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... O0 C LIDIA: I love Southern Italy.

It's the ideal Mediterranean climate.

And with products like these, it leaves little to do in the kitchen.

Let's have bruschetta like they do in Southern Italy, with something a little sweet, savory, and certainly spicy.

A seasonal salad of ripe tomatoes, purple onions, and a crispy friselle bread that makes this a panzanella with a Southern Italian twist.

One sip of my Bloody Mary will have you begging for more.

I add spicy peperoncino to it, which creates a depth of flavor that you can only find in Italy.

Let's eat like they do in Southern Italy.

Southern Italian favorites.

Italy has 20 regions, and if you talk about Italian food, Italian product, it seems like it occupies half of the world.

And also, it is so diversified.

Big cows, pastures, big cheeses up north.

You come further down, you come to Tuscany, they have great wine.

And as you go down, Rome, of course, those pasta, those delicious spicy pasta.

And you come to the heel of Italy, it's all about fish.

In Calabria, let me tell you, it's spicy.

Peperoncino reigns there.

And what a hot way to end your trip to Italy.

Southern-Italian-style bruschetta.

I'm here in Calabria, beautiful Tropea.

It's the tip of the Italian boot.

And let me tell you, I have some exciting flavors that I want to share with you.

And I'm going to make some bruschetta.

You all know bruschetta.

Bruschetta is easy.

But you put these great Calabrian flavors.

So, some toasted bread.

And let's begin with ricotta.

♪ And just spread it.

♪ And then on this ricotta, all you need is an anchovy, just a little anchovy on top of it.

Just one anchovy per.

Okay.

And of course, a little peperoncino.

After all, we're in Calabria.

Just like that.

A drizzle of Calabrian olive oil, and that's bruschetta number one, as easy as that.

Let's put that here.

Okay.

So now bruschetta number two.

Roasted peppers.

Wonderful.

And then the Tropea onions.

Smothered Tropea onion is delicious.

Simple again -- just some roasted pepper.

You know, it's -- When you do bruschettas, it's all in the preparation.

You just prepare and then you mount them.

When your friends come, you have the ingredients ready.

Toast the bread and voilà.

Little bit of the sweetness of the Tropea onion, just like that.

Mm-mmm.

And I'm making the mound here because this is the way I like it.

Here we are.

That's another bruschetta.

♪ So now I have three great local ingredients.

There's the local Pecorino cheese, sweet jam of Tropea onions, and last but not least, what seems to be the queen of every event here in Calabria is the 'nduja.

'Nduja.

Ooh, la, la.

But let me -- let me explain to you first.

This is the marvel of what 'nduja is.

This is a big kind of sausage-looking thing.

And inside is pork fat, pork meat really milled into almost like a paste and then a lot of peperoncino, almost 50/50.

But we'll ask the experts, because I'm going to have them coming.

And then, of course, the Tropea onion.

So this is that little, purple, torpedo-like-looking onions.

Now let me choose a piece of the Pecorino, a little slice of cheese, and then you top it with the onion jam.

This looks yummy-yummy.

♪ And the queen, shall we say, 'nduja, the queen of the event.

And that is a simple spread, because it has such intensity and flavor, so you just kind of simply spread it.

And, you know, it's not unlike when you come into a home here in Calabria that they just offer you certainly the delicious wine they have in the area, but also this kind of spread.

And depends on your guest, how much of it they can take, how high you pile it.

Alright.

And, you know, here what they do is whatever you have in the garden at hand, you put it in and voilà.

I have so much food.

Now I'm going to invite my guest, my special guest.

Venite, venite.

Buongiorno.

Buongiorno.

LUIGI: Hello.

LIDIA: Buongiorno.

Buongiorno.

So, these are my dear friend, Luigi Caccamo, who's an 'nduja producer, and Simone Saturnino, who is the head of the consortia of these Tropea onions.

[ Speaking Italian ] LUIGI: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: Ah.

So he said that there's 30% in that sausage of the dried peperoncino.

That's the real "spicer," the real kicker in the deal.

Simone... [ Speaking Italian ] SIMONE: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: Ah.

I asked him, "What's so special about this onion?"

He said because it is sweet, it is crunchy, and it is so eatable, you eat it fresh without any problem.

Throw it in any salad.

You don't have to do anything to it, and it is delicious.

[ Speaks Italian ] How does he eat it, I want to know.

SIMONE: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: Ah.

SIMONE: [ Speaks Italian ] LIDIA: Ah.

That's a good recipe.

He said raw sliced with some great tuna, canned tuna, some oil.

And if the tomatoes are in season, I throw in some great tomatoes.

So it's a great tuna salad with the cipolla di Tropea.

So it's time for them to try my concoctions here.

[ Speaking Italian ] LUIGI: [ Speaks Italian ] LIDIA: I asked him, "Is this too much?"

Because, you know, I'm going to have a bite.

He says, "No, no, this is fine.

He says, "Then you'll tell me."

Okay.

Andiamo.

Cin-cin.

Salute.

[ Bread crunching ] ♪ [ Conversing in Italian ] Mm-hmm.

Yes, there's a different explosion of life in my mouth, but I'm going to continue because it's delicious.

♪ Some of my favorite time in the kitchen has been teaching my grandchildren to grow into confident cooks.

And these days, even though they're living on their own, that doesn't mean they stop asking for my advice.

Sharing recipes -- panzerotti.

[ Video call rings ] Hi, Julia.

How you doing?

JULIA: Hi, Nonni.

I'm good.

How are you?

LIDIA: Oh, I'm okay.

And I'm thinking, when will you be coming and visiting, and what will I cook for you?

JULIA: My favorite is the panzerotti that you make.

Can you make me those?

LIDIA: Oh, panzerotti!

Absolutely!

When you come home, maybe you will make it with me.

So, we'll make this dough, which is flour and yeast and water, a little bit of salt, and you let it rise.

And separately, you make the stuffing -- some prosciutto cotto, maybe some ham, some mozzarella, a little bit of tomato sauce, and some grated cheese.

But you can fill it with whatever you like.

So, the dough is made.

You roll it out, and you cut almost like a circle.

You put the stuffing in.

You fold it over, and it looks like a half moon.

JULIA: When I made these with Nonna Nana, we used a fork to close them.

Is that how you do it, too?

LIDIA: Yeah.

The important thing is that you seal them tight so the filling doesn't come out.

And you can bake it, but frying is so much more tastier.

JULIA: Can we make a sweet version, too?

Some type of jam with ricotta, maybe, or maybe those cherries, too?

LIDIA: Sure.

And then do you like a little powdered sugar on top?

JULIA: The powdered sugar sounds good, too.

LIDIA: Yeah?

When you come home, we'll make them together.

JULIA: I will.

Maybe I'll be able to teach my friends.

LIDIA: Yes, that's nice.

So, Giulietta mia, you have any other requests or wishes, just let me know.

When you come home, you will find it.

JULIA: I will.

Love you.

LIDIA: Love you.

Ciao-ciao.

Tomato and Tropea onion salad.

It's bread, tomatoes and onions, and oil and vinegar.

But here I'm going to use the friselle.

And the friselle is this... [ Bread clacking ] ...hard, toasted kind of rounds of bread.

But if you have your bread, day-old bread is perfect.

You have to soak it a little bit before in just simple water.

So here I have some water.

Let me just soak that.

And not too much, because the bread will absorb the sauce from the tomatoes and the dressing.

So, here we have.

And I'm just going to kind of break it up in pieces ♪ Just like that.

♪ You know, Calabria is a beautiful region.

It's actually the toe of Italy.

And they have some great, great products.

One of them is Tropea onion, and of course, I'm going to use that.

But whatever you have at home, a nice red onion is fine.

You slice it thin.

If you don't like the pungency of onion, you can soak the onion in a little bit of water and vinegar, then drain it out, and it takes a little bit of the pungency out.

And now we go to the tomato.

And I just went in the garden here, and I got myself some beautiful tomato.

This looks like a beefsteak tomato, but it is beautiful.

Let me cut it.

You want a ripe tomato.

So, Roberto and his daughter Caterina are here at the Ceraudo l'Azienda Agricola.

And his young daughter is the responsible chef.

You know, Caterina came to visit me in New York, so it's only right that I come to visit her, and I just couldn't help myself.

I had to get into some cooking.

You go into the garden, and you collect the tomatoes that you want, the basil that you want.

Hundred-year-old trees produce this wonderful oil.

It's just a chef's heaven.

This looks good.

I think a little bit more tomato.

This is Cuore Di Bue, the heart of the beef, of the beef tomatoes.

It's just magnificent, and this one is really, really ripe.

But it is perfect, because those juices are going to be absorbed by the bread, the friselle.

With this kind of tomato, all you need is a sprinkle of salt, and you have a meal made, but I'm going to make a great salad.

And you don't have to cut it too small.

To this, a little bit of basil, just for a little bit of freshness.

♪ Some salt.

♪ Dry oregano.

♪ And this is a little ground peperoncino.

♪ And, of course, local olive oil.

♪ Homemade wine vinegar.

♪ So, here we go.

I'm ready to toss it.

So I think the dressing is all in, and it's tossed well.

I think I'm going to let it rest for about a half an hour and invite my friends.

Here we are in my library.

You keep on sending your questions, and I will answer them.

So here I have one from Joe.

Joe messaged me about planning his first trip to Italy.

"Where should I go?

I want to plan it around food."

What you have to keep in mind is, you know, there's 20 regions to Italy.

Each region has its own quality and color and flavor, depending on the seasons.

The wintertime, you have to go up North.

Trentino, even Friuli, with guazzetto, polenta, lots of apples, lots of strudels.

If you go in the fall, Piemonte is a region that you have to go to for sure.

The truffles are in.

You go a little bit down to Tuscany, the porcinis are in.

You have the good wines in both regions.

Springtime, again, Friuli is a great area, because they have a cuisine that's based in foraging -- wild asparagus, nettles, and making risottos, pastas, soups, with the frittatas.

Summertime, I would go down South -- Sicily, Puglia, Calabria.

The tomatoes, it's like eating candies.

The sea is really giving you a lot of good fishing.

So, have a good trip, Joe.

Alright, keep me posted.

Well, I think it's time to invite my friends.

Venite, venite.

[ Speaking Italian ] Caterina, her father Roberto.

So, he does all the agriculture here -- the wine, the oil, and all the vegetables.

And Caterina is the young chef, one-star Michelin chef.

Congratulations, Caterina.

She got in the kitchen five years ago, and here she is, a Michelin starred young lady.

ROBERTO: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: So, he said this is, yes, one of his wine.

Gaglioppo is the indigenous varietal here, and it's 100%.

[ Speaking Italian ] Cheers.

♪ [ Speaks Italian ] ♪ ♪ Mmm.

Buona?

[ Conversing in Italian ] So, I told them, "You continue making the good oil and the tomatoes, and the two of us, we will cook them."

♪ We are in Bova.

Bova is 1,000 feet up on a mountain in the Aspromonte Park, and it's overlooking the whole Ionian Sea.

And it has a lot of Grecano, they call it in Italian.

That's Greek roots here.

[ Speaking Italian ] ANGELINA: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: She said, "Yes, my parents, my grandparents really spoke Greek.

We just have some left."

[ Speaking Italian ] ANGELINA: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: Of Greek origins, and it's a bread very typical here.

It's made out of lentil flours, durum wheat, and bran.

So it's a bread that has quite a bit of body to it.

[ Speaks Italian ] ANGELINA: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: [ Speaks Italian ] And this kind of technique for bread in Southern Italy is used all over.

What it is is that they didn't bake every day.

So this kind of toasted bread lasted for a week, even more.

And if you made salads or vegetables, it would kind of revive itself.

[ Speaks Italian ] ANGELINA: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: So, that's the...

It's all the little pieces that are left.

She says you pull it together, and you put it as the last thing in the oven, and this is what I get.

[ Conversing in Italian ] Uh-huh.

You always have to be attentive.

Especially bread baking, I think, needs a lot of understanding and love.

♪ ANGELINA: [ Speaks Italian ] LIDIA: [ Blows sharply ] Ooh.

[ Speaking Italian ] Ooh, it's beautiful.

Has a little bit of ash.

[ Tapping ] You see -- You hear this -- You hear the sound of it?

That means, you know, you test that way if it's done or not.

[ Sniffs ] Che profumo, Angelina, ah?

[ Sniffs ] Mmm.

Look at this, nice and toasty.

And now let's let the bread finish cooking.

Grazie, Angelina.

ANGELINA: Prego.

LIDIA: Spicy Bloody Mary.

And of course, I had to go to the source to make a great party.

So here I am in Diamante, Calabria, the peperoncini headquarters of the world.

And I'm going to show you how to make a Bomba Calabrese, which is a bloody Mary.

Everybody loves a Bloody Mary, but with an extra kick.

So here we have, we have the tomato juice, which is essential.

I'm going to put a little bit of horseradish.

And you can do the horseradish fresh, or in a jar like this is fine.

Worcestershire sauce.

We all love that.

I have a little bit of celery salt, or even seeds will do.

And then, of course, this is the Bomba.

This is what really makes it happen.

And this is milled peperoncino from Calabria with a little bit of oil.

And you just put it in, and it just spices things up.

A little bit of salt.

Just like that.

And lemon.

♪ Lemon juice, of course, is best when it's freshly squeezed, just like that.

♪ And the lemons here in Italy are just fantastic.

Ay-yai-yai.

Okay.

So that's delicious.

Let's mix things up here.

And I think as far as flavor, we are there.

Let me make up the drinks.

Bloody Mary's nice and refreshing.

So making a glass full like that with a lot of ice, it's perfect.

And now a little bit of vodka, or a lot.

Depends on your guest.

Pour it right on top of the ice.

And then the Bomba tomato juice.

♪ Mm-mmm.

Just like that.

Mix it up just a little bit.

♪ Mmm.

And traditionally, you add celery, of course, to decorate a Bloody Mary.

But I'm here in Diamante.

It's a bomba of a drink, Bomba Bloody Mary, and I'm going to add some peperoncino just for decoration.

How about that?

And of course, you can't drink alone, so I'm going to call my dear friend Enzo Monaco.

Enzo... [Speaking Italian] ENZO: [ Speaks Italian ] LIDIA: Now, Enzo, this great man, he is the encyclopedia on all that is peperoncino Calabrese.

He's the founder of the Peperoncino Academy right here in Diamante, and we are going to ask him all the questions.

As a matter of fact, we have a question, because Karen Tevis wants to know, "I've heard there are hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties of peppers in Calabria.

What makes this peperoncino so special?"

Cosa dici, Enzo?

ENZO: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: So, he said that the peperoncino is not a Calabrian native.

It's an American native.

But the beautiful sun and the terroir here in Calabria makes it so special.

[ Speaks Italian ] Tell me why.

ENZO: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: This is a small one, which is also called peperoncino Calabrese or peperoncino a la sigaretta, eh?

Piccante?

ENZO: Piccante, piccante.

LIDIA: It's spicy, fairly spicy.

ENZO: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: This is like an apple, Rocoto Peruviano, and it looks like an apple, but it is very spicy.

Don't let it fool you.

[ Speaks Italian ] ENZO: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: So, this is the dried peperoncino, and that's what we do here in Calabria, so we can use it throughout the whole year.

And then we grind it, and you know -- You're familiar with this, whether you have it on your pizza, whether you have on your spaghetti.

It's delicious, and you should use more of it.

ENZO: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: So, he affirms that these ground peperoncino is the easiest to use.

[ Speaking Italian ] In Americano, si chiama Bloody Mary.

[ Speaking Italian ] Cin-cin.

ENZO: Cin-cin.

LIDIA: Salute.

ENZO: Salute la Calabria.

LIDIA: Grazie, grazie.

Cheers.

♪ Mmm.

[ Conversing in Italian ] Not enough.

ENZO: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: Not enough peperoncino in here for him.

[ Speaking Italian ] ENZO: [ Speaking Italian ] LIDIA: Oh, gosh.

He's adding more.

I'm going to stick with mine, I think.

[ Speaks Italian ] ♪ In our profession, we take different stands.

We have different specialties and different talents.

I am not a chef, though, that is an inventive chefs or want to be an inventive chef.

I am a traditionalist in the sense that I want to carry the message of the land that I was born, and I want to carry it to the land that I was adopted by.

And there's nothing more rewarding to me than doing just that.

So I am a conduit of my culture, and I love being that.

I love expressing that, and I love it when you cook those flavors, because you're taking a trip to Italy with me.

And as I always say, tutti a tavola a mangiare Let's go.

Grandma is going to sing us right to that table.

[ Erminia and Lidia singing in 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.