-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.

-When a craving strikes, listen and start cooking.

Pizza can be easy, approachable, and made at home to satisfy your cravings anytime.

Just follow along with me.

This parmigiana is cooked all in one pan.

I skip the breading, making it quick and easy, all while satisfying that classic craving.

There are some dishes that always hit the spot.

"Can't Go Wrong."

So when you're cooking for a crowd, how do you please everybody?

And it takes a little bit of thinking.

In my case, I know if I make a big bowl of gnocchi with a simple sauce -- even a tomato sauce will do -- with some cheese.

And then getting into the protein, chicken is a standard for everybody.

Maybe add some eggplant for mildness, and then some melted cheese on top.

That would go with everybody.

And then, of course, maybe I can have some fish, like shrimps or scallops, or pizza.

My grandkids forever, since they were small, they love pizza.

So you try to isolate two, three dishes that when you put them on the table, everybody is gonna say, "Oh, she thought of me.

This is delicious."

Hopefully it all disappears, and I have no leftovers.

Pan pizza.

What a better place to make pizza than in the garden.

It's easy to make.

The dough is one, two, three.

I think most of you get kind of apprehensive about the dough.

It's so easy.

So you put a little bit of warm water, some yeast, and we're just gonna activate the yeast.

Some sugar.

Give it a mix.

And when it begins to be frothy, it's beginning to activate.

We'll put some salt in here.

Just kind of mix it.

And we'll put the flour right in the mixer.

When the dough is made, we will put it in this bowl, cover it just slightly with the oil.

You brush the bowl.

And this way, when the dough rises, it's easier for it to glide up.

Let's put the oil right in there.

And we can begin our dough.

Lock it into place.

Let's put the yeast.

And let's begin to slowly mix it.

Whenever you're kneading dough, always have a little bit of extra flour and a little bit of extra water on the side.

You never know how the dough will react.

So it might be too dry.

You need a little bit more water.

It might be too wet and sticky.

You need a little bit more flour.

And add a little bit at a time.

The dough looks good.

So I'm gonna slow it down a little bit.

I just pick this slowly up, and the dough just kind of slides off the hook.

Don't do it too fast because it's gonna go flying around the kitchen.

So just a little bit of flour.

♪ You see this?

Let's put it in the bowl.

Cover it with plastic wrap.

Keep it in a warm place.

And in about an hour, it should double in size, even a little more.

And then we'll shape our pizza.

That's how easy it is.

Welcome back to my library.

I love hearing from you.

And I love being able to answer some of your questions.

So here is a photo from Trish.

She wrote, "We are fellow Istriani, and I love everything you do.

I hope you love this dish as much as I do.

Baccalà!"

Yes, Trish.

Looking good.

Baccalà and potatoes.

Very nice.

Looking very good.

You know, baccalà is codfish.

Where I come from, we make it mantecato.

We used the stoccafisso, the dried fish.

We'd soak it overnight or two.

And then we boil it.

And then we take it off the bones.

And then we whip it.

We whip it with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a little bit of garlic.

And I remember since that was a lot of whipping, that my father would come in the kitchen and help us.

Baccalà mantecato.

But every Christmas Eve, baccalà mantecato had to be on the table.

So, Trish, I am sure that you will connect with that, too.

Thank you for sending it in.

Send me some more of your Istrian dishes, please.

The pizza dough is ready to go.

Let's make the sauce.

And the sauce, you want an uncooked sauce.

So get yourself some nice, ripe San Marzano tomatoes, plum, whole.

Crush it into a little bowl.

Let's put some garlic in there.

Just let's crush it so it releases its flavors because we will pull it out.

Okay.

Put that in here.

Put some salt.

Some peperoncino.

I like it a little spicy.

And some dry oregano.

Get yourself a little bouquet like this of dry oregano.

And you just wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like that.

We have enough.

Oil.

And this is the sauce.

And it is delicious.

Now let's get back to the dough.

Oil the tray a little bit.

Let's brush it in all the corners.

And we don't want it to -- to stick.

Okay, that's done.

Let's plop it right into the baking pan.

Now, at this point, the dough still has elasticity.

It will shrink a little bit.

It will pull together.

But you want to stretch it out.

You see, your fingers like that.

You just go in the corner and push with your whole hand.

And if it still doesn't listen to you and doesn't do what it's supposed to, get both hands in there and just push them in the corner.

Now that the dough is stretched, let's reach for the toppings.

I chose a little bit of onions.

I chose a little bit of peppers.

Let me put some salt on it.

A little bit of oil.

I will just toss it a little bit.

Okay.

Some shredded mozzarella cheese.

I like to add some grated cheese.

Whenever you have shredded cheese and it sort of sticks together, to separate it, a little bit of the grated cheese just does the trick.

Let's start the sauce.

And help yourself with the back of the spoon.

And you just spread the sauce, covering the whole pizza all over evenly.

And, you know, don't oversauce it, overdress it.

♪ Now we'll put the cheese.

And this is, as I said, shredded mozzarella and some grated grana tossed together.

♪ Okay.

Let's do the peppers and onions.

That's the last.

♪ Yes.

And you don't want to overdo it with the vegetables either, because vegetables have their own water and the pizza would become wet.

Okay.

So I think that I will sprinkle some more cheese just to kind of give it that last layer of crunch, if you will.

Just a little bit like that.

So 450, 475.

About 20 minutes.

It should be done.

So let's put it in the oven.

I'll clean up, and then we'll have some pizza in my garden.

So here is another e-mail.

"What is the difference between chopped tomatoes and diced tomatoes?

I usually use crushed tomatoes when cooking, but what is the difference?"

So I assume, Lisa, you're talking about canned tomatoes.

There is the crushed tomatoes, which are tomatoes that are kind of crushed in the can in their juice.

There are the diced tomato.

They cut up tomatoes in the can with their juice.

There is the passata di pomodoro, the puree of tomatoes.

And I usually use the whole tomatoes in the can.

And I prefer the San Marzano tomatoes because they are tomatoes that really are good for the sauce.

They have a thin skin.

They have a lot of pulp, very little juice, and not too many seeds.

The juice is usually acidic, and the seeds are bitter.

And then I take that tomato, and I crush it myself, my hands or just pulse it once or twice, and I use it.

So you can use tomatoes in any form.

But I find the best result in the San Marzano whole tomato packed in their juices.

Good luck with your sauces, Lisa.

The beauty is ready.

There's nothing like a hot pizza with oozing cheese.

So I'm gonna coax this beauty to come right... right on this board.

Mm-hmm.

Here we are.

I'll cut it in pieces.

♪ There's pieces for you, for the family.

Anybody passing by will want a slice of this.

We are ready to serve this.

And here we are.

And a little piece for Lidia.

Corner.

I love corner pieces.

You know, I love the crust.

Now, if I want some basil, just like that.

That's great for me.

Let me taste this.

Mmm.

It's hot, crunchy.

The tomato is just fresh and nice.

The pepper I got, and the onions are very sweet.

Just a little bit on the crunchy side.

A little piece of basil.

And, of course, the cheese is holding it all together.

Beautiful and delicious.

You should make it.

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.

"Sharing Recipes -- skillet lasagna."

Always great hearing from everybody, but especially my grandchildren.

And I'm expecting a call.

[ Computer chimes ] Oh, here it is.

Hi, Miles.

-Hi, Nonni.

How are you?

-How are you doing?

I heard that that lasagna was a big success.

-Yes, it was.

I remember it was after Golf Party, and all my friends were hungry, and everyone ate it.

Within 10 seconds, it was all gone.

-[ Laughs ] I hope you made enough.

The no-boil lasagna noodles are so great because you don't need to cook the pasta first.

-Yeah, it definitely saves a few extra steps.

-All you have to do is mix the ricotta and the cheese.

Grandma's sauce is at hand.

And you add a little bit of water so the no-boil lasagna noodles will cook because this pasta cooks as it perks away on the stovetop.

So you layered it in, just like I do my lasagna?

-Yes, that's what we did.

-Did you put any vegetables?

I sometimes put peas in it.

-We didn't put any vegetables, but we definitely added some extra ricotta.

-And mozzarella so that when it cooks, it's... -It was nice and cheesy, yep.

-And then finished it in the oven for that crispy top.

-Yep.

It was pretty cooked all the way through, and it was delicious.

-And this lasagna, now that you know how easy it is, think about putting vegetables in sometimes.

You put the vegetables and the pasta together -- one complete meal.

-That sounds delicious.

-All right.

Hope to see you soon.

Love you.

-Love you, Nonni.

-Ciao ciao.

One-pan chicken and eggplant parmigiana.

Chicken parmigiana is everybody's favorite.

But I'm gonna make it easier, and I'm gonna add eggplant to it.

So here's a nice, firm eggplant, and I just sort of peel it halfway and then make the nice slices.

♪ So let me just put a little bit of salt over it.

I'll put some oil in the pan, and we are going to fry the eggplant.

Lightly flour it.

And it's all in one pan beginning to end.

Fry, then bake, and ultimately get this delicious chicken parmigiana with eggplant.

♪ So the chicken.

Chicken breast.

Simple.

You know, you wash it, you pat it dry, and then you cut pieces a little bit larger than the eggplant.

Just like that.

And when you are cutting the chicken, keep your hands on the chicken so you will feel exactly how thick the cut is, so it's not too thick.

Let's do this now the same way.

♪ ♪ Lightly salt it.

Let's check on this eggplant.

Okay.

♪ ♪ Let's put a little bit more oil.

And we will use this pan all the way to the end into the oven.

So... [ Sizzling ] Now let's flour the chicken because the chicken is next.

Okay.

And keep in mind that this is gonna go in the oven and it's gonna bake some more, so we don't have to cook thoroughly neither the eggplant, nor the chicken.

So here I will put some olive oil again, and I'm gonna put some butter.

The butter will lower the temperature so that the chicken doesn't get burned.

It will keep a lower temperature.

Nice and easy.

Now, I'm doing here chicken and eggplant.

But, you know, you could do veal the same way.

You can do pork the same way.

I always tell you about the recipes.

I give you a recipe.

Get the technique down, make it successful for you, and then you can begin to change.

But you always have to keep in mind the products that you change and the cooking time of those products.

So I'm looking at this.

I can go right on and continue to make the sauce right here.

Or if you have too much fat in there, just... And if you continue in the same pot.

Marinara sauce.

You can deglaze with a little bit of wine, the pan, if you'd like, or just put a marinara sauce, like I did.

The question now becomes of layering it all together.

So I start in a circle.

Let's go this way.

And this way.

And this way.

And... And so we go around.

♪ Okay.

Pick that one up.

I'll put that one right in between.

And here we go.

We have this layered eggplant and chicken.

Now I see that the center, there's some space, so let's put the extra eggplant in here.

And now let's put some more marinara sauce.

♪ ♪ Here, I have some low-fat mozzarella, and it's grated.

And let's put it all over.

So, you see, there's no breading, but you have a great combination of chicken and eggplant and cheese on top, and then the grana cheese, just like that, on top.

So I made it in the pan like that round.

But could you double this and make it in a sheet pan or in a glass baking pan?

Absolutely.

I'll put it in the oven now.

In a hot oven.

400 degrees.

In about 20 minutes, you check when the top is crispy and the cheese is melted, and it will be done.

Here's a video from Jay.

Let's watch.

-Hi, Lidia.

My name is Jay.

And lately I've been making a lot of eggplant Parmesan.

But I'm wondering -- Is there another vegetable I could substitute for the eggplant?

Thank you.

-Jay.

How you doing, Jay?

I'm glad eggplant parmigiana is delicious.

Eggplant, when it's cooked, is resilient.

And that's one of the things that make it good as a parmigiana.

It's almost like a piece of meat, especially if you bread it.

You can layer in a casserole a lot of vegetables.

Vegetables that you like.

Zucchini parmigiana.

Portobello mushroom parmigiana.

Fennel parmigiana.

So a vegetable that you like that has a little bit of body to it could be turned into a good parmigiana.

Make sure that they're seasoned and layer them with sauce, with cheese, sauce, and cheese.

And almost you make, like, a lasagna out of the vegetable.

I'm very happy that you're making parmigiana and that you're interested in making more.

It's done.

Look how beautiful.

Nice and toasty on top, just the way we like it.

I let it rest a little bit.

Let's get ready to plate.

A nice plate for you and a little bit for Lidia.

So let's see.

I'm looking because I want to get an eggplant and a chicken.

Okay.

Mmm.

That looks good.

Okay.

And I'm gonna take just a little piece.

That's for me.

Okay.

Mmm.

And I am going to take a nice piece of this basil right here because a parmigiana warrants a nice piece of basil.

And so here it is.

That's your dish.

So let me taste this for you.

Everything is so -- so mellow.

And mmm.

Delizioso.

The chicken is cooked thoroughly, but it's not overcooked.

Nice sweetness, the eggplant.

A delicious parmigiana, but it doesn't have all that crusty bread absorbing all that sauce.

It's light.

A little bit of vino.

Let me taste it with the wine.

Mm-hmm.

Goes perfect with this.

I have a lot, so I want to invite you.

And as I always tell you, tutti a tavola a mangiare!

Come.

There's plenty for you.

Let me continue here.

My favorite things -- I know you want to know.

I cook, and I teach you, and I show you, and I try to please everybody.

But does Lidia have a favorite?

Of course Lidia has favorites.

I have a lot of favorites.

But let me start with something special.

You know what I love?

A most unusual thing.

Jota.

It's a soup.

It's like pasta fagioli.

But where we come from up north, we do it with sauerkraut.

Instead of pasta, we ate sauerkraut.

So sauerkraut and bean.

And if you travel to those part of the world, if you go to Trieste, that's a favorite.

And, of course, you heard me talk about polenta over and over.

And I love a mound of polenta.

And I like it with different things, you know.

But the grandchildren, they each have their own favorite.

Julia loves her frittata.

Lorenzo loves his fish and salmon.

Olivia loves her salad as much as I can make them.

Miles loves his meat.

Nice piece of steak or a chop, he's very happy.

And Ethan, he's kind of diversified.

But he loves his gnocchi, and next to it, maybe a little bit of shrimp or lobster.

He'll go for lobster, too.

So they all have their favorite.

And, you know, how do you please all of them in one shot?

You don't.

Somebody has to compromise.

[ 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.

♪ ♪