The Beatles sang it and it's become an anthem for living well.

All you need is love.

I would add great food, good wine, and wonderful people at your table.

As we travel to Italy today, you'll see the embodiment of love in how we cook together, what we cook, and the feast at the end of the work.

All you need is love.

And that's what you'll get today on Christina Cooks the Macroterranean Way.

Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties, sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood.

Each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by.

Hi, I'm Christina Pirello and this is Christina Cooks, where each week we take fresh seasonal ingredients and whip them into amazing dishes.

Will they all be plant based?

Yeah.

Will, they all be delicious?

Yeah.

When I was growing up, cooking was love.

That's it.

If we had a bad day, we got food.

If we had a good day, we had food.

If we failed a course, we got food.

If there was a death in the family, there was food.

If there was a graduation, there was food.

If there was a birthday, there was food.

Get the idea?

Food.

For us as an Italian family, and I'm sure many cultures feel this way, but the Italians, what I know there was always food.

Food was life.

Food was how we communicated.

We sat at the table.

We learned social justice.

We learned how to share.

We learned how to not lick your brother's fork so he would actually eat dinner.

Oh, wait.

Sorry.

I did learn that, though.

Anyway, so we're going to make a first dish today, is a side dish and it's agri dolce winter squash.

And it's a lovely simple dish that if you're cooking for people who may not be inclined to eat their veggies, this could solve your dilemma.

These are golden raisins and they're going into a sauce pan.

It's also really easy.

It's like a one pot dish.

On top of the raisins goes some white wine, enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

If wine is not your thing, you're not comfortable, use sparkling apple juice.

We're going to add some apple cider vinegar and we're just going to move the raisins around a little bit.

And as soon as they boil in this mixture, then we can move on with the dish.

Here we have some red onions and the red onions are going to serve as like the base of the dish.

So we're going to add a little extra virgin olive oil to our mix here so that that flavors the onions and they're going to go right on top of our raisins.

And you want nice thick wedges.

Do you see how these are?

These thick sort of really hearty wedges?

That's what we're looking for.

A pinch of salt to get things going.

And we're going to let this cook uncovered for a minute to get that sort of sulfury smell off the onions so they become sweet with the raisins.

And then you've got the wine and the vinegar and you have your sweet and sour.

These are winter squash, squashes.. squash?

Anyway, this is a butternut, very common.

You can get them and use this in your dish.

They're a little more boring than what I like to use, which is a Kabocha.

A Kabocha is a green-skinned, orange inside--the sweetest winter squash you'll ever get your hands on.

Don't peel it, right?

The beauty of winter squash is that the skin becomes very soft as you cook it and also prevents your squash dish from becoming squash puree.

So we're going to cut it into pieces that are a little bigger than bite size because you want this to be a hearty stew.

These go right on top of our simmering onions.

It already smells amazing.

In goes the squash.

On top of that goes our toasted walnuts.

Now, don't stir.

I know your temptation is to stir.

We love to stir.

Don't stir because I want the raisins to stay on the bottom developing their sweet and sour, I want the onions to become sweet And the squash to become sweet So don't touch it.

Let it simmer for 25 minutes and when you see the result, lose your mind.

After 25 minutes, just look at this dish, right?

All the liquid has sort of caramelized into a yummy sauce.

And you've got the crunchy walnuts, the sweet squash, the sweet and sour raisins, the sweet onions, and this dish...when I put this dish on the table, all I can hear are the Beatles singing "All you Need is Love."

(Speaking Italian) I'm so happy to be here at Bosco Medici to eat, drink and cook.

(Speaking Italian) Okay, Margherita, now comes my favorite part of being here.

What are we having today?

Tito will start to pour the wine and we'll start with lava flower So, lava flower is a Lacryma Christi Everybody in the area knows about Lacryma Christie and also the legend.

Lacryma means tears.

So tear of Jesus Christ.

Really?

Yes.

And where he cried on those lands, the Lacryma Christi just grow.

Wow.

This is the legend.

I love that!

Is very clear.

So light and so mineral.

Because of Mount Vesuvius, because of the volcano.

Yeah, you really taste it.. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You can taste it a lot.

Amazing.

Thank you.

Okay, next.

Next one, we have Pompeii white.

Also very typical from here, and it starts with the Romans.

So it's a very ancient wine.

So, the Caprettone the name of the grape inside.

Caprettone Caprettone There's a legend about this type of grape.

So people thought that the the shape of the grape of the Caprettone looked like the beard of a goat.

This goat go in Italian is capra.

Capra.

That's why we have Capritoni.

It's a funny story about this name.

As you can see, the colors are completely different.

This is darker, but because...

It's fuller.

Yeah, it's fuller.

It has been staying also in the terracotta town for us.

It's very special.

Ah, so this is one of the wines from teh terracota.

Yeah.

They're 30% of the Caprettone has been staying and fermenting the terracotta.

Then we have the Rosa del mondi perfect as well in summertime also leading word, rosa mondi rose of the world.

You can say it's a aglianico Aglianico is one of the most popular grape of our region together with the falanghina.

This is nice.

Yeah, it's very fruity.

You can also drink it for a kind of appetizer.

When you just ... All three of these are nice for summer weather, though, don't you think?

Exactly.

If you have a party or something.

Have all three.

Yeah, exactly.

Margherita, they are all delicious.

It's hard for me to choose.

Yeah?

If I had to, I'd say this one.

The Pompeii wine.

With the Pompeii white.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And as soon as we have a little lunch, it's off to the kitchen.

I know.

Soon we cook.

Christina.

Oh, Giacchino!

It's time to go to ..... (Speaking Italian) Ok Giocchino, we need to make some food.

Okay (speaking Italian) (Speaking Italian) I told Giachinno I'm a little drunk from the wine tasting.

So what are we making?

Okay, (Speaking Italian).

Ah, this is the pasta of love.

(Speaking Italian) Okay.

In Italy, the pasta, we going to have to wait.

(Speaking Italian) So you cook with feeling.

You don't have to time pasta, you have to mess with the..No., No, no, no, no.

Don't break the spaghetti.

Let it go in the water.

Okay.

But if you notice, if you notice, there's not, it's not a big pan of water for two pieces of spaghetti.

Right.

Because if you do that, if you use too much water, the spaghetti tastes like water, not spaghetti.

(Speaking Italian) Always salt your pasta water.

Always.

Okay.

(Speaking Italian) Okay.

(Speaking Italian) Okay, garlic.

Just crush.

Okay.

(Speaking Italian) So you just crush the garlic.

With the... Wrapper?

Yes.

Okay.

My nonna used to say in its dress.

(Speaking Italian) In its dress, si.

(Speaking Italian) So what he's doing is cooking the garlic still in its paper, so that the flavor is more mild, more sweet than chopping garlic and tons of garlic in the dish.

All the grandmothers that live in Pompei and all in the visit allness in the summertime.

Right.

We prepare the tomato for all the here.

Okay.

And the going the camper to take off the pomodori.

Okay.

Three.

And after we cook it down the big pan and the leaving in the...

Put in the jar.

Yes.

In all the winter.

Yeah.

Okay.

And the all, in the all here we use all the... That you had, so it always tastes like summer.

Yes, of course.

Yeah, yeah.

When I was a little girl (speaking Italian), I didn't want to do this.

Why?

Because I wanted to be outside (speaking Italian) playing, but I was little.

So one day I spilled the tomato and I thought, ah, they'll kick me out.

No, I had to clean and then do it.

So yeah, didn't work.

(Speaking Italian) Wow, it smells like summer time Like summer time.

Smells like summer time.

(Speaking Italian) So you get a nice little sizzle from the hot oil.

How beautiful.

And in Italy usually with the these pieces inside.

So when they can the tomatoes they leave the peel on the tomato because it adds to the flavor and the nutrition.

Yes, of course.

Do you keep the garlic?

I keep... For a little bit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

(Speaking Italian) Maybe 10 minutes.

Right.

So everything's ready in less than 10 minutes because the tomatoes aren't raw.

They're already cooked.

Smells so good.

And then put the basil in.

You can...Pull or tear?

Yes.

I wish I could create a perfume that smells like basil, tomatoes and garlic.

then pour the salt in.

Okay.

(Speaking Italian) So he uses less salt in the gravy, as I do at home, because you salted the pasta water and you don't want a dish that's salty.

You want a dish that's perfect.

(Speaking Italian) We use to cook the pasta al dente.

Yes, it's not too much cooked because...

It digests better.

Yes.

Yes.

It digests best, is better.

Yes.

As we've talked about before, it's best if you can find pasta from Gargano because of the way they dry it still in ancient ways and also because they use bronze dyes to produce the pasta, which was explained to me that this way the pasta dough doesn't get hot, so it stays cool.

So you get the perfect pasta.

Now is the moment the food keep out the garlic.

You smell?

Mm-hmm.

Si.

Oh.

Okay.

You see?

Si.

(Speaking Italian) Oh my goodness.

I think it's better for when tasting, eh?

Si, si, si.

Ah, wow.

(Speaking Italian) He said it's important that you take your pasta right from the water into the pan (Speaking Italian) Starch helps to thicken the sauce and then you have a perfect dish.

Wow.

Wow.

(Speaking Italian) Okay And so you let the pasta finish in the gravy for a couple of minutes.

So you take it out of the water while it's undercooked so that it has two or three minutes to finish and absorb the gravy into the pasta.

(Speaking Italian) If you want to make good spaghetti, this is how you do it.

beautiful.

Bravo.

(Speaking Italian) Okay.

So Giacchino just added some cooking water to the pasta to make the sauce thick and finish the cooking so that it sticks to the pasta.

I'm so excited for this dish.

I love pasta.

In Italy we eat the pasta every day at lunchtime.

Every day up to lunchtime.

Yes, us too, lunchtime.

You can eat pasta every day for lunch and be beautiful como Gioccaino.

Okay.

Okay.

A little more basil to finish because the basil we put in earlier is now cooked in.

So now you want to add some fresh basil for flavor.

(Speaking Italian) Can I come and cook with you every day?

Yes, of course.

(Speaking Italian) So now he's going to add a little sort of line of oil which actually pulls everything together and makes the pasta sauce completely smooth.

(Speaking Italian) So he said the tomato sauce is really important that you have enough here because when you're done, then you take your bread and you wipe up the dish.

So, Giocchino (Speaking Italian) I'm taking this with me.

(Speaking Italian) So now you see the perfect dish of spaghetti pomodoro romantico and perfect.

I don't know what I loved better about that vineyard.

The wine, which is delicious from volcanic soil or the people.

I have so much fun when I'm with them.

Talk about your chosen family.

I get with them and they're my people.

I just have so much fun.

And speaking of people that you love, joining me today is my dear friend who is so mindful in everything he does.

He's so serene.

Dr. Rakesh Shah okay, maybe you could, I don't know, be mindful.

Rakesh.

Rakesh?

Hey, it's a pleasure to see you again.

Hi.

Nice to see you, too.

Did you hear how I said you were so mindful?

I'm always mindful.

Ah-ha, okay.

Of course I was doing that as a little joke.

I know.

Okay.

So we're going to make a dish, Rakesh, Dr. Rakesh Shah is a cardiologist from Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Yep.

And he's joining me today.

We're going to make a dish together, a lovely either starter course or side dish or light lunch.

And you have the two enviable jobs.. Ooh, do tell... of toasting bread in this pan with some olive oil and braising these tomatoes in that skillet with olive oil with a little bit of salt, please, a little bit of salt.

I love it.

Okay.

Go ahead, my dear.

All right.

So so you're going to take some olive oil?

I'm going to..

I'll do your, I'll do your..and then you just you hit this with a brush.

It's that one.

It's not turning on?

Yep, it's on.

And you want low heat when you're toasting bread because you want low heat.

This one, you can put a medium heat.

That's this one.

Oh, that's this one.

You do cook, right?

I do, I do, but I'm not used to your stove.

Okay.

Well, you know, if you push...

I'll have to come In and... Get a, get a starter..a little more.

Little more?

Mamma mia, be generous, this is part of a dish.

Okay, there we go.

Now we're talking.

So put these in here.

And when you're going to, when I talk about braising the cherry tomatoes with a little bit of garlic and salt, what I want them to do is begin to wilt and wrinkle.

It's going to happen very quickly because they're cherry tomatoes and they've been halved and you can use the garlic raw in with your mashed chickpeas, but I'm not a huge fan of the flavor of raw garlic.

I'm just not.

So, you can add a little bit of salt.

And if you like, Rakesh, you could make the tomatoes a bit spicy.

Ooh, spicy's my middle name.

So that's here.

I know.

You are definitely spicy.

What do we have here?

Just Italian chili spice.

All right.

Now, Rakesh, I'm going to start mashing chickpeas, but I would like you to talk.

I talk about this all the time.

And every now and then I like when someone else talks about the thing I talk about all the time, which is the health benefits of these lovely beans we know as chickpeas or garbanzos.

There's more to them than just protein and fiber.

That's true.

I mean, the chickpeas are amazing.

I'm surprised that we don't just think of them as a superfood, honestly, in many instances.

Really?

They're.. one cup gives you about 260/270 calories, which is... That's a lot of beans.

Well, that is a lot of beans, but it's also very filling.

And there are studies which have shown, especially for people who are trying to lose weight or preventing weight gain.

Yeah?

That chickpeas can actually make you feel fuller because of the fiber content.

Even more than other beans?

Maybe even more than other beans.

But at least some of the studies have shown that there's a sizable benefit.

Okay.

And in that instance, you know, not only does it help you with the weight issues that people are struggling with..

The olive oil, dear.

Yes.

Go ahead.

Sorry.

No, the, the.

Oh, the other one.

Yeah, the big one.

The big one.

The full one.

Thanks.

Go ahead.

Um, but because of the fiber, you can also reduce your cholesterol numbers and so improve your bad cholesterol, which is the LDL.

That's the one that has two L's in it.

You want that to be low.

HDL has an H in it.

That's the one that you want high.

Right.

And, so to help some of these ratios improve, you can actually, use chickpeas to help you.

So we're going to add a little bit of white miso to these mashed chickpeas Rakesh.

This is going to give us a cheesy parmigiano type finish and I know I added a pinch of salt, but the miso's going in there, not so much for salt as much as it is for that kind of cheesy finish.

And you don't want to puree these until they're smooth.

You want to puree them just until...

I struggle so much with electronic things.

Just..

I mean, everybody, everybody that's here is sort of laughing or rolling their eyes because it, lame doesn't even begin to cover it.

Now, again, don't turn this into hummus once it's mixed, because you want them to be coarse.

We're going to turn this into a mixing bowl and finish them there.

As I lose chickpeas everywhere because it's one of these, I can never do it.

You know the thing where you hold the blade?

I can't do that either.

Go ahead.

I hope we're not... No, no, you're good.

They look great.

Good, good.

Ooh, I love the smell here, the garlic, the spice--it's coming through pretty nicely.

Yep.

I'm looking forward to how this turns out, but the other benefits of chickpeas, also... Can I do this?

Yes.

Falling down on the job!

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

That's all right.

So in verse, with this chickpea conversation.

Keep going.

Besides giving you that fullness that you might be looking for, it's a great snack in the afternoon.

The nice thing about chickpeas is their versatility.

Not only can you use them as a flour to maybe bake cookies if you wanted to do so.

Right.

But you have other opportunities to make other types of dishes, or you can just have them roasted and raw.

Right?

So... Roasted in the oven and crunchy.

Yeah, we used to.

Yeah, we used to have them all the time at my grandmother's house.

Exactly.

And so that's the beauty of chickpeas.

They're quite versatile in a variety of different ways.

And so you don't have to feel like you always have to eat hummus, but..

Right.

hummus makes for a great afternoon snack for people.

It does with some veggie sticks.

It doesn't always have to be chips, or...

Exactly.

And do you know this?

My favorite kitchen trick?

What's that?

Do you guys know this?

So you take your lemons and you freeze them.

Oh, yes!

I remember that.

So and then you just grate straight through the lemon, right through the pith, right into the flesh to get lovely lemon flavor.

Now, don't do this at home.

Don't do what?

Burn the bread?

Oh, use your fingers?

Use your fingers like, what I just did.

Which is fine.

That's okay.

It's your bread.

So now you've got these... oh, those are perfect.

So if the pan's not hot, if it is, grab a hot pad underneath.

No, we're good.

Okay.

They go right in here.

Oh, they're blackened beautifully.

Now you mix this in.

How's our bread looking?

Bread's coming out nicely.

And you see how the, you see how the tomatoes are sort of smashing a little bit, because you cooked them and you won't have these big chunks of tomatoes, and it just really adds to the flavor of the dish.

This is such a lovely...like, I put this out as a starter course when people first arrive at the house for dinner.

And it's so simple.

It took us, what, about 10 minutes to make?

Not even.

So, you can put that bread right on here.

Just going to let it toast a little bit more, but this will work.

Like that, there you go.

One more.

And then we just take the chickpeas, the puree, and you really mounded on top the bread.

Like this is a kind of a hearty starter course.

I'm lucky you're the one that has to eat these Rakesh, not me.

You're the one that's going to bite in.

And so they go all on the plate and I'm a big garnisher.

I got to let you know, because not only does parsley help oxygenate the blood, which you can confirm, but it's going to add a lightness to a heavy protein dish that is just, it just finishes your dish.

So don't be afraid to garnish and have a little fun with your food.

So help yourself, Rakesh.

Thank you.

And..so what you waiting for?

Let's get back to the cutting board and I'll see you next time on Christina Cooks, the Macroterranean Way.

Mmm, that is delicious.

Right?

Isn't that good?

Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties, sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood.

Each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by.

You can find today's recipes and learn more by visiting our website at Christina Cooks.com and by following Christina on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

The companion cookbook, The Macroterranean Way, Volume Two combines the Mediterranean diet with the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine, allowing us to understand how food affects us, so we can cook deliciously while creating the wellness we want.

To order your copy for $19.95 plus handling, call 800-266-5815.

Add Back to the Cutting Board and Christina's Iconic Glow, a prescription for radiant health and beauty and get all three books for $49.95, plus handling.

Call 800-266-5815.