-Buongiorno.

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

Just like that.

You got that right.

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

For me, food is about gathering around the table to enjoy loved ones.

Your family is going to love it.

Share a delicious meal and make memories.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

"Lidia's Kitchen: Tradition to Table."

-Funding provided by... -Every can of Cento tomatoes is born in Italy, where they are grown and ripened in sun-drenched fields and then harvested by local farmers who select them just for us.

Cento -- trust your family with our family.

-Authentically Italian Prosecco Doc the Italian sparkling art of living.

-For over 140 years, Auricchio traditional handcrafted provolone, made in Italy.

-Life moves faster these days.

It's important to slow down.

So don't forget to give your cooking its due time.

Inspired by one of my favorite restaurants on the beach in Fiumicino, this dish always makes me think fondly of my long lunches with Gianfranco and family.

And I'm sure you will make it.

Remember to stack your freezer with food scraps.

That collection, water, and time can turn into a rich stock.

It's time to clean the freezer out and make a big pot of stock.

After finally seeing everyone slowly working through the lobster with their hands, getting all the meat out, fingers dirty, this dish is a memory maker.

Let your kitchen be your place of peace.

♪♪ When I came here as a young immigrant of 12 and sort of began to make friends, I wanted to insert myself as quickly as I could, become an American.

But of course, I love my heritage.

And, so, I wanted to bring the two traditions together.

And through the years, I think cooking did that for me.

To carry on my grandmother's legacy, my grandmother's memories, when I cooked, those aromas, those flavors brought me back to grandma, who was left behind the Iron Curtain.

And I didn't see her for 10 years.

And then, I said, okay, I have to share with my new country, this great country that gave me this opportunity.

And, so, I guess that's how I started my cooking career in restaurants and ultimately ended up on the screen just here with you.

I have to thank Julia Child for actually getting me on the screen.

When I opened Felidia, and she loved and she said, ultimately, "Lidia, would you be on my show?"

And I did, and that opened the door.

In the 25 years that I have been on the screen, cooking in America is alive and growing.

So take the time and make it happen.

Okay, let's get chopping.

[ Indistinct conversation ] Looking good.

Bruschetta Con Cozze.

Mussel bruschetta.

Bruschetta means "toast" in some country, bread like that.

This is plain bread.

Don't put the oil on the bruschetta before you grill it, because then you burn the oil.

So you want the bread grilled, and then you want to flavor your bread.

So let's see.

And you take a crushed garlic, crushed garlic clove like that, and you rub it.

You'd be surprised how much flavor you get out of the garlic just like that.

And once you did the garlic, let's do the oil.

You see, so now you really taste the freshness of the oil right on the bread.

Had I put it before, the oil would have gotten toasted, burned, changed flavor.

Let's make some room here.

On the board.

Now let's go on to the mussels.

I had this first going to the airport, Fiumicino.

The airport is close to the ocean right there.

And Fiumicino is a little town.

And, so, I had this for the first time in the trattoria there.

Of course, they serve a lot of seafood.

Clams bruschetta.

That's what I had the first time.

Let's get this in.

And you don't want the onions to get brown.

I want them just to get wilted.

Let off all of the flavor.

So, clams bruschetta, that sounded so good.

Simple thing and yet innovative.

But I thought, let's change it a little bit.

Bruschetta with mussels.

Bruschetta.

Nice.

And -- mm!

-- en zuppétta, full of the sauce.

So let's clean the pepper.

Now the pepper will cut in small pieces.

And that gives a color and it gives it flavor, too.

Don't waste anything.

So I'm going to put some white wine right in here now because, as I said, you know, I want the onions to sort of break down and wilt.

So you can put any color peppers that you have.

It's nice to see colors in your food.

Of course you can have all this ready before.

The peppers chopped, the onions chopped.

So now we need some seasoning.

The mussels are salty, but you still need some salt for the vegetables.

And of course, I like my peperoncino.

Here I have some scallions, and I'm going to use the white part to cook just like onion.

And then, I'm going to use the green part at the end to sort of give it freshness.

So, okay, let's put this in the sauce.

And let's check out the mussels.

So you can tell a mussel is good if you pick it in your hands and feels full.

It feels heavy.

Now, the mussel, you have to wash it good, naturally.

And if there's any beard, take it off.

But you're looking at the mussel.

And when you see an open mussel like that, if you leave it, you wash it and you leave it out, it will begin to open.

You can just test it.

And if you see it kind of tightening, it is, it's moving.

It's tightening, you see?

So it's alive and it's good.

But if it doesn't close on you, then I would discard it.

You see this one closed right away.

Now, the mussels don't take much time to cook, so I want the vegetables to be nice and cooked.

Let's put the mussels right in.

I'm going to put wine.

And you need a substantial amount of wine because you need to make that sauce.

And I'm going to put a little bit of olive oil.

Adding olive oil like this at the end, you really maximize the flavor.

So let's build up some heat in there.

You want quick cooking, full speed ahead.

But I have some time.

And you know, when I have some time, I like to go and connect with you.

I love it when you guys send me e-mails, when you ask me questions.

Ah, Darlene.

Hi, Darlene.

"What type of wine do you cook with?"

That's a good question, Darlene.

Good wine that you would drink at home.

Some wine that you have leftover.

Put it in the fridge and use it for cooking.

Or you can begin with choosing a wine you would drink with this bruschetta.

To open it up a little before while you're cooking -- a little bit for the mussels, a little bit for you.

Just -- Just saying.

Cook happy.

And then, of course, you can use the same wine to eat, uh, to drink when you're eating the bruschetta.

Thank you for your e-mails.

Keep on sending them.

So let's see how the mussels are doing.

We are there.

You see how beautiful and plump.

And that's how you want them.

Close them right off.

I'm going to take a fork.

And I have the tongs.

And usually it -- It's okay.

You see?

Just take it.

Put it right back in.

Collect all the juice.

Let me see.

I can do just even like that.

Once the mussels begin to shrivel, they're overcooked.

You want them plump just like that.

Look at this juicy baby here.

Mm!

But this is beautiful.

Look at this.

Mm, mm!

Some of them will fall out, and that's great.

So this is done.

And now I'm going to add in the top of the scallions.

And you can see that this gives it freshness, doesn't need to cook.

It will wilt by the heat of the sauce itself.

So here we are, nice and juicy.

Now we are ready to go.

We are going to make the dishes, and all you need to do is put this wonderful bruschetta, which has flavor of its own.

This is Lidia, but I need the plate because I don't want to dribble all over.

So I am going to as I always do.

And just mount the mussels on top.

And this is something you're going to pick up with your hands or whatever.

No.

You can actually cut this with a knife and fork and eat it.

So if you want to put a little extra mussels on the side, yes.

So let's go to the other one now.

Enough juice to sop up that.

Okay.

And now Lidia's turn.

The bread is absorbing the juices and it's ready to be served.

And can you imagine what a great appetizer this is?

You're going to look like a real chef.

A Mediterranean chef at that.

And let's taste this.

You see how the bread is absorbing everything.

Now I want a little mussel right on top of that.

It is delicious, fresh.

It's like you have the sea in your mouth.

And with this, what would I drink?

A rosé Prosecco.

So I'm going to just pour myself a glass and I'm going to pour one for you.

This Prosecco Doc is refreshing and light, just like this dish.

And let me taste together.

Perfect.

Really good.

So I'm going to tell you how delicious it is and how I think you should make it.

And I'm sure you will make it.

Mm!

Riempi La Tua Credenza.

I needed a big pot of stock.

And all those times that I tell you stash things in the freezer.

Chicken wings, chicken bones, leek, parsley, all those little leftovers.

So it's time to clean the freezer out and make a big pot of stock.

Chicken wings.

You know, when I made those big chicken wings, I saved the chicken tips.

That could have been easily thrown away.

But, no, that adds to the complexity of my stock.

And, you know, you wash everything before you put it in the freezer.

This way, you don't worry about it.

Chicken carcasses.

Whatever you have leftover from the chicken.

Even when you roast the chicken, I tell you, save the carcass.

It's good in that pot.

Leeks -- delicious.

But you know, you all say, "All these big leaves, I'm wasting them."

You don't have to waste them.

You save them just like Lidia does.

And in, in it goes.

Okay.

Parsley.

You know, you use the leaves.

I have all the stems right here.

Here they go.

Into the stock.

Celery.

When you see that you're not going to be using celery, you don't want it to go bad.

♪♪ There we go.

♪♪ Tomatoes.

Tomatoes last like this year round in the freezer.

And you use them for stock or soup as you go along.

This is from my backyard.

I picked them and I froze them just like this.

And periodically I take a few out and make a stock out of 'em.

Onion and just quarters are fine.

Just like that.

Peppercorns.

Okay.

That's enough.

And of course, those cheese rinds.

I tell you all the time, you got to save them, save them, save them.

And, so, here they are.

So let's see.

I'm looking at this.

How many do I need?

This is okay.

I wash them before I put them in.

But I'm going to scrape just a little bit.

This is the outside rind of the cheese.

You want to scrape whatever is on the outside.

The yellow in that, that's aging and that's okay.

It's all about flavor.

And, of course, fill it up with water.

♪♪ So you keep on filling it with water until it reaches almost the top.

Let it come to a boil, and then you lower it and let it simmer three, four hours.

Let it simmer, let it simmer.

The slow boil will give you a cleaner stock.

Put a nice cover on it and let it perk away.

And then, you're going to have delicious stock to put in the freezer.

Put the date, put whatever it is.

Chicken stock, mixed stock, whatever you put in there, so you know and it will last in the freezer three, four months.

No problem.

And just like that, you have homemade stock.

Linguine all'aragosta con sugo piccante.

It's certainly my favorite, my family's favorite.

And it's going to become your family's favorite when you make it.

So you get some lobster tails and you take a chef's knife.

And we're going to cut these in half.

So you go in the middle, down, down on one side.

You turn it around and down the other side.

And let's open it up.

Let's see.

And a nice large pan with some vegetable oil.

Line the bottom.

You flour it lightly.

Just like that.

Shake the excess flour right off.

The flour kind of seals the meat, keeps it juicier.

And when it disintegrates in the sauce, it makes the sauce just a little thicker.

So just put it meat side down so the flour caramelizes just like that.

I'm looking just for a little caramelization.

As you notice, it's not thoroughly cooked.

I don't want it.

I just want the flour to kind of caramelize and get the coloring.

You can begin to cut the onion and to make the sauce.

Like a little garlic, too, which we're going to crush.

Ah.

This is fine.

The meat is compact.

That means that the lobster was fresh and it's going to stay there.

When you pull it out, it's going to come out all in one piece.

You don't want the lobster to crumble.

So I'm looking here at the pan.

There's not too much oil, but I want to take away the vegetable oil.

And I don't mind leaving some of the fond in the pan.

That's the good part.

Just like that.

Let's crush the garlic.

And I'm crushing it because I like garlic.

But I want to be able to pull it out.

Olive oil now.

Okay, this is the beginning of the sauce.

This is what we're going to eat.

So I want good oil.

And I am going to get to the onion going.

Okay.

Let's start with the onion, as well.

I'm going to season just a little bit of peperoncino.

Let's toast it a little bit.

Bring out the flavor.

I said spicy, so let me add a little more because I like it.

And here we have the herbs.

Bay leaves from a bay leaf bush I have in the backyard now.

But I bring it in.

Winter to summer.

I take care of it.

But I love bay leaves.

And this is dry oregano.

It has more of a pronounced taste and it's -- if it's Sicilian, you buy it in a bouquet like this, and you just kind of... As much as you need, you just...

I think we have enough here.

Put it right in with the onions.

And let me get the tomatoes now.

Nice plum tomatoes.

You know, I always tell you to get San Marzano tomatoes.

San Marzano is a town outside of Naples.

Great exposure to sun.

There they have beautiful sun.

And the tomatoes grow beautifully there.

I'm looking at the onions here.

I want to wilt the onions just a little bit.

So I'm going to take a little bit of the pasta water.

Okay.

So, this way, the onions cook and they begin to disintegrate in the sauce.

We could put some white wine.

You always ask me, what kind of wine?

Wine that you drink, good wine.

And at this point, we can add the tomatoes.

You know, I like my slush.

I don't want to waste any of that stuff.

So let's get some of the pasta water.

And then, from the can, just like that -- mm -- I collected everything.

Let's go here and collect everything here.

Ah, now I feel good.

All right.

You know, I love it when you socially connect with me.

I tell you all the time.

Ask me the questions.

I do look at your messages.

Let me answer somebody right here.

Let's see.

Chris e-mails... "I'd like to make my dinner plate pretty.

How do I make the leap from kitchen food to fine dining when I'm plating?"

Oh, Chris, the plating is very important.

What's important about it is you get the right plate for presentation.

Let the proteins be the stars.

If you mix some color in that, it always looks beautiful.

And vegetables do that.

Lay the protein on top, a little decoration of the herb, and simple and straightforward.

You know, you got to trust yourself.

If it looks good to you, it's going to look good to your guests.

Okay, Chris?

Good question.

Keep on cooking.

So here we are.

The sauce is bubbling along.

The water is boiling.

Let's put the pasta in the water.

Now, I tell you, when you cook your pasta, I want simple water, salt, nothing else.

And when you're finished, when the pasta is cooked al dente, you can drain it, but do not rinse it.

And you don't break your spaghetti.

That's a criminal offense in Italy.

Don't you dare.

And it's time to put in the lobster.

So the lobster will only take 3, 4 minutes.

And I'm just turning over the lobster tail to -- to get some of the sauce and to flavor the sauce.

Let's take them out.

I told you, they're cooked.

They're cooked.

But you can see the lobster will kind of come right out like that.

The whole piece nice and firm.

So let's put the lobster in my reserved pan here.

♪♪ Let me pick out the bay leaves.

The garlic.

And I'm going to take some of the pasta cooking water just to kind of extend the sauce.

And I always tell you that.

So, if you are draining your pasta, make sure that you save some of that water before you drain the pasta so you have it just in case you run dry a little bit on your sauce.

It's just about al dente, and I'm going to leave it a little bit more al dente, so I finish cooking -- cooking it right in here.

I'm going to just drizzle it a little bit with the olive oil.

And you know, when you do that at the last minute, it gives it that kind of shine and that freshness.

You taste the oil, too.

Everything looks nice and shiny.

So I think we are ready here.

Put the plates right here.

And where is my dish?

Mamma mia!

Right here.

Yeah, okay.

And I'm going to use my little plate here to carry the pasta over to the dish.

Give it a twist so it kind of falls into a mound, a twisted mound.

That's good.

Let's go on to the next one.

And I am putting a little extra here because I want it to look beautiful for you.

It certainly looks good with two like that.

I think so.

Now let's do a little bit of the sauce just like that.

Mm, mm, mm.

Okay.

That's Lidia's.

Mm, mm.

So let's put at the table just like that.

And just a little bit of parsley here, Italian parsley.

It looks like a crown.

First, let me show you how the lobster tail should come out of the -- Very, very easy once it's done.

Look, just like that.

And that's a perfectly cooked lobster.

Now, if I wasn't on television, I would lick all of this tail.

And it's perfectly okay for you to do it, but I'm just going to put it here.

And you can see that the lobster is resilient, nice, but it is cooked.

And this is the way you want it.

So let's try the lobster first.

Mm.

Don't use the spoon when you're eating your spaghetti.

It's not Italian.

Just like this.

You take the fork and you twirl and you twirl, and you get yourself a nice twirl.

So you have a little hanging?

You'll figure it out.

Delizioso.

So, salute.

Mm.

Prosecco Rosé Doc goes perfectly with this dish.

And I am going to continue to enjoy.

I hope I inspired you to cook.

And as always, I invite you at my house.

So, tutti a tavola a mangiare.

♪♪ [ Singing in Italian ] ♪♪ [ Conversing in Italian ] -What does that mean?

That if you begin with something good, you're bound to end with something good.

And this is delicious.

Salute .

Ti piace?

-Buonissimo.

-The food from this series is a celebration of the Italian dishes Lidia cooks for the ones she loves the most, from the traditional recipes of her childhood to the new creations she feeds her family today.

All of these easy-to-prepare recipes can be found in Lidia's latest cookbook, "From Our Family Table to Yours," available for $35.

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.

-And by...