-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 rosé.

A toast of Italy.

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

♪♪ -Olitalia -- from chef to chef.

-Getting the chance to gather your loved ones around the table can be very difficult these days.

But whenever the chance comes, I just bask and savor the moment.

Everybody likes crispy potatoes, and though these require a little manual labor, it's more than worth it.

Mmm.

Looks good.

Looks really good.

Sometimes the dish is more about the technique than the recipe... Do you know how to suprême an orange?

-I do not.

-This is all about a lot of technique on how to handle the products to make the salad.

...like the citrus fennel salad right here.

Roast pork shoulder requires time to cook, but the oven does most of the work and yields delicious results, and the whole house will be perfumed.

Do join me.

Let's cook up a feast for the ones we love.

"Savor the Moment."

An important part in planning a meal is always planning to sit down with your guest, to be there and enjoy their company and also honor them.

So planning a menu is quite important.

So what do you do?

Well, toss the salad.

Great way to begin.

And then you want maybe something fancy -- roasts.

Put it in the oven.

You slice it, plate it, you bring it to the table, and you sit with your guest so that you can enjoy your company and the food, as well.

Patate schiacciate con aglio e rosmarino.

When we're cooking -- I know when I'm cooking -- I'm anticipating the savoring of the food, the tasting at the end.

And today I'm going to start with smashed potatoes.

They'll be a hit every time you serve them.

So, here I have boiling water.

I'm going to put the potatoes right in.

Let that cook for about 15 minutes.

They'll be done.

And among those potatoes, I found these.

And, you know, it brings me back to my childhood.

My grandmother would plant the potatoes.

And you know that this sprouts is exactly what she was looking for.

And this is what makes the potato grow.

She would cut the potato.

As many sprouts as the potato had, this is how many plants of potatoes she would ultimately get.

She would go in the field with a plow, make a little hole, and I would put this down in that little hole, cover it with dirt, and so on down the line.

This was in the spring.

By May, June, the plant would grow.

And this potato harvest would last almost the whole year until the next spring, so we would have our potatoes for the whole winter.

So, now that you're going to be planting potatoes, too, let me finish on how you're going to cook them.

So, here I have garlic and rosemary.

Potatoes, that's all they require.

Let's smash this.

Good.

Flavor going all over.

Chop them a little bit so there's more flavor spread amongst the potatoes.

Okay.

Rosemary.

Okay.

And I'll give it a little chop.

Just like that.

Not too much.

Let's put that in here.

Some olive oil.

Just like that.

Some salt.

And I think the potatoes are done.

Let me test them.

You don't want them overcooked.

Yeah.

You see?

Nice and easy.

Fast.

It is done.

Let me fish them right out.

♪♪ Let's get them in the oven.

Parchment paper on a sheet like that is always good, because you won't have to clean a lot after.

Let's put it in here.

♪♪ Let's smash them up.

Just take a round something like this, right, so you can apply a little bit of pressure.

You do want it to crack a little bit, because that's where the flavoring will go.

And also, you want it to crack because that's what will crisp up.

And who doesn't like crispy potatoes?

This is also fun.

I'm sure your kids would like to do it.

Okay.

So, mix them a little bit, this way, that way, up and down.

Drizzle a little bit of oil.

So, you want crispy potatoes.

Hot oven, 450 degrees, for about 20, 25 minutes, and you got your crispy potatoes.

Let's get them in the oven.

♪♪ I got some time, and I love hearing from you guys.

So let's see what's in my inbox.

Oh, here's Frank.

"I'm tired of heating up frozen vegetables."

You should be.

"What are some easy, fresh vegetable side dishes that I could try to make?"

Certainly, I do a lot of the leafy vegetables.

Spinach, the easiest.

Crush a few garlic cloves.

Put a little bit of oil in the pan.

Salt and peperoncino.

Put a little bit of water just to get it going.

Cover it and let it sweat, and it's delicious.

You do the same with escarole.

You know, it cooks a little longer.

Broccoli, you can do the same thing.

So, that pan, garlic and oil, salt and peperoncino, can apply just about to any vegetable.

I hope I'm going to get you into cooking fresh vegetables, Frank.

They're easy and delicious.

So, here we are, delicious smashed garlic rosemary potatoes.

They look beautiful.

They're crunchy, and they're easy to make.

You saw that.

So let's begin to plate them.

This goes family style for sure.

Put it on the table.

You know, collect those little kind of nuggets of garlic, too.

Somebody might like to crunch on them, because they are crunchable.

♪♪ That looks great.

This one is for Lidia.

I'm going to leave it right here.

And I'm going to put some rosemary here just to kind of continue the wonderful aroma of these potatoes, just like that.

And I'm going to bring them to the table.

Italians would drizzle a little bit of oil on the potatoes, but here in America, why not sour cream?

I like sour cream.

Is that enough?

Maybe another cut or two.

That's it.

Let's give it a little mix.

Okay.

Let's put it in this presentable bowl.

♪♪ And we have the chive flowers.

Chive flower, you just kind of pluck it like that.

You continue with the same flavor.

Let me put this back on the table.

And I left one potato for me.

Let's taste that, this bowl off right here.

Mmm.

Looks good.

Looks really good.

Mmm.

Contorno for a nice roast, it's beautiful.

But you can use this as an appetizer or as a cocktail hour a little bit while you're serving your prosecco.

And put the dip right next to them.

And of course, if you put a little caviar on the side, I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

Una tecnica di insalata.

Here we are in Nonni's kitchen with Olivia, my oldest grandchild.

She was the first.

-And the best.

-[ Laughs ] They all.

I have five of them.

You know.

And of course.

All of you are.

All of you are just that.

So, Olivia, you're getting into the kitchen.

You have your apartment now.

-Mm-hmm.

-You have a job, and you like to cook, don't you?

-I do.

I like trying out new recipes for my friends.

Their expectations are high, so I'm excited to learn a new recipe.

-So, I'm going to teach you this new one.

And this is a fennel salad with orange suprême and some black olive.

Very Sicilian.

Do you know how to suprême on orange?

-I do not.

-Now, this is all about a lot of technique on how to handle the products to make the salad.

So, an orange, you cut the one end.

And what you want is you want to kind of -- You don't want to throw away a lot of the orange, but you want to get all the pith out.

So you have to have a nice, sharp knife, and you go around.

Can you do that?

You want to do that?

-Yeah.

-Okay.

Do that, and then I'll show you the next step.

Go ahead.

Nice and easy.

Let me monitor this.

Okay.

Good job.

Yeah, just a little bit of the white.

And now, so, how do you get those sections out?

I'll show you.

Hold this.

Come over -- No, stay here.

Stay here.

Hold this like this.

I'll show you, and then you can work.

You go -- You see where the membrane is?

Membrane?

You go in.

-Ah.

-So, you don't want the membrane.

You cut that off, and you just go around, and voilà.

Okay?

Let's see.

Go in behind the membrane.

Nice and easy.

Leave the membrane -- Push it out.

Now go under-- Now here.

Go underneath and go ahead, right in here.

-Is that good?

-Right in here.

Perfect.

Now again.

Get this membrane.

Hold it in the palm of your hand so it's secure.

That's it.

So you have -- You left a little piece, so that's it.

Cut the little piece off.

Now you go underneath.

So, you can see that there's a lot of technique here.

-Yes.

-And we'll go on to the fennel.

And you like fennel, right?

-Yes, I do.

-Okay.

So, have you cleaned the fennel before?

-I have not.

-Okay.

Just cut the fronds away.

Hold the fennel.

Go for it.

Okay, good.

Now cut it right down the middle.

Put your finger on top of here.

Watch your fingers.

Nice and easy.

Okay.

That's good.

Now, we need to clean this part here, which is the core.

And I'm cleaning here, looking if something is tough.

Yeah, this might be a little tough, but this is good.

So, can you clean that one?

-Yes.

-This, I save to make soup or stock or whatever, and you can see how it's firm.

Now turn it around.

There you go.

That wasn't too hard.

Now, clean all this around a little bit.

You know how I did it?

-Like that?

-That's good.

Okay.

This one, I think, is a little tough.

Okay, and this is all good to put in the soup or whatever, but for the salad, that is perfect.

Yes.

Bring that bowl here.

Okay, let's set up.

So you see, I've done some for you.

Nice and thin.

Here it is.

Get one of the halves.

And I would put it here and I would embed this -- the little fingers here that hold these little nails.

Good.

Is it nice and stable?

That's it.

Put it here, and you hold it on top.

You don't put your fingers below them.

-Like this?

-Yeah.

You're doing a great job.

Okay, do the other piece.

This is very handy, the mandolin.

Put it on the side here.

We'll cut it with the knife, just like you do an onion, with the thing.

So, you don't want to waste anything.

Nice and thin.

Alright.

Throw it in.

Alright.

So, now, I would put the oranges right in there and the juice.

-Okay.

All of them?

-I think so.

Don't you think so?

-Yeah.

-Because we're not going to put any vinegar.

Get some olives.

Put some olives here on the -- Okay, I think that's enough.

And you can just squash the pit right out.

Put the pit there.

Yeah.

That easy or what?

-Yeah.

-There you go.

If it's a little harder, you can press it with the blade of the knife as well.

Okay.

So, this is Sicily.

Sicily has olives, oranges, fennel.

All about Sicily.

Go ahead.

Put it right in.

We can put some salt.

Keep in mind that the olives are a little salty, but you need some salt.

Some oil.

Okay, that's good.

So, I have the black pepper.

I have the peperoncino.

Which one would you like?

Okay, let's put that in there.

All around.

And now give us a good tossing.

-Mmm.

It smells good.

-Yeah, and it looks beautiful.

-A nice light salad.

-So now, of course, we will plate it and we want to taste it, too.

And you know, this is great as an appetizer, but also, a chicken breast or a piece of fish.

Leave some for me and for you, you know?

That looks really nice.

-More oranges.

-Wow.

That looks really nice.

I would just put -- That's it.

Good for you.

That's it.

All around.

Some more of that juice.

Did you taste it?

-Not yet.

Mmm.

-Mmm.

Good, huh?

-Mm-hmm.

-And then you can give Grandma a taste of your masterpiece here.

You you didn't leave any black olives for you.

-We can share this one.

-You want to share the plate?

-Yes.

-Okay.

Let me get the fork for us.

Here you go.

Okay, so... ♪♪ Mm-hmm.

You're gonna put this in your repertoire here, in your kitchen?

-I think so.

-Easy.

Simple.

But you did a fantastic job.

You learned a few new techniques.

-I did.

-And just like that, you're a salad pro now.

[ Chuckles ] Spalla di maiale arrosto con sidro di mele, sedano e cipolle.

One of my favorite roasts is a pork roast, and especially the shoulder part.

So, the shoulder is this cut that has some bone.

That's the shoulder blade.

And once it's cooked, you can get slices here, but you'll hit the bone at some time, and you'll have to eat the slice around the bone or debone it.

Now you say, "Can I get a boneless?"

Yeah, you could, but the bone brings that extra flavor.

Just trim it off a little bit of the fat.

As it's roasting, it will loosen up some of the fat, but I think before, just a little bit.

Like, shave it off just like I'm doing.

Where you see a little extra, shave it off, because otherwise, if you don't have that fat to protect it, the meat is going to get tough.

Season it with salt, and then I'm going to make a rub.

I'll show you how to make that rub in a minute.

Let me just get a little bit of the oil here.

Okay.

So, let's make the rub.

Lots of garlic, celery, and onion.

Let's put that in the -- Put all the veggies in there.

I'm going to put some thyme also.

Thyme leaves.

Rosemary.

Lots of rosemary.

We have a big piece of meat here and we need to flavor it all the way in.

So, some porcini powder.

These are porcini mushrooms, dry, and you put them in a little food processor and a little bit -- you get this wonderful porcini powder.

So, let's put that in.

Salt, oil, and let's get it going.

That looks great.

Let's just pour it right in here.

Get that all.

So, I want the rub to go all the way in, so we want to make a little bit of cuts here, just like that.

You see, I'm hitting the bone here?

This here.

I'm not hitting the bone, so I'll make a little deeper, here a little deeper, here a little deeper.

Now, let's rub this baby here.

Nice -- Give it a nice massage.

And I want it to go all the way in those nooks and crannies, which will flavor all the way in.

I'm going to rub it all around.

We'll top it all with a lot of the rub.

So, here we are.

Let it all go in here.

I have a nice roaster here.

We'll put it right in here.

We're having fun here.

The aroma is fantastic.

Let's put it in the oven.

Preheated oven, 425 degrees for one hour, and it's gonna caramelized and the whole house will be perfumed with the essence of rosemary and thyme and caramelization of all that porcini.

So, let's get it in the oven.

I have some time, so let's see who else wrote in.

"Linda, I cannot eat garlic.

What would you suggest I use as a substitute when a recipe calls for garlic?"

You don't have to use a substitute.

What you can do is take the whole garlic clove, crush it, then remove it.

The problem might be eating the actual garlic, and especially if it's not thoroughly cooked.

If you're allergic to garlic at all, then you'll have to omit it.

Onion is a good substitute.

Scallions.

Anything that's strong that can bring close to the garlic intensity is good.

But using garlic, discarding after it's cooked, it's a good option.

I do it all the time.

It's beautiful, but it's not even halfway there.

We still have to put the veggies in and some more flavorings.

So, I have celery, carrots, onions.

Let me smash some garlic.

We want to get that flavor of garlic, just like that.

Let's take the meat out and put the vegetables in.

All the vegetables in that goodness that is there.

We'll now add apple cider, some stock... ...some brandy.

Good stuff.

You layer it with flavors, it comes out a beautiful harmony of flavors.

Now I need to salt the vegetables.

Let me just give it another mix.

Let's put the meat back.

Nestle it right in the vegetables, and we lower the temperature to about 350 degrees, and this will take anywhere from 3 and a half hours to 4 and a half hours, depending on the size that you have.

So, let's get it back into the oven.

Let me check my e-mail.

I'm curious what you guys are up to.

Rebecca -- "Hello from Oklahoma!"

Hello.

"My daughters and I love your show!

Is there a difference in taste if you mince, chop, slice, or crush it?"

Garlic -- the more you chop it, the more you mince it, the smaller it gets, the more flavor you will get out of it.

And if you mince it really fine, it will permeate your whole dish.

On the other hand, if you slice it or if you have the whole garlic and you crush it, you still get the flavor, the elegant kind of way of approaching garlic, as far as I'm concerned.

So, Rebecca, many ways to dice this question.

It's up to you how much intensity you want.

What a beauty.

It is done.

It is cooked.

The aromas -- Everything looks so luscious.

Let's get into it.

The meat -- so, you see, it's -- Look how tender it is.

Look at that.

Let's just.

-- Hmm.

And here it is.

Let's take out the cradle here because we have to get to the vegetables.

A little plate so I can travel with the vegetables without making a mess here.

Let's fish them out.

♪♪ And this is going to be the bed for the meat.

Now, I have the stock here, the sauce, a light, but really intense in flavor juice.

So...

Okay.

That's that, and now, I need to defat it, not that it has that much fat, but absolutely, let's give it a little bit of defatting action here, and let's get with the slicing.

So, you know, I told you that it has the shoulder.

There's a bone right here, and you see that the meat is almost coming off the bone, and that's the way you want it.

But where the bone is -- and there's the bone right here, too -- you will need to cut around the bone.

But let me cut a few slices for you.

Hold it firm.

That is Lidia's cut.

I like the end cut.

I really do, because the caramelization.

But you keep on going until you can't, until you hit the bone.

And a big spatula will transport it for you.

Let's transport it to the vegetable.

Just like that.

♪♪ Mm-hmm.

So, I kind of like it a little bit like that.

Layering it like that.

So, I'm going to pour just a little bit of sauce here.

There wasn't that much fat.

So let me put just a little bit of the juice here on the meat itself, just like that.

Mm-hmm.

A little bit on Lidia's piece, just like that.

And serve it to the table.

You know, this takes time.

I'm so ready.

I'm so hungry.

Let me taste first for you.

You see, it's kind of -- just breaks down.

Mmm.

The sweetness, and there's just a little bit of that acidity of the apple cider.

I'm in heaven, but I'm going to ask you to join me.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

Andiamo.

Mangiare.

I sense now, more than ever, people are really looking to connect, to connect at the table, because it's where we all get grounded with some good food, relax, and enjoy each other's company and share our experiences.

[ Singing in Italian ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Singing in Italian ] -The food from the 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... ♪♪