-Bonjourno.

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.

-For over 140 years, Auricchio traditional handcrafted provolone, made in Italy.

-Olitalia -- from chef to chef.

-I always cook for a crowd, but sometimes I find myself alone.

And it's a treat to cook just for me.

Take your time making this sauce.

Let the onions caramelize and let that bacon crisp.

The few extra minutes of attention will add to the flavor tenfold.

The feeling is groovy in my kitchen.

As a child, I would tag along with Grandpa when he visited friends in town, and he'd treat us to a Pasareta.

And I guess this could be a precursor to orange soda.

But we had the real thing.

Every chef has a favorite rendition of roast chicken.

In mine, rosemary and lemon are the main flavors.

Served with a salad, this makes a complete meal.

If you put love in, you get love out.

It's just me and you today, so let's cook.

I often talk about family and friends and tableful, but not always is our table full.

We might be one.

We might be two.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't cook.

Absolutely, all the more you should cook because you are a special person.

You know, you can take my recipes, like this roasted chicken.

You say, "A whole chicken for me?"

Yes.

There's many ways you can skin the chicken, let's put it that way.

Cut it into pieces, save it, save the bones, make stock, and make two, three meals out of them.

And as Lidia says, tutti a tavola a mangiare.

And that means whether you're one or two, keep on cooking for yourself.

Fettuccine con cipolle, pancetta, e olive.

Today I'm cooking for myself, and I'm cooking -- yes, I'm cooking a regular recipe, and I'll have some leftovers, too, if you want to come over, that is.

Let's start with the bacon.

A nice large cut, so when I bite into it, it's gonna be there.

Okay, I'm gonna put a little bit of oil to get things going.

And you know I like my bacon crispy.

So if you have a wide pan, you give the bacon space to dance around in the pan to really caramelize.

So onions -- we're gonna caramelize it.

Not too thin on the onions.

I like them nice and thick so you can really feel the texture of the onion when you're eating the pasta.

For this, I thought fettuccine would really be good.

The onions would sort of wrap itself in the fettuccine.

The fettuccine are a little thicker, and they will take a little bit of time, but not yet.

The water is boiling.

I have salt in there.

No oil.

I always tell you that.

Absolutely no oil in there because you want that little stickiness on the pasta that you have in there so that the sauce adheres to it.

Otherwise you'll have a puddle of sauce on the bottom of your plate of pasta.

The bacon has salt, but I'm going to add a little bit of salt for the onions.

And certainly some peperoncino.

And the onions will wilt nice and easy.

And I'm gonna come and visit you now because I am gonna check my e-mails.

You know, I love getting e-mails from you.

I love hearing what you've got to say.

Norma -- "What are some great ways to use orecchiette?

It's my favorite dried pasta."

Oh, Norma, yeah, love that pasta.

It's from Puglia.

And orecchiette means earlobes, just because they are round like that.

In Puglia, they use the broccoli di rape, the chicory, all those kind of bitter greens.

Regular broccoli would do.

A nice pasta sauce is the best way.

If you have a soup going and you have no other pasta, they're great in the soup, too.

Keep on sending those e-mails.

Okay, so this looks like we are in a good place.

Let's add some tomato paste.

Then I always say a little hot spot because I want tomato paste to be nice and toasty.

So here it is, nice and toasty.

I am going to add a little bit of wine here just to deglaze everything.

All those goodies on the bottom.

[ Sizzling ] You can see the onions are getting wilted.

I'm gonna put the pasta in.

And just like spaghetti, you roll it around.

And you don't break your pasta.

Just let it fall into place.

Just leave it a little bit ajar so it doesn't go all over the counter here.

I'm gonna chop the thyme.

I plucked the leaves of fresh thyme sprigs just like that.

And let's put that in.

Mm-hmm.

And I'm going to put a little balsamic vinegar to really give it a complexity.

So you see there's a lot of flavoring elements going in one after another.

So while that's simmering away, let me check if somebody else has sent something.

I'm curious.

Okay, let's see what Dolores has sent in.

"The best part of the show for me has always been Grandma's songs and drinks."

Yeah, she loved to sing.

She loved to have a little sip of wine.

"I only know how to sing two of her songs.

Is there anywhere to find the correct words to the songs so I can sing along to them, too?"

That's very sweet of you, Dolores.

You know, the best thing is if you listen, and you can even use some of the words that you hear in there and feed it into the Internet.

"Italian folk songs," and then say the few words that you caught, and then you can sing with Grandma.

One of them that she loves to sing -- "Bevevano i nostri padri?"

-♪ Bevevano i nostri padri?

Bevevano i nostri madri?

♪ -That's, "Did our fathers drink?"

and so on.

It's family tradition to have a toast.

Or the very romantic one she liked is, "Fior di verbena."

-♪ Fior di verbena, se qualche pena... ♪ -Verbena is a flower.

So the flower of verbena and how it heals love ailments.

Thank you.

Thank you for your e-mail.

So this is coming along.

Just put a little bit of the pasta water.

You know, I always tell you pasta water is an essential part of your pasta-cooking experience.

Save it just to make the sauce, because you don't always need stock.

Pasta water will do.

So here I have some Gaeta olives, and the Gaeta olives are like this in the brine solution, or you can find them salt dry and then in oil.

And texture is very important in enjoying food -- the tactile element -- so I want my chunky olives.

And I'm gonna add them into that.

So, and slowly... let that flavor get into all of this.

And the feeling is groovy in my kitchen.

Lidia with Lidia.

How do you like that?

I'm gonna put it right in, and I'm going to let it finish cooking right in here.

Ah.

It's escaping.

My pasta is escaping me.

Let me add some more pasta water because the pasta is al dente, and quite a bit al dente.

I'm gonna let it cook and absorb a lot of sauce.

So this will take a little bit, and I have some time.

And where do I go?

In my pocket.

It's you and me.

I have an e-mail from Rock.

"Is it always better to let the pasta finish cooking in the sauce in the skillet?"

Just what I did, Rock.

It is.

The pasta in its final cooking process is absorbing the sauce in there so that the pasta is that much more tasty.

And also, you want the sauce to really adhere to the pasta.

Thank you very much, Rock.

I am going to add a lot of cheese.

Pecorino Romano is a sheep's milk cheese.

It has the profile of the rest of the ingredients here, and Pecorino Romano is used a lot in southern Italy, and it brings a lot of flavor.

Get you a plate.

Get me a tasting plate.

When I'm plating, I always use a little plate to deliver the pasta.

You see?

A little bit for Lidia.

Okay.

That looks good.

I'm going to put some sauce.

Some for Lidia, too.

This is a portion.

There was a lot of thyme used there, so, you know, just have a few little branches of whatever the herbs that you put in there.

And I'm gonna do just like that so the fresh thyme is right here.

Let me taste.

Oh, let's wrap this fettuccine right over.

Let me taste.

Mmm!

Delicious.

I can feel the crunch of the onions and a nice piece of bacon, the acidity of the balsamic vinegar, the complexity of the Pecorino Romano.

I'm gonna sit down with my pasta and continue this meal with Lidia.

Is that okay?

Okay.

Pasareta.

Here I am, all alone in my kitchen.

Peaceful.

It's a moment of reflection, a moment of looking back at my childhood.

And I just felt like having a drink that I remember.

The blood oranges were in season, so I want to make myself a Pasareta.

Pasareta is orange juice, fresh orange juice, and club soda.

On Sundays, this tradition that my grandfather would walk to the next town and go to the osteria, where the men were gathering.

They played bocce or whatever.

We kids would always follow him there because we knew we would get a Pasareta, this orange seltzer drink, made nice and fresh.

Mmm.

What a smell.

Pasareta is a simple as... fresh orange juice, just like that.

And, of course, if it is blood orange, it's better.

And some sparkling water.

This was the kids' drink.

So, now, of course, it's all about soda.

And I guess this could be a precursor to orange soda.

But we had the real thing.

And then, of course, I grew up.

The next step is -- not that I invented it, because it's like a Bellini, but it is here.

In a Bellini, you would put peach juice, but here, I put this fresh blood-orange juice, some prosecco DOC, just like that.

Beautiful.

Let me just cut a little decoration here.

Ooh, look at this orange.

Now let me taste.

Let me go back to my childhood, just like that.

You know, flavors, aromas take you to a special place that is somehow dear in your heart, in your memory.

And this takes me back to that osteria with Grandpa, waiting outside to get the Pasareta.

And then, of course, I grew up, and things change.

Bellini was in vogue when I was in my prime, and, of course, made many salute with that combination, so... Ah.

Yeah.

And this elevates the situation a little bit, but I love that one just as much.

And from being a child to an adult, the flavor of blood oranges was omnipresent in my enjoyment of drinks.

Pollo Arrosto a la Lidia.

Roasted chicken a la Lidia and for Lidia.

A whole roasted chicken just for me.

Absolutely.

I'll get four great meals out of it and then I'll get a big pot of stock, as well.

So, let's begin with the flavorings that I'd like to massage my chicken with.

Certainly, lots of rosemary, just like that.

And I'm going to save some rosemary also because I'm going to stuff the cavity.

Let's chop this.

Yeah.

And chicken and lemon is delicious together, so I'm going to use the rind like this.

And I'm going to add to this some garlic powder and salt right in here and olive oil.

Okay.

And this is the rub.

I'm going to cut the lemons so I have them ready, and this will be to stuff on the inside.

And now let's address Mr. Chicken here.

It's a nice large roaster.

Will I make it for myself?

Of course.

I get four great meals out of this.

So, let's put some salt first.

I want to salt it all.

Dress it.

Take the tip of the wing and just nestle it underneath, just like that.

Now let's begin to dress the chicken.

Get that flavorful rub all over, underneath the skin so everything is flavored.

And you're afraid to go under the skin, but it's quite easy.

There's a little kind of attachment here.

Don't cut the skin.

Just cut the attachment.

The skin is attached right here in the middle.

And then you can go in with your fingers and really make that space in there to get all that extra flavor underneath the skin.

I'm letting gravity help me a little bit here.

Alright.

I'm going to put these right in here just to absorb everything.

And I'm going to cut this in small pieces, because this is going to be in the cavity.

And let's stuff the cavity with all of that.

And you can see how there's a lot of flavor right here.

We need to seal this.

You could go like this and tie it with a kitchen twine.

Absolutely.

But you could also make a little slit in here and a little slit in here.

And let's see if the legs will stay in there.

Okay, that's that.

And, as I said, you could tie it, but this will do.

Okay.

That's a nice little chicken -- maybe big chicken -- all flavored up.

Let's get it in the roasting pan and vegetables on the bottom so you have all in one meal.

You have your vegetables -- your carrots, the potatoes.

Wash them well.

All the same size.

And I would like to season a little bit.

A bit of salt in here.

And oil a little bit, just like that, the potatoes and the carrots.

Let me just give it a little mix.

Let me give them some love, too, you know, because if you put love in, you get love out.

Let's get these beauty right in there.

I'm looking at it.

It's nice and tight here, seasoned.

I'm going to just put some stock in.

And don't pour it over the chicken.

Now that you have dressed it so well, don't give it a shower.

Just let the flavors be there.

Some wine.

Okay.

So, now we're going to put it in the oven.

400-degree hot oven.

Depends on the size.

Anywhere from an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.

And you don't need to do much to it.

Yeah, check on it now and then and if you want to baste it, but I think it'll be beautiful.

You like that crust on top.

So, let's go to the oven.

Things are cooking in my kitchen.

I got some time.

Let's check the e-mails.

Let's check them out.

Elaine wants to know, "What is the difference between spatchcocking a chicken and roasting it whole?

Is one better than the other?"

They're two different things.

I think a whole chicken is a beautiful presentation.

If you split your chicken open and you press it down, the chances are that the cooking maybe will be more even.

Also, the caramelization on the inside and on the outside because you can turn it over.

But whatever you do, save those bones and make a stock for yourself.

This beautiful roasted chicken is done.

Could be a meal for six or six meals for Lidia.

And I'll show you.

So, let's get this baby right out of the juice.

It has rested.

Okay, here we go.

Let's start with the legs.

You have to cut into this skin right here, just like that.

And it is still hot, so a clean towel to help you along.

Absolutely.

I see the joint right in there.

And you go right for the joint.

And, voilà, here we have one leg.

Let's do the other one, just like that.

You see?

You go right in there.

Look for the joint.

And here we are.

I love chicken wings.

Grandma loved chicken wings.

And we had to share.

Now I can have both, but I'd much rather be sharing it with her.

But, okay, she's watching.

So, I usually go right in and cut a little bit of the breast.

So go to the joint, cut a little bit of the breast.

This tip you could leave or you can just snip it off, like that.

And here is going to be my stockpile, in a sense, the carcass and everything.

I'm going to be saving all of this so I can make the future meals.

Mmm!

Let me cut the tip off.

Put it in there.

Here is my other wing.

And I like a little skin.

Why not?

And then we have the breast.

You have the breastbone here.

You either go on one side or the other side, wherever the knife lets you go.

And it is hot, so a clean towel will do.

And just you pry it nice and gently, just like that.

Okay.

We have a joint here.

Let's get the joint.

There we are.

So, let's do the other.

And just pry it open and slowly go underneath.

And there we go.

That looks pretty good.

So, I'm going to put the carcass with all its stuffing right in here and let it cool.

And that's going to make a great pot of chicken stock.

Add some carrots, some celery, some onions, and you've got it.

Now, these little pieces are for me.

I'm going to put them in my little plate there.

The wings, I said, are for me.

Let's make one full plate.

Carrots and potatoes.

Okay.

And then one of the legs.

And, again, you feel the joint, just like that.

Let's put that here.

And just like that.

Mm-hmm!

And let's get some breast in here, too.

So, you cut it on a bias, just like that.

And I think that's enough for that.

And I'm going to put the rest of the breast right here.

And you can see that you have two full meals right here.

I'm going to put the leg right here -- another meal.

My little dish.

I'm going to have a carrot.

A little bit of juice.

Of the jus.

Just a little bit.

Let's bring the plate to the table.

That's ready.

My salad arugula with some shaved Grana on top.

Now let's finish my dish right here.

And I'm going to fill these with some of this good stuff so that you have it when you're ready to serve it.

So I'll put the carrots here.

Carrots and potatoes right there.

A little bit of juice so I can reheat this properly.

So, you know, when you're reheating things, if things have been in the refrigerator, they kind of dried out a little bit.

But you definitely need to reheat it in a little bit of some liquid.

And this stock is ideal.

You can save that.

You can save this to reheat this.

Look at all the meals you've gotten out of that beautiful chicken.

So, don't think twice when you're considering roasting a chicken for you.

So, let's decorate this little chicken here.

Rosemary.

That looks nice.

So, now I'm ready to taste.

I'm going to do what Grandma would have done.

Just taken the wing and bite right into it.

The best part of the chicken.

I'm ready to salute you and invite you tutti a tavola a mangiare.

And I'm going to go right back to my good wine and my chicken.

So, you enjoy yours when you make it.

I've been given a special gift in life.

And as a young immigrant, we were accepted in America.

That was gift number one.

And then I got these chances to cook for you.

I feel almost responsible.

I want to share with you the best recipes, the best products, the best way to do it.

I want you to cook, whether you're one, whether you're two, whether you're 20.

There's always a way to cook.

And you know what?

You're out there and cooking, and I'm proud of you.

-[Speaking Italian] [ Both singing in Italian ] Salute.

Cin-cin.

[Speaking 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 our additional products, call one 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...