-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.

-It's the Italian way.

Prosecco DOC rosé.

A toast of Italy.

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

-How many times have I told you that Italy has over 2,500 cheeses?

Well, today I plan to introduce you to a few of them.

These crispy cheese bowls are fun to make and a playful way to serve a salad.

My granddaughter Olivia stopped by to make a few.

And voilà.

You have a salad bowl.

-Pretty good.

-Back in the 1970s, I came up with my own version of mac and cheese for my kids.

I added asparagus and peas to make it lighter and made it even more Italian with a variety of cheese.

You know how to make mac and cheese.

Make it the Lidia way now.

Chicken wings are always welcome in my house.

Even better, add cheese to make them extra crispy and twice as delicious.

And you see all these little things that are kind of attached to it.

That's delicious, crunchy cheese.

What's your favorite Italian cheese?

Know your cheese.

♪♪ You can do with cheese an appetizer.

You can do a snack.

You can cook with cheese.

So the uses of Italian cheese, it's endless.

I'm gonna make myself a little snack.

Who doesn't love cheese?

But cheese could be a real game-changer in your kitchen.

Salads, appetizer, little snacks just like this.

Macaroni and cheese.

I add four different cheeses to the macaroni, and it makes a difference.

Mmm.

And... Oh!

This is smelly cheese, if you will -- Gorgonzola.

But I love it.

Simple, like that.

I am ready.

So you have different flavors of the cheese, like the Pecorino Romano, which has a little bite to it.

It's 100% sheep's milk.

Provola, which is a cow's milk, and it's almost in the mozzarella family, but it's a little aged, more complex.

It melts beautifully if you're making pasta in the oven.

And the Gorgonzola -- 100% cow's milk with a little mold in there, a little funkiness in there.

You dress your gnocchi with this, you don't even have to cook.

Just put it in a pan, a little butter, a little of the pasta water and the gnocchi, and you're all set.

Enough descriptions.

Now a little tasting for Lidia.

See you in the kitchen.

♪♪ [ Indistinct conversations ] ♪♪ All right.

Are you ready?

[ Chuckles ] ♪♪ Frico.

Two generations in Lidia's kitchen.

Olivia, my oldest granddaughter, she likes to cook.

She likes to entertain.

So, Olivia, we're going to make, frico, a little chip, which we're gonna turn into a salad bowl.

So, take about 1/2 cup of the grana cheese.

And a nonstick pan, and you have to go all around, even up the sides.

Uh-huh.

Okay.

So, you let it slowly toast.

You've got to be careful that it doesn't burn.

And you can make the salad in between.

So take the arugula.

And have I some radicchio red and some endive.

Just throw it all in.

♪♪ And salt.

And the peperoncino.

Red-wine vinegar.

And whenever you're doing that, you keep an eye on this.

Olive oil.

You like some fresh pepper?

-Yes.

-Okay.

Okay.

Toss, toss, toss.

And that's just a simple salad just to show you how this will turn into a beautiful salad bowl.

-I think that looks good.

-Yeah, yeah.

I think it looks very good.

Let's check on the frico.

So you see it's not yet finished.

You look at the cheese.

The cheese is turning golden and then slightly brown on the edges.

And then you try to pick it up, and if it's not sticking -- -Okay.

That's when you know it's ready?

-Right.

You don't want to overcook it, because cheese gets bitter when it's overcooked.

-Oh, okay.

-When it is crisp, we will flip it on here and then just kind of pressure it down.

And bring me one of those.

This is what it will turn into.

-Mmm.

-Does it look nice?

-Yeah.

Let me serve the salad.

♪♪ -And, you know, you can make these in advance.

That looks beautiful.

And do the other one, too.

Have you ever had something like this?

-I've definitely had frico like this, but I don't think with the salad in it, so... -Uh-huh.

Are you gonna use it for your friends?

-Definitely.

-Okay.

-Ooh!

-Huh?

-Do you want to... -I'll try.

-Okay.

-I might need your help.

-It's okay.

Let's pick it up.

Don't be afraid of it.

-The whole thing?

-Yeah, yeah.

Just pick it up.

There you go.

Flip it over on the -- That's it.

Adjust it.

Quickly, quickly.

All right.

Good.

Put the pan back here.

Let's press it down into our shape.

Go ahead.

Nice and easy.

You let it cool off.

And voilà.

Good job.

-Pretty good.

-For a first time, it's pretty good.

-Put some salad in?

-Absolutely.

And let's just start nibbling on it.

It's inviting, huh?

-Yeah.

-I'll take that away, make room.

And I'll take a piece of this.

How about you?

-Yep.

Ooh!

[ Both laugh ] -It's okay.

It's okay.

We'll eat pieces of it.

-Mmm!

-Your friends will really be impressed with all these new techniques.

-My friends might prefer nibbling on this.

-Well, you could do the same thing.

Just make smaller ones and don't flip them over, and you get small, round ones.

It's like a cracker.

You have now an extra dish... -Mm-hmm.

-...to your repertoire, to the dinners.

And just like that, crispy frico cheese bowls made by Olivia.

Pasta al forno ai quattro formaggi.

Mac and cheese the Italian way.

Everybody loves it.

I'm grating some bread -- you know, some old bread that you have around.

You can grate it just to top the casserole so it's nice and crispy.

And I'm going to toast the bread crumbs with some butter.

♪♪ You want to give it some flavor.

And this, with some cheese, will top the baked macaroni.

Don't overtoast it, because it's gonna go in the oven.

But I do want to give it some flavor.

So, what makes this mac and cheese different, the Italian way?

The cheese, of course.

So this is a question of making the sauce, cooking the pasta, pulling it all together, and putting it in the oven.

And the whole house, the whole kitchen smells delicious.

Okay.

So I think we're ready.

♪♪ So now, to tie all the cheeses together, you make a besciamella.

So, what is a besciamella?

A besciamella is a little butter, flour, milk, and, of course, a little bit of bay leaves.

I like the flavor of bay leaves.

So, a big pot, because I'm gonna put the pasta to cook.

Then I'm gonna take it and put it right in here to toss it all.

So you need the space to really flavor it and toss it all.

Let's get the butter down.

Check in on the -- Plenty of boiling water.

Salted.

No oil.

Nothing in there.

You don't need anything in there except the water, the salt, and the pasta itself.

Let's throw in the flour.

[ Oil crackling ] And you want the flour just to get some color, some flavor.

Make sure it doesn't burn.

But I like my besciamella with a little bit of toastiness to it, the flavor of toasting it.

I'm gonna throw in the pasta... ♪♪ ...and just give it a mix.

To flavor the besciamella, I love bay leaves.

I love bay leaves anyway.

You know that.

I have my own little stash, my own little bush, because I go to it all the time when I cook.

I get a few leaves, a few branches.

♪♪ It's beginning to get toasty.

You see it on the bottom.

Just milk.

Let's put milk in there.

♪♪ Okay.

And we'll let this sort of cook and densen up a little bit.

I'm gonna put a little bit of salt here just to balance the flavors.

And I have vegetables.

What makes this macaroni and cheese the Italian way -- I put vegetables.

I love vegetables, so I insert them all over the place.

But here, I'm gonna put some peas, some asparagus.

And let me get that -- Just, you know, you peel the asparagus stem if they're big.

And... ...the bottom part you cut and throw away that.

And I'm gonna cut the asparagus because I'm gonna cook this asparagus right with the pasta.

When the pasta is almost halfway done, I'm gonna throw the asparagus right in there.

So the asparagus are ready.

Now let's get into the cheese.

I have Fontina cheese here, which I already grated.

I'm gonna put it right into the besciamella.

I have some Taleggio.

Clean the rind off, just like that.

Even if you have a little bit of rind, it's okay.

It gives complexity.

It gives flavor.

And this, I'm gonna just cut into cubes.

♪♪ You see it's a very creamy cheese.

And I'm gonna put that in.

And slowly.

So, you notice I lowered the heat.

I don't want to overcook it.

And, of course, the provola melts beautifully creamy.

And I'm gonna cut this.

This is a great cheese with a lot of flavor, especially if you're baking, even cooking, like, scaloppine or chicken.

And if you want your parmigiana to be a little different, a little provola on top -- really delicious.

♪♪ You got to taste.

I tell you all the time.

Keep on tasting.

Okay.

Let's get this in here.

The sauce -- deliciously creamy.

The pasta is boiling.

I'm going to throw now the asparagus right in there with the pasta so it cooks together right with the pasta.

And let me pull out the bay leaves.

And, you know, when you use bay leaves, what's important is that you always count how many you put in so you know how many you're gonna get out.

Mmm.

This is good.

Mmm!

Let me throw in the peas now just to give it a little boil.

So I am going to pull out the pasta and the vegetables because I don't want to overcook the vegetables and I want the pasta to be a little al dente because it all goes into the oven.

Let's put it right...

I opened the fire again so that I can cook and finish this.

Okay.

So I think we are ready.

I preheated the oven at 400 degrees.

And let's pour this good pasta dish.

Mamma mia.

♪♪ You build some muscles in the kitchen.

♪♪ Mmm, mmm, mmm.

I don't want to waste anything.

Let me collect everything.

Just like that.

Now we're gonna do the topping.

Grated cheese.

Let's put the bread.

Like we said, some grated grana right in here.

♪♪ And you notice that my bread is coarse a little bit.

It's not the super-fine bread crumbs.

I like it like this.

That's why I grated it.

And we're gonna spread it all over.

Once it's like this, you don't mix it anymore because you want the bread crumbs to form kind of a toasted lid of cheese and bread on top of this delicious pasta and vegetable.

And it's as easy as this.

And look at all the people that you can feed out of here.

Okay.

That's good.

It's ready to go in the oven.

I got some time, and I love hearing from you guys, so let's see what's in my inbox.

Donna -- "I have a bag of grana and Pecorino Romano cheese ends."

You know, the rinds, you mean.

Yes.

"What can I use them for?"

It's endless.

Put them in a plastic bag and keep them in the refrigerator.

And if you have a lot of them, you can even freeze them.

Throw them in sauces.

You can use them for soups.

They just deliver all that flavor.

The only thing is that when you're ready to use, scrape the rind.

And you can also eat them, because it softens up.

You can cut it in little pieces and eat it thereafter.

Thank you!

Thank you for writing.

Just keep on sending those messages.

Wow.

Bubble, bubble.

Trouble, trouble.

Never mind trouble.

This is a party here.

You see how easy, how nice?

And when you bring something like this to the table -- Oh, you should just smell the aroma.

The crust all around it.

I know we all love that.

So let me make a portion here.

You see the vegetables in there, how good, how creamy, how luscious it looks?

Look at this.

Look at this.

You know how to make mac and cheese.

Make it the Lidia way now, with all the vegetables.

And some more crunchiness.

That looks yummy.

And you can have two plates of these.

You can have more.

But it's rich, you know?

This is a great beginning.

And how about Lidia?

And a little crunchiness for Lidia, too.

Mm-mmm.

♪♪ That's for Lidia.

And anybody that comes close to the table, they can spoon themself out a service.

And now I have to taste it, so... What sacrifice.

I have to taste all my food.

♪♪ Buonissimo!

With the complexity of the cheese, you get a little bit of asparagus, the sweetness of the peas, and it is delicious.

Now, basil and pasta, you know, that's always the way to go.

So here it is.

And I will continue to finish my dish now.

♪♪ Alette di pollo al formaggio al forno.

Crispy chicken wings.

Who doesn't like that?

I know all my grandkids love it, and, of course, one thinks of those fried, crispy chicken wings.

Well, you know, I'm a little aware of the nutritional element, so I bake the chicken wings to a nice crisp.

And I want to share that with you.

In order to do that, I need some grated cheese.

And this is another tip I want to share with you.

So you buy a nice chunk of cheese.

It's always good if you can grate your own cheese as close as possible to whatever you're doing.

Plus, you cut off the rind -- easy -- and you save this rind.

This rind is great for soups.

A little plastic bag.

Put it in.

And you just keep on storing them and freeze them.

They're great.

When you make that soup, you just put it on.

So I have the processor here.

Let's make small pieces.

Okay.

I should have enough here.

Let's see.

And you can grate any cheese this way -- that is, dry cheese.

So let's... [ Machine whirring ] Let's see where we are.

Yeah.

This is nice and fine.

I need about 1/2 cup for my chicken wings right here.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's a little more than 1/2 cup, but I like that.

And I'm gonna save the rest.

So here you have your freshly grated cheese.

And you can grate as much as you want when you need it.

You know, it's always good to certainly seal it.

And then "grated grana" so you know what you have in there.

Grated cheese also -- Let's say you go on vacation and you have some left.

You can freeze it.

It's okay.

But it keeps like this even for a month and more.

No problem.

Put the date on so you know when you did it, and in the refrigerator it goes.

So let's finish this cheesy crumb coating for the wings.

We're gonna put a little bit of salt because the cheese is salted.

Bread crumbs.

Garlic powder.

To give it a little bit of herb taste, oregano.

So here is the oregano -- dry oregano.

And you buy it like this, in a little bouquet.

It is the best.

You store it, you keep it in a bag, and you pull it out.

Not in the refrigerator.

Outside.

And all you have to do is just kind of massage it a little bit.

I think I have enough here.

So let me just put this right in here.

Mmm.

The aroma is beautiful.

And I have here, mix it well, and okay.

Now let's address the chicken wing.

And I've done some because I didn't want to keep you here all this time.

I just want to give you the good parts of it.

Here are the chicken wings.

You usually buy them just like that.

Cut off the tip.

If you have problems with the tip, just give a bang to the knife.

You look for those joints where there's the cartilage, and the knife will go right through.

There we go.

Save these as well.

You can see there's a soup in the making here.

So here I have all the tips.

I have my rind right here.

Put some carrots, celery, onions, and I got myself a soup.

So save.

You can freeze these, and you can collect more and more until you have enough to really make a big soup.

Let me cut this in portion size.

♪♪ Okay.

Just a little bit of salt.

And here I have some melted butter.

♪♪ Just like that.

Let's collect it all.

Toss it all so that all of the chicken gets coated with the butter.

And this is where the bread crumbs will adhere to.

Could you coat them with olive oil and do that?

Yes, you could.

But butter really does a great job in coating it, and everything sticks to it.

Let me make sure.

Okay.

So now a parchment paper right on your baking sheet, pan, whatever you have will save you all the cleaning thereafter.

And it's great for baking, so let's toss it right in here.

And yeah, I could use the tongs again, but there's nothing like the hands.

Okay.

I am pressing a little bit because I want the topping to really adhere to it.

And let's get going here.

Give them enough space.

See?

It's easy as this.

You can make two trays.

♪♪ Okay.

♪♪ If you have any of the breading left, it had the chicken in it, so you can use it for the next chicken, but don't wait too long.

You can put it in a plastic container, put it in the refrigerator, and use it within a week.

And it's all done.

A preheated 425-degree oven, 35 to 40 minutes, they'll be nice and crisp.

You don't need to turn, and you don't need to do anything.

Just let them crisp in there.

If you're looking at it and it's not the color that you like, leave them in a few minutes.

♪♪ I got some time, and I love hearing from you guys, so let's see what's in my inbox.

Lee -- "I'd like to use more herbs, but how do I pair them with different meats and vegetables?

I'm not much of a gardener, so I normally use dried.

Which are okay to use dried versus fresh?"

Well, Lee, if you're talking about herbs like basil, like sage, like rosemary, like bay leaves, if you can get them fresh, nothing beats that.

You really get the freshness.

Sometimes you can buy them and if you have too many, you can freeze the fresh ones, and they're better than the dry ones, as far as I'm concerned.

To freeze it, you submerge whatever you have left, whether it's basil leaves or branches of rosemary, in a little container with water so that they freeze like in an ice cube, and they stay fresh until you defrost them and throw them in your sauce.

Now, as far as dried herbs -- have their place in the kitchen as well.

For example, oregano -- I love it dry much better than the fresh.

It brings much more flavor to the dish itself.

So stay fresh if you can.

Thank you, Lee.

♪♪ Look at these great chicken wings.

Beautiful color.

Ready to go.

Let's serve them up.

And you see all these little things that are kind of attached to it.

That's delicious, crunchy cheese.

You just leave it.

So, are you tempted to kind of really line them up like soldiers?

No, no, no.

Just pile them up.

I think the occasion calls for kind of a relaxed setting.

Beautiful and good.

And, you know, everybody loves these.

Yeah, my grandkids love them, but who wouldn't love something like that?

Crispy, nice, simple, baked, but the feeling of crunchiness, of being fried.

And, of course, I am going to leave this one for me.

Let's bring this one to the table.

I have a little bit of fresh oregano here.

Yeah.

That looks good.

Of course, it needs some dipping sauce.

Some nice, hot dipping sauce here.

And I like it spicy.

And this is a simple marinara.

I put extra spices in there.

And, you know, have a little extra, because this is gonna go.

Maybe you can put two of these at the table.

Okay.

And, of course, what goes with this?

I'm gonna crack open a beer.

And I like my beer now and then.

Absolutely.

[ Air hisses ] And you know what?

I don't like too much foam on my beer.

That looks perfect.

Okay.

So now let me taste.

Look how nice and crunchy.

This little edge is all good.

I'm gonna dunk it right into the sauce.

And... [ Exhales sharply ] ♪♪ Mmm.

Good.

Crunchy.

Cheesy.

I'm 100% sure you're gonna make them, you're gonna enjoy them, and your family is gonna have a great time.

So I'm gonna cheer to the anticipation of you making this dish.

But as well, I'm gonna invite you to my house, because I'm going to start eating these.

So tutti a tavola a mangiare.

E berre, as Nonna would say.

Mmm!

♪♪ [ Singing in Italian ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -[ Speaking Italian ] -Remember when we were little and you used to peel the pears for us so we would eat them without the skin?

-I'm glad you remember that.

That's what grandmas are for.

-Exactly.

-Yeah.

Lots of love.

-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...