>> 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 -- Trust your family with our family.

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

♪ ♪ >> Authentic Italian cured meats.

Paolo Rovagnati -- the true Italian tradition.

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

>> Olitalia -- from chef to chef.

>> There is great value in carrying on tradition.

For me, cooking is tradition.

It grounds me and it gives me comfort.

Growing up, I loved foraging for dandelions, and this simple, nourishing salad is a great way to try them.

Every frittata I make fills me with memories of my childhood, especially this one with bread and ricotta and spinach.

Find the joy with me as we cook up memories.

Traditions are so important in family.

Sort of sequence, lineage, if you will.

But especially the food tradition.

I know that in my family, everybody knows how to make chicken and potatoes.

And of course the grandkids are really getting into it, making gnocchi.

They all love it and getting their hands in it still to this day, you know?

When they come home from college, "Grandma, can we have some gnocchi?"

And so I save the time for them to actually get their hands in it because it's a means of connection -- we connect.

I love when the garden is sort of blossoming and they're here for the summer.

"Go get me the tomatoes.

Go get me the basil.

Go get me the sclopit."

"Nonni, what's sclopit?"

The rest they know, but it's time and opportunity to teach them.

These traditions really instill in the next generation and so on down the line a flavor besides an identity of who you are.

Dandelion and chickpea salad.

Beautiful dandelion.

This dandelion is cultivated.

I used to go forage for wild dandelion with my grandmother.

And every spring, we had loads of these salads.

When you're buying this, you look at it, you want it nice and fresh.

The stems are good.

I just want to trim them a little bit.

Just like that.

[ Pot boiling ] And what is rattling in the pot there?

I have a pot of water, of course, where I'm going to cook the dandelion.

Then I put the eggs in first when the water was cold so they don't crack, because if you put cold eggs in boiling water, of course you'll crack.

You see this one even a little bit cracked, but at least they remained nice and whole.

So put your eggs in cold water, bring them to boil, and they're cooked, and then put them in ice water so that they peel better for you.

So let me cut the stems a little smaller, but I'm going to use them all, and then I go on to the leaves just like that.

It's a rough cut.

Make sure you wash it well.

Dandelion sometimes has a little sand in it, so make sure you wash it well.

Boiling water, no salt, nothing in there, just simple boiling water.

And that will take about 15 minutes to thoroughly cook.

And then we'll make the salad.

A nice country bread, sort of a day-old bread is a good way of recycling.

Toasting it gives it new life.

Ah.

The corner -- I happen to like the corner.

So, all even slices.

I'm feeling how hot it is.

It is fairly hot.

There we go.

If you have the grill going, of course, that's the best, but in a pan like this, it does good.

You know, you want to press it down a little bit.

That will expedite the toast and it won't dry the bread too much, and pushing it down, you get a lot of contact over the bread with the grill pan, and that's what you want and I'll make some more.

So this will take 15 minutes.

Grilling the bread will be done in the same time, and I'll be ready to dress the salad.

Hi, everybody.

I'm here in my library.

I'm reading your questions and giving you some helpful answers.

Here's a video from Jay.

So let's take a look.

>> Hi, Lidia.

Love your show.

I learn so much from you every time I watch.

What would you recommend that I make with my 5-year-old grandchild?

I would welcome any suggestion you have to introduce him to great food.

>> Oh, what a great question, Jay.

You're in a great kitchen, so you have all the tools, and you want to cook with your grandson.

The best.

That's the best.

And the connection there is unforgettable.

He'll be with that all of his life.

But, you know, kids like to get their hands in doughs, peeling things, cleaning things.

My grandkids, which now are away in college, their favorite time was when they came over, they would pull up the stool to get to the counter and they were ready.

And making gnocchi was a favorite for everybody because they love eating the gnocchi.

But making any pasta.

Shelling peas was another favorite and washing the vegetable or the salad.

And in and out, that was the most washed vegetables of my cooking time.

So, Jay, you have plenty of opportunity.

Have a great time cooking with your grandson, and thank you for the e-mail.

Here's another e-mail Alma's mother sent in a photo of her baking a dandelion cake, and she says Alma picked all the dandelions, and they found this recipe to use them.

I picked a lot of dandelion wild dandelion, but I never made a cake with them.

Let's see what she sent us.

[ Laughs ] The decoration.

That looks great.

The icing.

Now that you gave me this idea, I would have plucked all this yellow petals, then I would have tossed that a little bit in some sugar and then sprinkled them over.

But it looks beautiful.

Good idea, and thank you for sending me the picture.

The dandelion is draining.

I have the ceci beans also cooked.

So the ceci beans are easy.

You get them into little plastic bags.

These are the dry ceci beans.

If you put them in water and soak them overnight, they plump up and then you can cook them much faster.

So here we have the ceci in a nice bowl because we're going to toss.

It's a salad.

Let me squeeze the dandelion.

So you see how the dandelion, this nice, soft, tender.

Okay, yes, it's drained, but there's always some water left in it, so I give it a squeeze.

My grandmother used to do that, you know.

We used to have them often, and I used to go foraging with grandma.

You have dandelion in your yard sometimes and you're fighting with them, but the wild one is even a little bit more, let's say, rustic.

She used to have a little knife half the size of this, and she had, like, an apron she would fold up.

I'll show you.

She would fold up an apron just like that, put it in here, just like that.

And here she would go in and we would sort of cut, but she would leave the roots in the dirt.

Just cut up to the flower part, to the plant part, because the roots would be good for another year.

It would develop some more for other people to harvest.

Or maybe me.

So here we are.

You have legumes, you have greens, and you have protein with the eggs, so it's a complete meal.

This was a complete meal with a nice loaf of bread.

Here, I give you some grilled bread and some prosciutto, which really rounds up this meal.

So let's dress.

Put some salt.

You know, I didn't put any salt in cooking it.

So that's that.

Let's put some fresh pepper.

Wine vinegar.

Grandma had her own vinegar that she made.

Grandpa made the wine and some of the wine, the end part of the wine, not the best part, would end up into being vinegar.

Oil.

We also had enough olive trees to make olive oil for the whole year for the family.

So let me toss this first.

So every bite, you get a little bit of each.

And let's do the eggs.

The eggs, just think halves like this.

You don't want them to break completely up, and you could put them at the end on top if you wanted the presentation to be, you know, sort of geometrical.

But Grandma did it this way.

And this is all about the memories I have.

Mmm.

Let me taste this just to make sure that it doesn't need any more dressing, and then I'll give myself a little portion.

Perfect.

And you know what?

The acidity, the vinegar is in there, and I like the pronounced flavor of vinegar in this dish.

Let's take care of Lidia.

Alright.

And now let me make you a plate.

Grandma would bring it with this bowl in, but I'll just want to make it nice and presentable and beautiful.

Mmm-mmm-mmm.

Now, let me get serious about filling up this plate.

Maybe a nice spoon will do just like that.

Just that.

Okay.

Let's see, which is the more attractive angle?

I want to tempt you with it.

So here it is, my beautiful presentation.

It's a salad of my memories with Grandma.

Now that it's all set for you, let me taste it for you.

And let me tell you what it is like.

Mmm.

Delicious.

The memories start flowing in my mind.

Back in the courtyard with Grandma.

I remember outside she had a wooden kind of low stool.

One for me, one for her.

And we would hold this in our hand, this beautiful salad piece of bread, and eat away and talk about what we're going to forage tomorrow.

Salute!

It always brings me such joy to connect through food.

My friends are everywhere, from Italy to New York.

We always end up discussing all things delicious.

I'm taking you to Italy.

I'm taking you to Panzano in Chianti.

[ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] He is in his butcher shop for the last 47 years.

And he said 365 days a year, that's where he loves to be.

It is his family tradition that's been carried out for generations.

So he's all excited.

>> [ Speaks Italian ] To beef or not to beef.

[ Speaks Italian ] >> So you heard the guy.

To beef or not to beef.

If I asked him, you know, "What other meat do you work?"

He says, "No, beef is my specialty.

I work the pork a little bit," because I know he makes a great finocchiona, which is a wonderful sausage.

[ Speaks indistinctly ] Hey, look.

>> [ Speaks Italian ] >> So, this finocchiona, which is very traditional of that region, he said, "Let me explain to you."

It's like a yin and yang.

You need the pork, good meat.

That's winter, and then is wild fennel seeds, and that represents freshness and summer.

You put these two together and you have a symphony of flavor, and this is poetry.

[ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] >> "I have not written any poetry," he said, "but you see my hands?

They are the hands of a butcher."

He wants us to understand how his big hands are really respecting the art of butchering the animal.

And by all means, you must visit this guy.

Italy is not Italy without visiting Dario Cecchini.

You tell him Lidia sent you and make your way there to this great, great experience.

[ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] >> [ Speaks Italian ] >> It's great to reminisce with Dario.

I think I visited him 40 years ago with my kids, and it just brings back all those memories, but also brings back the passion that he continues to have for his profession.

Spinach, bread, and ricotta frittata.

I'm nostalgic today.

I'm doing all recipes that really bring me back to the courtyard with Grandma Rosa foraging, and of course, frittatas.

We made frittatas all the time.

I'm going to make this a simple frittata with leeks, spinach, and ricotta.

We had goats.

We milked them every morning, and whatever we didn't eat or grandma sold to the neighbors or gave to the neighbors, we turned into ricotta.

Let's start with oil.

This is a nice 10-inch pan, but you can make it in 12 because frittatas, they are so reusable in every sense.

You can eat them the day after.

You can eat them at room temperature.

And salt.

I use leek in this, but any form of onions, or scallions are also very good.

You know, I give you recipes, that's a guideline, but you can turn them into your favorites.

And if you have a nice memory of things that you put in the frittata, then by all means.

Spinach.

A few leaves here, a few leaves there because you don't need a big amount, and add it to the leeks.

The interesting part, and I loved it, and one of my jobs was to go and get the eggs out of the chicken coop.

Grandma had this room.

It was actually a little cantina, and she had boards and she had little kind of stepladders, and the stepladder's for her.

It wasn't a regular stepladder.

It was just one main stick, and then she had across little boards nailed, and the chickens would go up those little boards into their little nesting ground, which would be a box.

She would kind of layer and make their bed with straw because, you know, she grew wheat.

She saved the straw, and the straw was for the animals.

So one of my jobs was to help her to change the straw beds for the chickens, but the other one was in the morning, usually to go and collect the eggs.

So I had my little basket and I would go in and usually the chickens were out.

They get up early in the morning, but some chicken remained in their boxes to lay the egg, and boy, let me tell you, they gave me a hard time.

You know, just kind of looking at me, "What do you want?"

But I would stick my arm underneath her and go underneath and she would peck on my arms.

But it didn't hurt.

But she would peck on my arm telling me, "Get out of here."

But I would get the egg.

And sometimes they were already two eggs laid in there.

Okay, so here we are.

This is wilted.

And let's go to the eggs.

Make sure you put salt, some pepper.

Okay.

Some milk.

You can put some cream, but milk just loosens it up.

Actually, that's where we're going to put in the bread.

The bread is going to drink up the liquid.

So grated Grana.

Cheese is always good.

And this is leftover bread.

Day two, three days old bread.

Soak up the eggs a little bit.

This frittata, we will pour it in, make a nice sort of edge underneath, a nice crust.

And just let it form a crust on the bottom.

I have an oven preheated at 375 degrees and we'll put it in there and let that finish.

So kind of decorate it.

Tomatoes just on top like this.

Mm-hmm.

Some ricotta.

Just straight ricotta.

You don't have to put anything in it.

Put it kind of in between.

Alright, and I'm going to top it with some grated cheese just to form the crust.

And now I will put it in the oven just like that, 375 degrees.

And this will take about 15 to 18 minutes in the oven, and it's going to be done.

The frittata is done, crusty top, and it's going to be delicious.

Here's another e-mail.

Marilyn writes, "Celia, my 6-year-old granddaughter, made a book about the fun things we do together.

You have a page in that book.

It's a drawing of us snuggled up in bed watching you cook, deciding what to cook.

Celia writes on that page, 'Lidia is such an amazing chef.'"

Oh, thank you, Celia and Marilyn.

Thank you for sending me.

I love being with you two guys.

Let's take a look here.

Oh, she made a drawing.

That's nice.

Thank you, Celia.

I appreciate that very much.

Beautiful drawings.

Mille grazie.

The frittata is ready.

I let it rest a little bit so that we could cut it properly and serve it, although I like to serve it still warm.

So just score a little bit around, make sure that it's loose.

And then shake it a little bit, and then it will come out just like that.

That simple.

And you cut it in half.

A serrated knife is good because you have bread in here.

And let's see, a nice piece of that.

And let's put it right in the plate.

♪ Mmm.

♪ And...three.

And of course, for Lidia, a little one.

Now, I need to address this because good things go together.

This is an ideal brunch.

Making a mimosa would be really a good idea.

Little bit of orange juice.

And I like a lot of orange juice, not necessarily a lot of Prosecco.

You can make this with any fruit juice that you like.

Peach, strawberries.

Mmm.

Whenever you open a bottle of that, it's always wise to just put a towel on top, because otherwise, if it goes flying, you don't want it to hurt your hand.

[ Cork pops ] Ah!

It made it.

I made it.

I wasn't going to give up, you know?

Too good to give up.

So, let's make a mimosa.

Mmm.

Okay.

So here we are.

It's time to taste.

Mmm, so good.

The spinach, ricotta, tomatoes, the bread, the egg.

It's perfect.

And I can close my eyes and I am someplace else.

I invite you.

Come and join me.

Certainly plenty of.

I can cut some more.

There's plenty of liquid flowing.

And as I say, tutti a tavola a mangiare.

I've been in my profession 50 years now, so it's been a lifetime, and I loved every minute of it.

And along the way, I accumulated a lot of knowledge, a lot of passion given to me by other people.

And it made me all the richer, whether it was a professor in school, whether it was in the kitchen with a chef in Italy.

All of these things I accumulated.

And it made Lidia who Lidia is.

But then there comes a time that, you know, maybe something should be shared back.

I recall, you know, that professor told me that.

That chef taught me that.

I need to give this back.

And there is no one that was more conscious of passing on traditions than Grandma.

There's official Italian language, which is beautiful, but then all the regions, 20 of them, have a different dialect.

And at home, she talked the dialect with me, with my children, and with my grandchildren.

And now when they go back, they really feel like they're part of that culture.

It gives them this extra richness.

[ Singing in Italian ] [ Singing continues ] [ Singing continues ] [ Singing continues ] >> 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 clean up 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... >> 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... ♪ >> Lidia's kitchen studio provided by Clarke, New England's official Sub-zero and Wolf showroom and test kitchen.

♪