste.

You've got to look at it and see what you like.

And try something new out.

Why not?

Mmm!

Ah, the aroma coming out is just fantastic.

So... ♪ Let's...

The sausages, pile them in center like that.

Okay.

And then... let's take... ♪ ...the fennel, the olives, and all of that goodness.

That looks good.

That looks very good.

Now, a little piece for me.

This fennel, which I left for myself, and cut a little piece of sausage on the corner here, where nobody will see it.

There we go.

Okay.

I want a piece of each.

Let's see how this tastes.

Mmm.

The fennel is very mellow, soft, and delicious and sweet and, if there is such a word, fennel-y.

Really intense.

And then the olive brings that earthiness in.

Delicious and easy and simple -- the Italian way.

♪ Here I am in the Lago di Garda region with my dear friend, Chiara and Alberto.

And these are the people to know because they know all the best things in the regions and they are gonna introduce me to them and we are gonna share it with you.

So, Chiara, come stai?

CHIARA: Molto bene.

LIDIA: Si?

CHIARA: Grazie.

LIDIA: Alberto?

[ Alberto speaking Italian ] You're fine?

Everybody's fine?

So, Chiara, you introduced me to some great cheeses.

What do we have here?

CHIARA: Okay, well, here we have the Piave cheese.

I grew up in this little valley near the Dolomites, where this cheese is made.

And this is a place where we have farmers, where every day we go and collect the milk to make this cow's milk cheese.

Chiara, where should we begin to taste?

And you are gonna pair some wine with the cheeses.

Which one should we taste first?

CHIARA: We always need to start from the younger, then always go up with age.

Otherwise, if you start with the old, your taste is not as good as it was starting from the young.

LIDIA: Because it's milder.

CHIARA: Yes.

LIDIA: You're gonna pair me some wine.

[ Alberto speaking Italian ] Oh, okay.

Good, good.

ALBERTO: Yes.

LIDIA: Mmm.

You can taste the milk.

CHIARA: It's very soft, creamy.

LIDIA: Mm-hmm.

CHIARA: Long aftertaste.

LIDIA: It's a beautiful spread of aromas.

CHIARA: Yeah.

LIDIA: Almost the pastures.

Salute.

ALBERTO: Salute.

LIDIA: And this is made out of which varietal?

ALBERTO: Three variety, different variety -- Pinot noir, Groppello, and Merlot.

[ Lidia speaking Italian ] CHIARA: Vecchio.

Old.

It's between 6 and 12 months, and it's changing the characteristics, the color becoming darker, becoming stronger in the taste, but always sweet.

It's never spicy.

Sweet.

LIDIA: Very mellow.

And, Alberto, which one should we drink with this?

ALBERTO: Oh.

The Riesling.

LIDIA: Riesling?

ALBERTO: Yes, in this part of the lake, many vineyards produce Riesling.

They're good quality, spice.

LIDIA: Nice acidity.

ALBERTO: Gourmet.

ALBERTO: Acidity.

Yes, very high.

CHIARA: Next cheese is Vecchio Selezione Oro.

It's 12 months old.

And this is my favorite.

Here you can feel all the mountain milk.

The cultures are from the territory.

Very complex, and you feel it in the taste of this cheese.

LIDIA: Absolutely.

Mmm.

ALBERTO: Three variety.

Merlot, Groppello, and some bottled Corvina Cabernet.

LIDIA: So red with this Oro is the perfect marriage.

CHIARA: Yeah, because this one is quite strong and the cheese is quite elegant but strong at the same time.

So the match is always to be balanced.

LIDIA: This is such a beautiful spot.

I mean, I love the lake regions.

You have the scenery.

You have the food.

You have the cheese.

You have the wine.

There's nothing more to ask for.

Thank you very much.

Grazie [Speaking Italian] for leading me to a good place here.

Good flavors.

I'll be back again soon.

You'll discover something else for me.

CHIARA: We will.

LIDIA: Okay, thank you.

Grazie.

Grazie.

CHIARA: Thank you.

LIDIA: Seared lamb chops with mint salsa and roasted potato wedges.

Scottadito.

"Scotta" means to sort of burn yourself a little bit.

It's hot.

And "dito" means "finger."

So that means that -- Once it's cooked, you pick up the lamb, and you eat it with your fingers.

But I'm gonna serve it with sort of a zesty mint pesto, if you will.

And all you need is one of the processors.

You put lots of parsley.

Mint.

One garlic clove, not too many.

Some capers.

Just like that.

Some mustard.

And some anchovies.

Okay.

Mmm, what an aroma.

The sauce is done, but this is a sauce that you can use with chicken.

You can use it with steak.

It depends, you know.

It has that little bit of mint which makes it very refreshing.

That's that.

And here we have these beautiful lamb chops, and lamb chops and rosemary go just well.

I'm gonna just kind of get some of the rosemary needles and kind of just let the lamb chops get kind of a little bit of the flavor of the rosemary.

Salt.

And then we're gonna pour some oil.

Just kind of get the oil and the rosemary on all the lamb chops just like that.

All right.

So I'm gonna leave them out there.

They're gonna be perfect in the pan and absorb some of the flavors.

So with lamb chops and roasted potatoes, let me just go back to that rosemary flavor.

Love it.

Love it.

Some salt.

♪ Oil.

Okay.

Let's toss this.

Coat all the potatoes with the oil and put them on a roasting pan.

Let me just collect all of that.

So this will take about half an hour, 40 minutes in a 375-degree oven.

And when that is cooking, we'll come back.

We'll finish the lamb chops.

I'll clean up, and then we'll enjoy.

Here's another question from Terry.

Terry wants to talk about chicken and see if I have any inspiration for some recipes with chicken breast.

Chicken breast are great and wonderful.

You can use the chicken breast completely deboned.

Could be a small chicken, a large chicken.

If you have a large chicken breast, a good option is to stuff it.

You have room to cut it and to put a stuffing in there.

If you have a small chicken breast, then the idea is to make it like a scallopini.

and sauté it in a sauce, whether it's lemon and capers, whether it is mushrooms and wine.

The one important thing about chicken breast is, do not overcook it.

That's where you might find the chicken is dry, that you're not satisfied what you do.

So do not overcook your chicken.

And then do not forget the rest of the chicken.

You have wings.

You have thighs.

You have drumsticks.

All of those are a delicious part of the chicken.

Thank you for asking, and have fun with your chicken.

The potatoes are done, nice and crispy.

Now let's get to the lamb chops.

Just maybe a little bit of oil.

I want it hot.

I don't want it smoking, but I want it hot when I put the lamb in so it kind of sears right away, forms a crust.

Mmm.

I can smell it.

Okay, let me take the ones on the bottom that do have some of the oil, and let me put them in.

[ Sizzling ] And whenever you put something that you want to get a crust in the pan, don't fidget right away with it.

Let it get that beginning crust.

Let me put this kind of -- Weigh it down a little bit like that.

Now, you know, this sauce has the parsley.

Parsley is very good for you.

Mint is very refreshing, so, you know, as I said, you can use these kind of sauces with any meat.

Let's see where we are.

Okay.

Dan has a question about foil.

"When I do my cooking, when should I cover with foil or not?

What is the rule?"

So you cover something that's cooking, whether it's foil or a lid, because you want to increase the heat in that pot, but you also want evaporation, the humidity, the steam to stay in that pot, and the steam will penetrate whatever you're cooking.

So if you have tough cuts of meat, if you contain it and make the steam go into it and cook it, it will cook faster and through.

Then comes the point when you uncover this.

So you remove the foil paper or the lid, and you let the steam escape.

The sauce concentrates, and a crust forms of whatever you're roasting.

Cooking is all about understanding what's happening.

You know, then you're really in control.

So keep on writing.

I'm here.

We'll meet again next time, right here in this place.

Ciao.

And the lamb chops are done at this point.

Let me put them just here right on the side.

So...

Okay.

And we are ready to plate.

You know, I think this goes great family-style.

You put it in the middle of the table.

You put the sauce next to it, some potatoes, and let everybody just dig in and eat what they want.

So it's scottadito.

My ditos are scottare.

My ditos are, ohh, ohh.

But I want to get them in there nice and hot, so let's put them like this.

Mm-hmm.

And like this.

Ooh-hoo.

And like that.

What a buildup, huh?

And voilà!

Mmm-mmm.

And so, you know, when you put herbs like that, it's not just because I want it to look nice and green.

It's because, actually, the heat of the meat releases the oils in the rosemary, and it just kind of reinforces the flavor that we initially put in.

That's your lamb chops.

Let's see.

This is my little plate.

Okay.

♪ Put this for me.

All right, and I'll add a little bit of rosemary to give a little bit of love to the potatoes.

So let's put a little bit of the sauce, and I'm ready.

I'm gonna first start with a potato, and I'm gonna dip the potato, too.

Mmm!

Good.

You know, scottadito is scottadito, so let me dunk this in, and let me take a bite.

♪ Mmm!

It is really, really delicious, nice, because the lamb is clean and then you get that intensity of the mint, of the parsley, of the rosemary.

A great combination, and we have enough.

You can come.

As I always say, tutti a tavola a mangiare.

Do come and share this with me.

♪ ♪ When cooking, sometimes it is good to focus on one product and make that the star and make that the center of the dish.

And to exalt that, you don't need a lot of elaboration because a little work can bring a lot of flavor to the dish.

For example, lamb chops -- you know, scottadito, they call them in Italian -- is the lamb chops where you clean the bone.

Seared in a pan or grilled, you pick it up with your hand, and you eat it.

And it scotta your dito.

It burns your finger.

But you're enjoying that lamb chop.

So it's simple, but you want to add a little bit of flavor to it.

So make sure you season the lamb chops, and a nice mint sauce next to it.

Now, you know, mint jelly with lamb or whatever.

Da-da, da-da.

But that's so boring.

How do you get that and make it interesting?

Get some fresh mint and make a little pesto.

Make it in a little chopper with some oil, salt, and just kind of pour it on the plate.

So when they get the lamb chops, they can dunk it in this mint.

And you can imagine now.

Everything is gonna pop out -- the mint, the lamb.

So don't always think to complicate your dishes.

Choose those few products and exalt them and make sure that they match well together.

What a way to end a show and begin a dinner, with Grandma's song.

[ Erminia and Lidia singing in Italian ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ Erminia speaking Italian ] ANNOUNCER: 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, call 1-800-PLAY-PBS or visit shop.pbs.org/lidia.

ANNOUNCER: 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.

♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Funding provided by... ANNOUNCER: 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.

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

And by... ANNOUNCER: Olitalia.

"From chef to chef."

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