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 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.

MALE ANNOUNCER: Authentic and original Amarena Fabbri -- a taste of Italy for brunch with family and friends.

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FEMALE ANNOUNCER: For over 140 years, Auricchio traditional handcrafted provolone, made in Italy.

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FEMALE ANNOUNCER: And by... ♪ LIDIA: "Mama, cosa si mangia stasera?"

"Mom, what's for dinner?"

Every culture has their own way of asking what's for dinner.

But don't you worry, because I have you covered.

Toss together Arborio rice with flavorful olives, peppers, artichokes, and provolone to create a satisfying, vibrant salad.

In just 30 minutes, pull together this impressive dish of sauteed chicken, served over spinach.

Cosa che da mangiare stasera?

What's for dinner?

As small as I can remember, I was always putzing around the kitchen, but I really kind of got my oats, if you will, in the kitchen when we came to America as immigrants.

And we had this little apartment on the fourth floor, and when we ate dinners, we had to pull the table off the wall, put it in the middle.

One side was the stove and the other one was the refrigerator.

So my mother and I always sat next to the stove so we can get the food, and my father and my brother by the refrigerator.

They would pull out the drinks from the refrigerator.

And, you know, from there, I really got the continuum of eating at the table with the family and the importance of it.

That continued into my family, certainly, and I really got a lot of satisfaction on transferring to them the joy of cooking, of preparing dinner, of ultimately sitting at the table.

And it's so important that it is kept in the family because it really binds, ties the family, brings the family together.

"Antipasto" Rice Salad.

What's for dinner?

You know, that's always on an Italian's mind.

As Italians, even when we're eating lunch, we are talking about what we're going to eat for dinner.

And here I am in my garden, so it's the appropriate place to think about dinner.

Rice salad.

Especially if you have buffets or in the summer, or you're going out -- either you're taking the food with you or picnic -- rice salad is the perfect thing, and Italians love it.

To begin with, you cook some Arborio rice with some bay leaves, salted water, cook it, drain it just like pasta, and you let it cool off.

Remove the the bay leaves.

Let's get the rice in the bowl.

So when you cool it and it -- it sort of remains detached -- spread it out, so it remains detached like that.

And so when you toss it, it kind of flows.

Now we're going to end all the other good ingredients to it.

A nice cherry tomato, just like that.

Do I have enough there?

Yeah, maybe I'll chop one or two more.

And it depends on how big they are.

When you make a salad like that, sort of think about the pieces that you're putting in.

Are they going to disappear in it?

Do I want them bite size?

And that's all up to you.

You can make it smaller, a little larger.

This is fine as far as the tomatoes.

Artichokes -- canned artichokes in brine, not in oil, because we're going to dress the salad, but in brine.

So, again, I'm talking about pieces.

I like to get a nice little piece of artichoke in my mouth.

I don't like little pieces, so let's cut it in quarters.

Sometimes if it's a smaller artichokes, even half will do.

And again, you know, you could alter this recipe.

You want more vegetables, you put more vegetables.

You want more rice, less vegetables.

Capers -- the smaller the caper is, the better, more intense.

Roasted peppers.

You know we love our peppers.

So I'm looking at this... Yeah.

Why not?

Olives.

These are Gaeta olives.

They're pitted.

And celery.

I kind of like this like this, even the leaves.

Sometimes you don't use the leaves, but celery leaves are great in salad.

Yeah, I think that's good enough.

And now for the savory element in here.

I like provolone.

Provolone is a cheese full of flavor.

And you can certainly -- you buy it in slices like this, but you have kind of cute options, especially if you have your guests and they see that and just say, "Oh, where did you get that?

Did you go to the cheesemonger?"

So a cut of the provolone.

And I'm looking, you know, the portion.

I think this is enough.

It's pretty soft, but a little bit.

I like to -- sometimes, provolone has -- actually has like -- here, it has a waxy coating just like that.

And that protects it from really drying and becoming a dry cheese.

This leaves the humidity in the cheese.

So that's why the provolone is intense in flavor -- full of flavor.

But it's a semi-soft cheese, and I like that, especially for this salad.

So, how do I want it?

Well, I think I want -- you know, we have pretty chunky things.

So maybe like this.

[ Birds chirping ] Do you hear the birds chirping in my garden?

You know, I have my garden, so I have seeds, I have a lot of good things for them to pick on.

So we have a lot of birds, and I love it.

In the morning when I have my coffee, I sit out here and they're chirping, they're serenading early in the morning.

So here is the provolone.

Now, this is the way I like my salad today.

Alright.

And this is a pretty full bowl, but we'll get to mix it.

The artichokes are salty, so I salted the water for the rice, so not too much salt, but I need a little salt.

Peperoncino, of course.

And I like a lot of that.

And oil -- olive oil.

We need to dress.

So, you know, we need to dress the rice.

And vinegar.

So just like a salad.

♪ But usually, you know, a rice salad is something that, in Italy, the women make at home, so they don't have to cook lot.

They boil the rice and the rest is all about fresh vegetables or cured vegetables like olives or like artichokes, some cheese, and you've got yourself a lunch.

I'm going to clean this up and we're going to deliver it to the table and enjoy with the family.

Hey, welcome.

This is the time in my library where I sort of get away from everything and connect with you and answer your questions and see what you're thinking or what you need to know.

So here I have a message from Jim.

"What can I make myself for dinner after a long day?"

Well, if I am by myself coming home, I don't like big, big dinners.

I'll take a piece of cheese, piece of Grana, a nice piece of fresh bread, a few slices of prosciutto for a nice little salad and I am fine.

If I am hungry, I'll go for pasta.

That's the easiest, the most gratifying to me.

A lot of times I just sort of look in the fridge for leftovers and reheat the leftovers.

But I don't like a big meal late at night.

Thanks for your question, Jim.

We are ready to serve.

I have a nice table set -- some Grissini, some taralli, some extra cheese.

and let's plate the rice.

Mmm-mmm.

♪ Oh, the bees are joining us for dinner.

You know dinner is good then.

You know, I always like a little extra to the table.

In this case, I have prosciutto cotto.

You can just buy your prosciutto cotto, nice and sliced thin.

And this is a slate top.

And it's nice to just drape when you put your prosciutto or prosciutto cotto, you just drape it like that.

Don't lay it flat because people won't be able to pick it up and it will begin to stick and it won't be as beautiful as this rosettes.

This is thinly cut.

So even if it's thinly cut, if you drop it like this, it's like draping it.

OK.

So up where I come from, in Trieste, in that in that area, we use a lot of horseradish.

And I have this horseradish in my garden.

And the horseradish is a root, and what you do with this root, you cut off the big pieces and then you peel it like a potato, just like that.

You see?

So you get all the dirt out.

But here I have a nice piece that I've cut that I've used, actually.

You'll just use the greater and... Mmm.

And plenty of horseradish for me.

Now, if your guests, some might not like it, you can put the grater and the horseradish just next to this, but otherwise, I would present it just like that.

And here we are.

So let's make Lidia's little tasting plate.

Mmm.

OK. And a little prosciutto.

♪ And I'm going to taste for you.

♪ Mmm.

This reminds me of so many of those light dinners in Italy, when you visit somebody, when you make something.

So you asked, "What's for dinner?"

Here it is -- a nice rice salad.

I'll come to your meal any time.

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 -- mushroom gratinate.

Oh, here he is.

Hi, Lorenzo.

Come va, Coco?

LORENZO: I'm doing great.

LIDIA: So you're cooking.

You had a question for me.

LORENZO: So I'm right near the farmer's market, and I was wondering -- you know, the one thing I wanted to make was the mushroom gratinate from your book.

LIDIA: Absolutely.

Now, gratinate is very simple.

You get some day-old bread, you toast it, and you put it on a sheet pan.

Separately, you sauté mushrooms -- a little bit of garlic, sage, and thyme, and you sauté them until they're nice and all the water has evaporated from them.

But that's when the flavor really intensifies.

So your mushroom is all ready, a little pepper.

Now you're ready to kind of make your crostini.

You can put some parsley on top of the crostini, and then you top it with shredded Fontina cheese.

You know, the Fontina gives it the pull effect once you have it in the oven.

Pizza-like -- everybody loves that.

LORENZO: No, that's awesome.

My roommate is a big fan of Pecorino.

I'm wondering if that's, you know, OK. LIDIA: Absolutely.

You can put the Fontina then on top, some Pecorino.

So are you going to serve this with some vino?

What are you going to serve with it?

LORENZO: Well, a nice white.

So I'm thinking Friulano, maybe.

You know, this is great for this event that we're having with, you know, a few friends, but I also realized, this could also be good for, you know, during the week.

You know, I'm busy.

I'm working during the week.

So you make something on the weekend and, you know, you have this with a nice salad.

LIDIA: Absolutely.

You know, just the crostini, seal it nice with a foil paper, put in the refrigerator, and then put it back in the oven to reheat while you're doing your salad, and dinner is ready.

LORENZO: Absolutely.

LIDIA: Alright.

Come and visit.

LORENZO: Ciao, Nana.

LIDIA: Love you, bye-bye.

♪ Chicken Scaloppini in Lemon Caper Sauce with spinach.

This is a simple recipe.

It's delicious and it's light and it's easy to make.

So let's start.

A nice chicken breast, and we're going to cut it into scaloppini.

Scaloppini is usually a cut of meat that is cut very thin.

It's cut it a little bit on the bias.

And this I'm going to just pound it and it's going to be fine.

Let's do this one.

Sometimes you get chicken cut into scaloppini, and you can buy that if that's easier for you.

OK.

So two nice size of chicken breasts gave me a nice size of scaloppini.

Well, now we're going to pound it just a little bit.

Plastic wrap usually helps the situation so you don't break it up.

OK, let me do the -- the flat side here.

And as you can see, I do it slowly and I kind of push it a little bit to the side, just like that.

OK. ♪ So, that's here.

So we're going to need a little bit of flour, some oil, and I've put a little bit of butter in there.

You know, butter sort of lowers the heat in the pan.

Olive oil gets to a little higher temperature than butter does, so if you put the two of them, usually, it works just fine.

Let's just put it like this.

I want to salt it a little bit, and I can do it right here, just like that.

And just like that.

Just a little bit, because we'll salt the sauce.

Lightly flour it.

And I don't want to overcrowd it because this way, each piece will cook quicker.

And so you don't have to fully cook the meat in this step.

You're going to make the sauce.

You're going to make a pan sauce.

You're going to reenter the meat into the sauce, and it's going to be done.

And mild heat will really leave the chicken tender.

And of course, the question is not to overcook it.

You want the chicken cooked, but you don't want to overcook it.

♪ Yes.

OK.

So the first step is done.

So let me clean up, let me get the next ingredients, and we'll continue with this quick and easy recipe.

Here I am again in my library.

So here I have Christine.

She sent me a video.

CHRISTINE: Hi, Lidia.

It's Christine Fox from New Jersey.

One food group I'm always trying to get my two kids to eat more of is vegetables.

Do you have any creative ideas for incorporating more vegetables into dinner?

We love your recipes, and tutti a tavola a mangiare.

Ah, brava, Christina!

Tutti a tavola a mangiare, you're back in your family.

Vegetables and children, you know, have always been a point of contention.

So you need to be smart and incorporate it.

What do kids love?

Kids love pasta.

Make a pasta sauce and put something that they like.

Do they like bacon?

Do they like sausages?

And cut the vegetables small, you know, so they're not so dominant.

Or just making vegetables tasty.

Do it the Italian way -- in the pan, strascinati, with a little bit of garlic, a little bit of oil.

Sauté it nice, give it all that flavor, and adding bacon or putting cheese on top.

Either just put a lid on that and the cheese will melt or put it in the oven for a few minutes and you'll get the crispy top.

So, Christina, thank you.

Keep on cooking.

Love your questions and keep on writing.

Ciao.

Let's do the spinach now and just finish the chicken.

And so spinach, you know, you can get smaller-leaf spinach, whatever is in season.

I like this.

Make sure you wash it well.

And, you know, you got to say, "Oh, can I use frozen spinach?"

Uh, you could.

You could, but you have to give it some flavor, even if you have the frozen spinach.

Here we go.

Flavor it like this with some garlic.

And get the garlic just a little bit golden, and this will give a lot of flavor to the spinach.

Let's put the spinach right in here.

Vegetables done like this in the pan, it's called strascinati in Italian, which means drag in the pan.

Let's add some salt.

Some peperoncino just to give it a little flavor.

And so I am letting all the spinach let out their own water.

So let's cover it and let it just kind of wilt.

And the sauce will be made out of these ingredients.

And the spinach is done.

It's that easy.

So I'm going to put it right -- since this is a quick recipe, right in the spot where it's going to be.

And I'll leave it all in a mound so doesn't cool.

So let's put some butter.

Let's get the sauce going.

Just a little bit of oil.

And I'm going to put the lemon slices in there.

I kind of like to find a cooked or a browned little lemon slice with my chicken in the dish.

OK. Let's put the lemon juice right in here.

Little bit of wine.

♪ Capers.

♪ So right in the pan, all that's remained from frying the chicken, even the garlic from the spinach, it all is part of this delicious sauce.

Salt.

I need to put some salt.

I need to see season that.

Little bit of stock.

And we're going to slide the chicken right back in there and let the chicken finish cooking right in the sauce.

So what's next?

Parsley.

Let's chop the parsley.

And I like to use the flat Italian parsley.

I think it has more flavor.

So let's put the parsley in there.

And you put the parsley in the last kind of few minutes because you don't want it to change color.

And, you know, it's a good habit to taste your sauce.

Mmm.

Nice.

Puckery good.

I'm going to close the heat.

I am making sure that all of the chicken is flavored.

I am going to spread my spinach.

Just like that.

And where is Lidia's plate?

Just like that.

I mean, put a little bit of spinach just for Lidia.

Now you see, you know that spinach reduces itself a lot.

So if you want more, just add more spinach.

So I'm going to layer this.

A lemon.

♪ Let's put Lidia's piece right here, and Lidia's piece of lemon and the sauce.

You see, the sauce is quite nice.

♪ Mmm.

This looks good.

So let me bring this to the table, because it's finished, because it's delicious, because it's hot.

Let's sauce Lidia's piece.

Just like that.

And you can see the pieces of lemon, and capers bring a lot of flavor to this dish.

I have some lemon, some chicken.

Where's the spinach?

♪ Delicious.

It's refreshing, nice acidity.

A mouthful of lemon, sweetness of spinach, the just chicken is nice and moist.

So I'm talking, talking, but I really want to invite you, too, because there's plenty here.

So tutti a tavola a mangiare.

Come.

I will continue to eat and drink until you get here.

Get here fast.

As Italians are eating and sitting at the table and talking, and inevitably the subject goes, "What's for dinner?"

or "What's for the next meal?"

We need to know what's going to be on the table next.

And I know that all of you at home, you get this, opening the door, "Hey, ma, what's for dinner?"

The chores never stop.

But think about it.

Mom, what's for dinner?

They're depending on you.

They're asking for nourishment.

They're asking for that connection, and this is a unique opportunity to really put out love through food.

For me, it's a gift.

For me, it gives me great pleasure to cook and to give something that I made that people take in and ingest and make part of who they are.

And, you know, get the family involved -- get them to set the table, get them to wash the dishes, set up rules, and let them understand the importance of that meal and let them understand the efforts and the love that you're giving through that meal.

And, you know, the end of a meal, especially if it's a nice festive meal, is one where everybody's really relaxed and happy.

Inevitably, in our family, you know, after having a little vino, a little grappa, the singing started, and we would all start in a song.

And especially Nonna -- she was the leader of it.

And on that note, let Nonna lead us to the table.

♪ ERMINIA AND LIDIA: [ Conversing in Italian ] [ 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.

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... 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.

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

And by...

Authentic Italian cured meats.

Paolo Rovagnati, the true Italian tradition.

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

♪ ♪