Lidia Bastianich/Diana DeLucia photograph

A master chef is offering a master class in Italian cuisine – who else could that be but Lidia Bastianich – who has a new book coming out Oct. 27 called “Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine — Everything You Need to Know to Be a Great Italian Cook.”

This is some comprehensive book – packed with some 400 recipes, including sections on ingredients, techniques, Italian culture and language, and a glossary.

Lidia was gracious enough to offer some time to chat with me during an interview for the Journal’s Great Tastes! section – you can read the story now online. She is as genuine in conversation as she comes across in her PBS TV series, which is a companion series to the new book.

Teaching is a passion for the beloved chef, who has visited the Hudson Valley on many occasions, whether teaching classes at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park or enjoying visits with family here, and picking apples and pears at local farms.

“I love to teach,” she said, passing along her passion for cooking “to the viewers that watch me and come to the restaurants. They say to me, ‘Lidia, I watch you, I feel more comfortable. I love cooking.’ This is what I am trying to get exactly at.”

Whether a novice or experienced chef, think of the book as a master class in Italian cuisine at your fingertips. Recipes are classical Italian, some Italian-American, many reworked and nurtured under the chef’s skilled hands. The reader is offered a full range of standard ingredients, such as meats and fish, vegetables and fruits, grains, spices and condiments along with advice on how to buy, store, clean and cook with them.

And I just had to share a photo my husband Michael took in April 2010, when Lidia and Grandma Erminia paid a visit to Adams Faireacre Farms in Poughkeepsie to sign copies of her latest tome at the time, “Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy.”

Lidia was so gracious, I could have chatted with her for hours at the time, but I had to move along so as not to hold up the line too much. No one seemed to mind, though, and I asked if I could have my photo taken with Grandma as well. Lidia said sure, Grandma likes that. So I got in between these two grand dames and asked Grandma if she would like to adopt a nice granddaughter, to which she replied, “Sure, why not, I love children.” Grandma was snacking on some sweet pastries and grabbed my hand, as you can see in the photograph. We all laughed then.

Lidia also has a new television special coming out in December, before Christmas, in which she is featured with American celebrity friends who have different ethnic backgrounds. She talks with them about how food plays out in their lives and memories – she even traveled to India with Padma Lakshmi for a segment. And then she cooks for all of them at her house – “all of those special memory foods” – as she said.

She is so genuine and charismatic, and offers a wealth of knowledge in her new book which she compiled with her daughter, Tanya Bastianich Manuali.

So here are two recipes Lidia shared from “Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine” – the Torta Gianduia is a must to make – chocolate and hazelnut marry together for a beautiful dessert!

And as my husband and I always like to do when watching her PBS show, raise a glass of wine when she offers at the end her hearty invitation: “Tutti a tavola a mangiare.”

Steve Giralt/Courtesy photo, from “Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine” by Lidia Bastianich. Copyright 2015 by Random House.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake

Torta Gianduia 

Serves 8

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, plus more for the baking pan

All-purpose flour, for the baking pan

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

¾ cup skinned hazelnuts, lightly toasted

6 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoons sugar

One 13-ounce jar chocolate-hazelnut spread, such as Nutella, at room temperature

Pinch of kosher salt

1 tablespoon brandy

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan. Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Let it cool slightly. Grind the hazelnuts in a food processor until they are fine but not pasty.
• In a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Add the sugar, and beat until the whites form stiff peaks, about 2 minutes. In a clean bowl, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and chocolate-hazelnut spread until light, about 2 minutes. Add the yolks, salt, and brandy, and mix until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and ground hazelnuts, and mix until smooth. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
• Stir about a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, and then gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Don’t overmix. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes, then open the spring and remove the side ring. Let the cake cool thoroughly before serving. Slide a broad metal spatula, or two, under the cake to separate it from the metal pan bottom, then lift and set the cake on a serving plate.

Steve Giralt/Courtesy photo, from “Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine” by Lidia Bastianich. Copyright 2015 by Random House.

Makes 4 individual pizzas

1 recipe pizza dough, made with only 1 cup water (find recipe on page 215 in the new book)

Sauce:

1 1/2 cups drained canned San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand or through a food mill

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Sicilian on the branch

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled 

Topping:

Kosher salt

1 pound fresh mozzarella

Fresh basil leaves

Freshly grated Grana Padano

Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing and drizzling<EL,5>

About an hour before you are ready to make the pizza, stir together the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl, and let the flavors blend at room temperature. Preheat one side of your grill to high (if your grill has a thermometer, have it between 500 and 600 degrees) and the other side to the lowest heat possible. Punch the dough down, divide it into four pieces, and let it rest on the counter and come to room temperature. Stretch the dough into four rounds (or ovals) of about 8 inches in diameter. Brush two sheet pans with olive oil, and lay the rounds on the pans, flipping once so they are lightly oiled on both sides.

Fish the garlic from the sauce, and discard. Depending on the size of your grill, you can make two or four pizzas at a time. Season the rounds lightly with salt. Slide the dough rounds from the sheet pans onto the hot side of the grill; it will stretch a little more as you transfer it, and that’s okay. Cook until the top blisters and bubbles and the bottom is cooked and charred in places, about 1 to 2 minutes, moving the dough occasionally if it seems to be cooking unevenly. Flip over to the cooler side of the grill with the bubbly side down. (A combination of tongs and a wide metal spatula are the best tools for this job.)

Quickly cover the pizza with sauce, then a thin layer of mozzarella. Add a few torn basil leaves, a dusting of grated Grana Padano, and a drizzle of olive oil. Cover the grill until the cheese begins to melt, about 1 minute. Always keep a watchful eye on the temperature and lower it if the dough is getting too charred. Open the grill, slide the pizza to the hot side, and cook until the underside is nicely charred, about 30 seconds to a minute more, moving the pizza around the grill as necessary to avoid burning. Using tongs, slide the pizza onto a cutting board, and serve.

Recipes excerpted from Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine by Lidia Bastianich. Copyright © 2015 by Random House. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be  reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Master the art of Italian cuisine with Lidia is a post from: Dish 'n' That