NEW YORK CITY – For more than two decades, Lidia Bastianich has been one of the culinary world’s most familiar faces. Yet she was largely unknown outside of New York City in 1993 when Julia Child asked if she might like to cook with her on the new PBS cooking show, “Cooking with Master Chefs.”
Little could she imagine that the two dishes she demonstrated in her Queens, New York, kitchen would kick-start her own storied career as an award-winning public television chef and cookbook author.
“Lidia really connected with Julia in the totality,” recalled TV producer Geoffrey Drummond in the new PBS documentary “25 Years with Lidia Bastianich: A Culinary Jubilee,” which premiered in December and is available on YouTube.
“I talk about nourishment being our social, emotional and even spiritual relationship with food. Lidia is all of those combined.”
The two chefs met in 1981, when Child and her friend, James Beard, snagged a table at Felidia, the upscale Italian restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that Bastianich owned with her then husband, Felice.
Child was so impressed by its regional Italian cooking – still a novelty back then – and curious about the Northern Italian woman making it, that she asked if Bastianich might be willing to teach her how to stir the perfect pot of risotto.
“So she came over to my house” for a family meal and lesson, Bastianich recalled with a smile on a recent Thursday as she sipped a cup of chamomile tea at Sant Ambroeus Sotheby’s, a chic coffee shop on the Upper East Side.
It’s just before lunch and the place is mostly empty. But even in a crowd, America’s matriarch of Italian cooking stands out, given the bright orange scarf draped elegantly across her shoulders and 20 delicate gold bangles stacked on her left wrist.
She wowed way back in 1993, too.
Bastianich was natural in front of the camera as she showed Child how to make the creamy rice dish featuring wild mushrooms and orecchiette with broccoli and sweet sausage. Encouraged by Child and eager to bring her authentic Italian cooking to the masses, she agreed to producers’ pitch for her to host her own television series.
“I was anxious to teach, so yeah, I went for it,” she says.
There was just one caveat: They’d have to produce it in her own home since she was afraid of studio kitchens. They agreed and the rest is culinary history.
“Lidia’s Italian Table” launched to great success in 1998 and Bastianich has been a fixture in the network’s lineup of cooking shows ever since. Other Emmy Award-winning shows include “Lidia’s Italy,” “Lidia’s Kitchen” and “Lidia’s Italy in America,” which explored Italian influences on American cooking.
Along the way, the self-taught cook has found time to write 18 cookbooks, along with a 2018 memoir in both English and Italian.
Her most recent book, “Lidia’s From Our Family Table to Yours,” featuring 100-plus family recipes, hit book stores this past October as a companion to her new 26-part public television series, “Lidia’s Kitchen.”
For 18 years, she also ran her Strip District restaurant, Lidia’s Pittsburgh, often making personal appearances at special events before it closed in 2019.
Filming those first episodes with Child so many years ago, Bastianich recalls, was pretty easy.
“I just felt very comfortable. I can cook certainly, and I love teaching – you know, my mother [Ermenia] was a teacher – and I love sharing. And so it seemed OK.”
The new PBS documentary is narrated by family and close friends that include celebrity chef Jacques Pépin and actor Christopher Walken, whose family ran a bakery in her Astoria neighborhood and gave her a job as a teenager.
The documentary follows Bastianich’s remarkable 65-year journey from refugee to TV star, touching on her childhood in Istria before it became part of the former Yugoslavia. It includes the two years the family spent in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Trieste, Italy, after fleeing the Communist regime, and the new life she found in America in 1958 after being sponsored by Catholic Relief Services.
It also explores the major influence she’s had not only on American palates – which before she came on the scene largely associated Italian cuisine with spaghetti and meatballs and pizza – but on women in the restaurant industry, too.
Immigrants have long played a starring role in U.S. food culture by bringing the foods and cooking methods they enjoyed back home with them. Italians certainly carried the recipes they loved with them when they began immigrating to the U.S. in the 19th century, though many were quickly adapted to the tastes and ingredients of their new home.
Sunday sauce is but one example, says Bastianich. The first immigrants who arrived from Campania and Siciliy were poor, and didn’t put a lot of meat in their Sunday tomato sauces back home. In New York, inexpensive meat was easy to find “so of course it went into the sauce,” she says of a tradition that continues today.
“Italian-American cuisine was always dubbed an imposter,” she says, “but it’s a great immigrant story” of adaptation.
At Felidia, Bastianich’s menu went beyond the red sauce Italian-American foods everyone knew, focusing on the seasonal, regional dishes of her childhood in Istria, a peninsula within the Adriatic Sea shared by Italy, Croatia and Slovenia.
“I wanted to introduce my new friends, the Americans, to my culture through food,” she says.
Once on TV, Bastianich strived to show aspiring cooks that Italian cuisine also can be easy and adaptable.
“It’s so approachable,” she insists, in that is reflects not just the seasons but what’s readily available in your local grocery store.
“You make do with what you have….You can make a pasta dish in 20 minutes with no problems with garlic and oil if you have canned tomatoes. It doesn’t have to be fresh from the field.”
Twenty-five years later, with multiple trips back to Italy for research, her shows featuring the simple and straightforward dishes that are the hallmark of authentic Italian cuisine continue to resonate with her audience.
“People relate to it,” she says. After watching her cook, they feel they can make recipes that are successful, too.
“I just wanted to communicate my native culture as a thank you to America,” which provided the safe space she dreamed of as a child. “I want you to enjoy and love and understand [my recipes], bring your family around the table and make your kitchen smell good.”
Now a grandmother of four, Bastianiach attributes much of her success to the fact that she’s approachable. Fans “feel comfortable with me. They feel like I’m their mother, their grandmother or great aunt.”
The fact her own mother (who lived upstairs) often cooked with her before her death two years ago, and that her 20-something grandchildren also sometimes make TV appearances only adds to her appeal.
After jobs in other fields, her son and daughter also play integral roles in her culinary endeavors. Joe is a restaurateur and winemaker. Tanya helps research and write her mother’s cookbooks, which are done in conjunction with each new season and often include more than 100 recipes.
As a chef, Bastianich says she has committed herself to the culture, both on TV and in the pages of her cookbooks. While some of her recipes have been reworked to make them more contemporary or are even brand new, many more reflect her roots and what her family might eat on any given day, using vegetables and rosemary grown in her backyard garden. She’s particularly fond of soups, especially this time of year.
“I don’t think I’ve changed,” she says, despite having the honor of cooking not just for Pope Benedict in 2008 but also Pope Francis in 2015. She’s had opportunities that come with success, of course, “but I’m very much an Italian, that culture that nurtures me and feeds me. And I interpret that and pass it on to my American family.”
Now on the upper side of her seventies, Bastianich has no plans to slow down anytime soon. Just this month, she started testing all the pasta recipes she’ll be featuring in her latest 26-episode season of “Lidia’s Table,” with filming to begin in spring. And she still finds time to teach while also doing fundraising for various charities.
“Giving back is essential to me,” she says.
Given she goes back to Italy at least three times a year for both research and fun, it’s a demanding schedule. “But there are a lot of mothers and grandmothers who want to build the table again with family,” she says. “I want them to take command and be comfortable in the kitchen.”
As for closing the Pittsburgh restaurant bearing her name just before the pandemic? She misses the city, “but it was time,” she says. Eighteen years, she adds, “was a good run.”
Braised Cabbage with Onion and Garlic
PG tested
This simple dish from Lidia Bastinaich’s latest cookbook, her 18th, is perfect for winter cooking, when you can find beautiful heads of cabbage just about anywhere.
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6-ounce piece pancetta, diced
1 large onion, sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
1 small head green or savoy cabbage, cored and thickly sliced
Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon peperoncino flakes
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. When oil is hot, add pancetta and cook until it’s crisped, 3-4 minutes.
Scatter in onion slices and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they’re wilted, about 4 minutes. Add cabbage and toss to coat in the oil.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage starts to wilt, 4-5 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and the peperoncino. Add vinegar and 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the cabbage is very tender, 25-30 minutes.
Uncover and increase the heat to reduce away excess liquid until the cabbage is nicely glazed, about 15 minutes. Serve hot.
Serves 6.
– “Lidia’s From Our Family Table to Yours” by Lidia Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali (Knopf, 2023)
Corn and Bean Soup with Kielbasa
PG tested
Growing up in Istria, which is now part of Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, Lidia Bastianich ate many bean-based soups, especially in winter. This hearty soup marked the start of spring, when corn formed young new ears “and was sweet and crackled under our teeth,” she writes in her latest cookbook. Her grandma added cured pork to enhance the flavor and turn the soup into a two-course meal.
With its Polish roots, kielbasa is a favorite sausage in Pittsburgh, so this recipe seemed especially appropriate for a hearty winter soup. I substituted 3 cups of canned corn for fresh because it’s impossible to find fresh ears this time of year in Pennsylvania. I found dried red beans in the Latin aisle of my local grocery.
1 pound dried kidney beans
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 medium russet potatoes, peeled (about 2 1/2 pounds)
4 fresh bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon peperoncino flakes
1 1/2 pounds kielbasa, cut into 4 segments
4 ears corn, shucked, kernels removed, cobs reserved
Kosher salt
Pick over the beans for debris, place them in a large bowl and add water to cover. Let soak overnight in the refrigerator.
The next day, drain and rinse beans.
In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is wilted, about 5 minutes. Make a space in the pan and add the tomato paste to the spot. Cook and stir the tomato paste there for a minute, until it darkens a shade or two.
Add 4 quarts water, the beans, the potatoes, bay leaves and peperoncio. Bring the water to a simmer over medium-low heat, set the lid ajar, and simmer until the beans are almost tender, about 1 hour.
Fish out the potatoes and place them in a bowl. Mash them with a fork and return them to the pot. Add kielbasa, corn and corn cobs (if using fresh corn) and simmer until the beans are tender, 30-40 minutes more.
Remove bay leaves and corn cobs (if using) and season to taste with salt, depending on how salty the kielbasa. The kielbasa can be cut into small pieces and served in the soup, or can be served separately after the soup with a salad or vegetable.
Serves 8, with leftovers.
– “Lidia’s From Our Family Table to Yours” by Lidia Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali (Knopf, 2023)
Mushroom Ragu with Greens over Polenta
PG tested
Polenta is a classic and humble comfort food on Italian tables, especially in winter. Often served as an appetizer or side dish, it also can serve as the base for a terrific vegetarian entree, as in this dish.
Cooking polenta takes patience – you must continually stir it with a whisk as it cooks until you achieve a uniform, lump-free consistency. The heavier and larger the cooking pot, the better. Any leftovers can be fried the next day for breakfast.
For the ragu
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 leeks, white and light-green parts, halved vertically, sliced
2 pounds mixed mushrooms, such as button, cremini or oyster, thickly sliced
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 fresh bay leaves
1 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
For polenta
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 fresh bay leaf
Kosher salt
1 1/2 cup coarse yellow polenta
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup freshly grated Grana Padano, plus more for serving
For the greens
1/4 cup extra-virgin oil
5 slices garlic cloves
2 bunch escarole (about 1 1/2 pounds), leaves separated and trimmed
Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon peperoncino flakes
Prepare ragu: Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. When it’s hot, add leeks and mushrooms. Season with 2 teaspoons salt and the rosemary. Stir to combine.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are lightly browned and wilted, 8-10 minutes. Add bay leaves and stock. Cover and cook until the mushrooms are very tender, about 15 minutes more. Remove bay leaves.
Prepare polenta: Combine 6 cups water, the olive oil, bay leaf and 2 teaspoons salt in a large saucepan and bring the water to a simmer over medium-low heat.
Whisking slowly, stream the polenta into the pot through the fingers in one hand. Whisk constantly at this point, to avoid lumps. Once all of the polenta is added, adjust the heat so a few small bubbles pop to the surface. Continue to cook and stir, making sure you get the corners and bottom of the pan, until polenta is thick and pulls away from the sides of the pan, 30-35 minutes.
Discard bay leaf and beat in butter and cheese.
Prepare greens: Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add garlic and cook until it’s sizzling, about 30 seconds. Add escarole and season with 2 teaspoons salt and peperoncino. Toss well.
Cover and cook until the escarole has wilted, about 10 minutes. Uncover, and increase the heat to reduce away any liquid in the pan, about 1 minute. Remove and discard the garlic,
To serve: Spoon a mound of polenta on a plate, top with the escarole and then spoon the mushroom ragu over it all. Some grated Grana Padano cheese is a great finale.
Serves 6-8.
– “Lidia’s From Our Family Table to Yours” by Lidia Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali (Knopf, 2023)
___
