Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen

Lidia Bastianich, the most admired teacher in America of good Italian cooking, gives us her most instructive and personal cookbook yet, the companion book to her new 52-part PBS series of the same name. Focusing on Italian-American cookingÐa cuisine of adaptation born of necessityÐLidia restores the true flavors to time-honored dishes, demonstrating a light, subtle approach and using authentic Italian ingredients that are now readily available. Old favorites like veal parmigiana and spaghetti and meatballs, baked cannelloni and lasagna, pizza and gnocchi, take on new life. You'll find variations on familiar themes in her Scampi alla Buonavia and Clams Casino, and in dazzling pastas such as her Bucatini with Chanterelles, Spring Peas, and Prosciutto and her Cavatelli with Bread Crumbs, Pancetta, and Cauliflower. There are also many hearty meat dishes here, as well as substantial bean and pasta soups, and abundance of food from the sea, and some sweet endings. Laced with stories about Lidia's own experiences since coming to America, and full of the instructive detail and warm, earthy personal commentary that have made her TV shows so special, this is a cookbook that is almost as much fun to read as it is to cook from. With 16 pages of color photographs and 100 black-and-white photographs.