-Buongiorno.

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

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

I'm showing off.

Does this look like a good meal?

So, make it.

For me, food is about gathering around the table to enjoy loved ones, share a meal, and make memories.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

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

♪ ♪ -Authentic Italian cured meats.

Paolo Rovagnati -- The true Italian tradition.

-For over 140 years, Auricchio traditional hand-crafted provolone.

Made in Italy.

♪ -Olitalia -- From chef to chef.

-I love tradition, but a little creativity can make a big difference in a recipe.

And I'll show you how.

I take the traditional panzanella a step further with the addition of roasted vegetables.

The classic puttanesca flavors make a quick spicy sauce that pairs well with more than just spaghetti.

Here I try it with tuna, eggplant, and zucchini.

Classics, the Lidia way.

One of the dilemmas when I first opened my restaurants in America was, what do I cook?

Which Italian cuisine do I represent?

There is the traditional Italian cuisine of the 20 regions of Italy.

And then there is the Italian-American cuisine, which is a delicious cuisine, but it reflects the adaptation of the early immigrants when they came to America.

They had the memories.

They had the technique.

They didn't have all of the products.

In Italy, for example, if I am to transport that cuisine, authentic cuisine, I need prosciutto di Parma, I need olive oil, I need aceto balsamico, I need grana, the right mozzarella.

So a different cuisine, based in the memories and recall, evolved from the products that they found.

And it's a delicious cuisine.

So I said, "Well, I'm going to cook some of the Italian-American food, but I really want America to eat the culture that I was born in, the Italian culture.

Things like polenta, like risotto.

And I proceeded, in Felidia in 1981, to cook really regional Italian food.

I was cooking the food that I eat at home.

Summer Panzanella.

You are all familiar with panzanella -- tomato, basil, bread -- but I'm going to give you a new twist on it and I'm going to make a panzanella with vegetables, roasted vegetables.

So here I have zucchini.

You wash them nice.

Nice fancy zucchini.

You don't want the big zucchini.

Little chunks.

We're going to toss them in the salad.

So could you use any other vegetables?

Of course.

But first get all the ideas and then you can make your own recipe.

Panzanella is one of those great salads, and it is great for me because I love to recycle things.

And there's no better way to recycle bread -- a day-or-two-old bread -- than making a panzanella.

♪ Now let's do the onion.

♪ That's good.

Let me put some salt.

♪ Okay.

Some oil.

And you put it like this in the oven -- preheated 425-degree oven.

20 minutes to half an hour, it is done.

Let's get it in the oven.

Now let's get to the tomatoes.

Of course, the better the tomato, the better the panzanella.

Nice, ripe tomatoes.

Diverse.

Mix them all up.

I have some yellow.

I have some beefsteak tomatoes.

I have some piccolini pomodori.

Let's start with these.

And these I'll cut in half because I want the juice to start flowing.

You know, you look at the tomatoes and you say, "Is there a different -- flavor or taste between an orange tomato, a yellow tomato, a red tomato?"

Well, from my experience, the yellow and orange tomatoes are sweeter, whereas the red tomatoes are a bit more acidic.

And I'm looking -- okay, I cut the vegetables.

What size do I want the tomatoes?

Well, maybe a little smaller than that.

Like that.

And the tomatoes, if they're really ripe, sometimes if you cut them with a knife, and especially if your knife is not too sharp, you kind of squash them.

So use a serrated knife.

That will cut through the skin, and you will not squeeze out the juices of your tomatoes.

♪ Let me go to the red.

You know, tomatoes should not be kept in the refrigerator.

They should be in a cool place at room temperature, especially if they're not ripe.

Of course, they will ripen if you keep them on the windowsill.

But if you're going to use them, at least a day before take them out of the refrigerator.

So let's use this beauty here.

♪ ♪ Mm.

♪ And cucumbers.

Choose which ones you'll want to use.

So I'm going to look, and do I want the little -- the whole circle or I can cut it in half.

But I think this is just fine.

I'm showing off.

Yes, you could be like Lidia, or even better, maybe.

Just watch your fingers.

So here we are.

♪ Okay.

And I'm going to put the bread all in here.

But even before I put the bread, you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to put some salt.

The salt is going to get some of the juices flowing from the tomatoes.

And I'll put the bread right in.

♪ Just like that.

♪ And let the tomato release its juice, and let the bread take in the juice, especially because the bread is a two-day-old bread, and it's a little tough.

So here we are.

We are ready to kind of move on.

I'm going to check on my vegetables in the oven, and we're ready to dress the salad.

So what's the innovation here?

Roasted vegetables added to a panzanella salad.

Hi, everybody.

Buongiorno.

I am here in my library.

This is where I read your e-mails, watch your videos, and answer you.

So here's an e-mail from Janine.

"Can you use any type of bread in panzanella?

I have leftover focaccia, would that work?"

Well, Janine, good question.

The texture of the bread plays a big role in panzanella.

If you have a good country bread that will absorb a lot of your juices in the panzanella salad.

On the other hand, if you have focaccia, it's a much softer bread, and especially if it's not really dry, it will disintegrate in your salad.

Disintegrating in the salad is not all that bad.

You get these crumbs of bread that sort of pick up the sauce and makes it a little denser.

You can use the focaccia because, you know, wasting is terrible, and it will still make -- the focaccia will still make a good panzanella.

So, enjoy.

So here are the roasted vegetables.

Mmm.

Right in.

They have cooled just a little bit.

They are just warm.

And I like them that way.

Now, now, now.

Let's do the tossing.

We have everything we want in there.

Now we put some salt all over, and I'm going to put a little bit of peperoncino.

That will add some zest.

I'll put some oil.

And, you know, we have a lot of vegetables and bread, and the bread is taking in, so you're going to say, "Oh, Lidia, that's a lot of dressing," but really it's not.

So vinegar is another one of those things that the bread will just soak in.

And you know what's going to be the beautiful part of this?

When you eat this and you bite into the bread, the bread squirts out the dressing in your mouth, and it's just delicious.

This looks good.

And, you know, at this point, you could leave it for about 10, 15 minutes.

That's why this salad is great when you have buffet tables.

So you don't have to worry about the salad will wilt on you.

This will all be nice and even better.

Mm-mm-mm.

So I want to show you something.

Take a look here.

You see?

And that's what happens in your mouth.

So when you think, "Oh.

Where's the dressing?"

it squirts.

Love it.

♪ So let's make the platter.

Certainly, on a buffet table, this is a super dish.

But also when you do family-style, just put a big platter of this in the middle of the table.

Let me take a ladle.

You know, cooking in the kitchen is a lot about common sense.

If one thing doesn't work, then you, you know -- common sense -- get something else.

There we go.

Now we can be plating this.

And whenever you plate food, don't try to arrange it.

Let the food flow into position.

But I do want to get it kind of high here because I want to get a lot on the plate.

I like the ends clean, like a frame to this beautiful painting.

That looks good.

Okay.

Like that.

Let's get Lidia's plate.

♪ Mmm.

And what I do at the end is some shavings of cheese.

Just like that.

And let's do it on this one.

And of course you can leave the cheese on the table and let them help themselves.

And a little bit of basil.

And I got to taste this for you.

Trying to get one of each.

Okay, I've got it.

Delicious.

With a little bit -- a frittata, whether you want a prosciutto cotto, a little bit of mozzarella on the side, you got yourself a grand meal, a perfect cena -- an ending to a day.

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

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

Oh, my, I miss my grandkids.

They're all over the place, but I know that they're cooking.

And Lorenzo's going to call me with a question.

So here's Lorenzo.

[ Computer chiming ] Hi, Lorenzo.

How are you doing?

-Ciao, Nonna.

Esto bene.

How are you doing?

-Are you cooking full speed?

-Yeah.

Whenever I can, I do dinner parties.

I try to cook for myself in large batches.

It's great.

I love cooking.

It's a lot of fun.

-Well, I have an idea.

You know, I just made -- you know, the bulb of fennel?

It's a vegetable.

Very, very -- the Italians love it.

It is great when it's baked.

So I trimmed the fennel bulb, cooked it, and then I sliced it into nice, maybe half-an-inch-thick slices.

And I made it alla parmigiana.

So parmigiana means tomato and cheese.

So I took a baking sheet, lined it with tomato sauce, the parboiled slices of fennel, some grated cheese, and then for a little bit of proteins, I'd put in slices of ham, a little thicker slices of prosciutto cotto, then some more tomatoes, some more cheese, and in the oven until it all got crispy.

It could be a side dish.

It could be even a main course.

-That sounds really good.

I'm always thinking about dinner parties.

-For hors d'oeuvres, even, could go well.

Absolutely.

-One thing I did want to ask was, what are some really good things you can make for a party that you can prepare like a week in advance?

-Well, I think any baked pasta is really good, and lasagna is the perfect thing that you can do before.

But also braised meats will keep well for quite a few days for your party.

Do you have enough information or do you need more?

-I have enough, um, but I'll call if I need any more.

-Okay, Cocco.

Bye-bye.

Love you.

-Ciao.

Baci.

-Today I have for you a classic dish that I will surprise you with because I'll make a twist in the recipe.

So here's the oil.

Let's start with the onion.

And the dish that I'm talking about is a puttanesca.

You all know puttanesca sauce.

You make your pasta with the puttanesca.

But today we'll make something different.

So let's put some salt here on the onions.

Let's put some peperoncino.

And that's toasting And let's get to the vegetables.

So, eggplant.

And you know how I like to just sort of partially peel it.

I got some of the skin left.

Okay.

And I'm gonna cut it in cubes.

Nice cubes.

I want to show you the eggplant.

You see these long, small eggplants are the best to buy.

First of all, they should be firm.

But you see that -- what makes an eggplant bitter is the seeds and the aging of the seeds.

They mature as they're in the eggplant and they become brown seeds.

And those are the bitter ones.

So always a small eggplant, and your chances of getting less seeds is there.

Let's make some zucchini.

And about the same -- the same size.

And we have -- you say, "Gee, you have quite a bit of vegetables."

Yeah.

But, you know, vegetables kind of lose a lot of their water and become smaller in size.

So I am going to add to this now the vegetables.

♪ So as you see here, I have all the ingredients of the puttanesca.

Ultimately, I'll add some tuna.

One pot, you've got the whole meal -- vegetables and proteins and the intensity of the Italian flavor.

So now let me just salt a little bit the vegetables.

And peperoncino we put in.

Let me get a little bit of anchovies now in here.

Now, this is -- let's see how much.

One, two, three.

You can use anchovies as you like.

If you like a lot of anchovies, then you use it.

You can omit anchovies if you don't like them and still make this dish.

I'm going to make a little spot here, and I'm going to put the anchovies there because I want them slowly to kind of break up a little bit.

Okay.

Gaeta olives.

Usually that's good in puttanesca, but you can put green olives.

Whatever you'd like.

Capers, of course.

Puttanesca with capers.

And this is chopped thyme.

Let me just chop it a little more.

♪ San Marzano tomatoes.

♪ And these tomatoes are fantastic.

They're fantastic because they're sweet, because they have a thin skin, a lot of pulp and not too much juice and not too much seeds.

So when you're making sauce, you have a lot of juice, a lot of acidity.

The seeds, they have tannins, and that gives you the bitterness.

So the less of all of that that you have, the sweeter your sauce.

So San Marzano is the way to go.

I think I'm all ready.

I'm going to let this cook for about 15 minutes, and I'm going to add the fish to it, and I have lunch, dinner, whatever you want, ready.

How great is that?

Here's another e-mail from Carol.

It's got a video.

Let's take a look.

-My grandma used to create fresh ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta.

It was delicious.

I'd like to try my hand.

How do you do so and be seated for the meal?

Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

-Oh, brava, Carol.

Well said.

Raviolis are simple and they can be made in advance.

Follow your grandma's recipe.

Then you spread them out on a sheet pan and put them in the freezer to freeze.

Once they're frozen solid, then you can gather them and put them in little plastic bags and save them that way in the freezer so that when you need them, you pull the whole bags out.

You have your boiling water.

Plenty of boiling water because when you introduce something frozen and cold into the water, the temperature goes down.

Throw the raviolis in and proceed like grandma.

So have fun with those ravioli, Carol, and keep the family tradition going.

Puttanesca, here we go.

Yes.

Tuna.

Nice tuna.

You know, tuna doesn't require a lot of cooking.

Whenever you do fish or meat, there's a natural sequence that happens with the knife, and you just follow that.

And that's your best way of cutting meat or cutting tuna or cutting fish.

I have the vegetables are big pieces, so let me do this as well in fairly large pieces.

♪ Okay.

And this is a beautiful fillet of tuna, but I'm going to cut it in -- in pieces.

Chunks.

One.

♪ And here again.

♪ So I'm going to season this before I put it in with some salt.

♪ With some olive oil just... And the olive oil is going to coat the tuna and sort of protect it a little bit from the acidity.

Okay.

Just like that.

And let me add the tuna in.

And this is going to go fast.

You know tuna takes very little time to cook.

So, although, you know, in Sicily, they cook their tuna.

They don't leave it always raw, if you will.

If they eat it raw, it's one thing.

But if they cook it, they cook their tuna.

So let's see.

Let me cover it all with sauce, the tuna.

Let's put a little bit of olive oil just here.

I can see that I need it.

I'm going to raise the temperature because I want a quick cook.

While we wait for the tuna to cook, let me chop some parsley.

Okay.

Put that on the side so I have it ready.

And let's check this tuna.

♪ I think it's done.

♪ Close the fire.

Lidia's little plate.

Get the plates for you guys.

And I'm going to start taking the...

Okay.

Can you see how good, how delicious, how wonderful it looks?

Mm-hmm.

♪ ♪ Okay.

This is enough for Lidia for today.

Okay.

That's mine.

So... ♪ And you can plate it, or you can bring the whole casserole on the table.

Can put a little bit of parsley.

♪ So let's taste this.

You see?

It's a little pink.

And this is perfect.

This is the way I like it.

Really good.

All the complexity of a puttanesca.

And in this case, the mellowness of the vegetables.

And of course the tomato really kind of binds it all together.

Are you hungry yet?

Do you want to come over?

So I'm inviting you.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

Come and enjoy!

Salute.

♪ As an Italian and many years as a chef, I take liberties, yes.

And I make my changes now and then.

I want to be respectful of the tradition.

But, you know, I do want to add a little new touch.

I think sometimes changing the classics is also about personalizing it.

Just test it and make sure that it's good and you and your friends, your family like it.

[ Singing in Italian ] ♪ ♪ -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... ♪ 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... -Grana Padano -- authentic, Italian, rich in tradition, yet contemporary.

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

♪ ♪