To master the art of cooking Italian like Lidia Bastianich, you must understand how she cooks. Every great chef has a philosophy--a way of thinking about food that determines how they approach cooking and that inspires new recipes. For Lidia, cooking Italian means digging back into her family roots to the things that marked good food. She takes her traditional reverence for fresh seasonal meat and produce and classic peasant cuisine and marries them to a wider Mediterranean palate and widely available American ingredients.
Background
Lidia was born to an Italian family in Istria, an area of Croatia that borders Italy. She and her family immigrated to the U.S. in 1958, when Lidia was 11, to escape Communist Yugoslavia. Her grandparents had owned a restaurant in her homeland where they had done everything from scratch, including making their own wine and cheese. She grew up a part of that, helping them and working alongside them. There she learned the traditional cooking methods and rustic recipes that form the backbone of her cooking style.
Style
Lidia's books and TV shows have showed millions that good Italian fare does not have to be time-consuming. Her style blends attentiveness, a careful hand with spices and a relaxed attitude, letting the fresh ingredients speak for themselves. Recipes from her kitchen feature loads of vegetables and herbs, which is not typical of most American cuisine or Italian dishes that have been adapted to the American palate. Many of her dishes are actually on the light side.
Meal Setup
In traditional Italian cuisine, serving portions are small, as a meal consists of five courses. Appetizers are followed by a pasta dish, then an entrée with meat. Dessert comes after the entrée, with the meal capped off by coffee, liquor and cookies. Entrees are a third meat or protein, with the majority of the plate being vegetables and no starch. Different regions of Italy bring different inspirations, and Lidia combines them all to showcase each region's strengths. The common element she coaxes from these dishes is their intensity of flavor.
Food Philosophy
For Lidia, all meals are occasions to be shared with family and friends. Memories and great conversation are a part of dining as much as food is, and cooking is an opportunity to make connections and to create experiences with children and grandchildren. In Lidia's world, food is life.
Cooking like the "Godmother of Italian American cooking" is a matter of coaxing ingredients to sing and blending them into a concerto to be shared with an appreciative and supportive audience. Have fun and cook with love, both for the food itself and the people you will be sharing it with.
Tags: cooking Italian, entr with, Lidia Bastianich, shared with
