HOME & LIVING
B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2021
Lidia Bastianich keeps it simple in her new cookbook
By GRETCHEN McKAY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Cookbook author, TV
host and celebrity chef
Lidia Bastianich is one of
the most famous Italian
cooks in the U.S. She’s also
a successful restaurateur,
with eight restaurants spe-
cializing in Italian and Ital-
ian-American cuisine.
Yet when she prepares
meals for her own family
at home, she’s like the rest
of us: She likes to keep
it simple, with straight-
forward, no-fuss recipes
that don’t require impec-
cable technique or fancy
ingredients.
Take cannellini beans,
for instance. Found in
every classic minestrone
and many Italian salads,
the white kidney-shaped
legume can also add an
inexpensive punch of pro-
tein to a plate of greens
or make a fi sh dish more
substantial.
“They are perfectly
good and delicious from
the can,” Bastianich says
on a recent phone call from
her home in New York.
Using food right from a
can or box (such as oven-
ready dried pasta) also
streamlines the cooking
process while eliminating
the pot and pans that tend
to pile up with scratch
cooking.
Her latest cookbook,
“Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and
a Bowl” (Knopf, $30), hit
store shelves on Oct. 19. It
has 100-plus homey and
easy-to-prepare recipes
that require fewer steps
and ingredients than her
previous tomes, but still
deliver incredible Italian
fl avor. As she writes in the
book’s forward: “Some-
times, you just want to
cook something that
doesn’t leave you with a
pile of dishes.”
This is Bastianich’s 16th
cookbook and arguably one
of her most user-friendly,
streamlined to be “as
straightforward to cook as
possible” and using a min-
imal number of pots and
pans. It was born, she says,
out of her desire to carry
on her relationship with her
fans, many of whom love
to cook along with her on
her various cooking pro-
grams at PBS Food and her
YouTube channel, Tutto
Lidia.
“I get this feedback,
‘You make me feel so
secure in my kitchen.’ “So
I can’t help myself. I think,
‘What can I give them
next so they stay in the
kitchen?’”
While the theme of sim-
plicity will likely reso-
nate with home cooks who
churned out three meals
a day at the height of the
pandemic, Bastianich actu-
ally started work on the
cookbook before the coro-
navirus shutdown. But
much of the testing with
her daughter and co-author,
Tanya Bastianich Manuali,
and longtime PBS culi-
nary producer Amy Ste-
venson was done during
quarantine in her home in
Queens, New York.
“I have a large house,”
she says. “We opened all
the windows and put the
masks on and that was that.
We worked around it.”
She chose to focus on
one-pot dishes — meals
made in a single skillet,
Dutch oven, baking sheet
or roasting pan — because
the approach fi ts the busy
times we live in. She also
liked the creative chal-
lenge of creating simple,
minimally messy dishes
with layered, harmonizing
fl avors.
That meant elimi-
nating as many chef secret
techniques as possible,
focusing on the timing and
sequence of ingredients,
and making cooks realize
it’s OK to substitute dif-
ferent vegetables or pro-
teins to accommodate per-
sonal tastes and budget.
For instance, she uses cod
in a seafood dish instead of
salmon or shrimp.
It also required con-
stantly thinking, “How did
my grandmother or mother
cook for the family?”
when she was growing up
in Istria, a mountainous
region of Croatia that was
once part of Italy.
“It was fun to be able to
use my years of experience
in a commercial kitchen
and traveling and synthe-
size it down to a simple
baking pan that everyone
can relate to,” she says.
The journey took her at
least one place she never
thought she’d go: Into the
Italian food aisle for oven-
ready lasagna noodles,
which she turned into a
knock-out skillet lasagna
recipe that comes together
in about 45 minutes.
While fresh is always
better, the process of
making dough from scratch
takes time and practice.
Bastianich was surprised
to fi nd how well dishes
turned out with pre-cooked
noodles and shells, so long
as you make sure there is
enough liquid in the baking
pan for the pasta to cook in
the oven. She stuff s them
with three cheeses, parsley
and scallions.
The chef also tried her
hand at Instant Pot cooking
for the fi rst time during the
pandemic, and gives tips to
readers willing to experi-
ment with adapting some
of the cookbook’s recipes
to the electric multicooker.
Almost all of the rec-
ipes can be served as a
one-course meal. Many
also could shine as an
appetizer or side dish in a
multi-course feast, or be
portioned and frozen for a
quick leftover dinner. All
are Bastianich favorites
that have their roots in the
Italian cooking the chef is
famous for.
Along with a chapter on
eggs, the cookbook dishes
up soup and salad recipes
with an eye toward season-
ality. It also takes a deep
dive into seafood and unfa-
miliar fi sh such as monk-
fi sh, which she cooks with
cannellini beans into a
savory stew. There also
are more than 20 meat and
poultry dishes.
You’ll fi nd a wide
assortment of primi pasta
and risotto cishes, which
are the cornerstone of
Italian cooking and per-
fectly suited for one-pot
cooking: chicken eggplant
parmesan, gemelli with
pesto and tomato, chicken
cacciatore and zucchini
bread lasagna, to name a
few. There’s also a recipe
the bottom of the skillet. Add 1
3/4 cups marinara with 1/4 cup
water and bring to a simmer
over medium heat.
In a bowl, combine ricotta,
1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup
grated Grana Padano, egg,
peas and parsley. Season with
salt and a pinch of red pepper
fl akes, and mix well.
Layer three of the noodles in
the skillet over the sauce. (I had
to break the ends to fi t.) Dollop
1/3 of the ricotta mixture on
top of the pasta in the skillet,
and spread it out to cover
noodles; then drizzle with 1/4
cup of the tomato sauce. Make
two more layers, ending with
noodles. Drizzle with remaining
1 1/2 cups sauce. Top with the
remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella
and 1/4 cup grated cheese.
Cover skillet and simmer until
pasta is al dente (test by pierc-
ing the center with a paring
knife), 20-25 minutes.
Preheat broiler. Sprinkle re-
maining 1/4 cup grated cheese
on top and broil the lasagna
until the top is nicely browned,
about 1 minute.
Let sit for 15 minutes before
cutting and serving so the lasa-
gna will settle and portions can
be cut more easily.
Serves 4.
— “Lidia’s A Pot, A Pan and
A Bowl” by Lidia Matticchio
Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich
Manuali (Knopf, October 2021)
Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-TNS
These cakey chocolate chip cookies from Lidia Bastianich’s new cookbook have a secret ingredient —
they’re made with ricotta cheese.
for pan pizza.
Ever the teacher, Bas-
tianich sprinkles tips and
tricks throughout, and
also off ers substitution and
serving suggestions.
“It’s for everybody, even
the beginners,” she says.
As for the cooking ves-
sels themselves, the chef is
quick to point out that her
book takes an “expansive”
view of one-pot cooking.
Some of the recipes actu-
ally require an extra bowl
or plate during prep,
cooking or plating.
Cooking, Bastianich
says, should always be fun,
welcoming and delicious,
as well as an expression
of your love and aff ection
for the people around your
table.
“I see the connection
when people get together,
and feel nourished in every
way,” she says.
She hopes her latest
cookbook will help home
cooks feel more com-
fortable in the kitchen
while realizing that good
cooking doesn’t have to be
complicated.
“It’s all about the com-
fort zone,” she says.
BEER-BRAISED
BEEF SHORT
RIBS
This is one of Lidia Bastian-
ich’s favorite recipes in her new
cookbook, “Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan,
and a Bowl.” It combines beef
short ribs, carrots and potatoes
in a rich beer broth thickened
with a pestata of almonds and
dried porcini mushroom — the
perfect dish for a chilly fall
evening.
I couldn’t fi nd short ribs at
my local market, so I took the
advice in the recipe headnotes
and substituted big chunks of
beef chuck and cut the initial
cooking time by about half.
Served with crusty bread
and a green salad, this makes a
hearty lunch or simple supper.
¼ cup dried porcini mushrooms
1 cup slivered almonds, toasted
3 tablespoons extra-
virgin olive oil
4 pounds bone-in beef short ribs
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 large carrots, cut into
1-inch chunks
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon chopped
fresh thyme leaves
2 fresh bay leaves
12 ounces dark ale
6 cups chicken stock, homemade
or low-sodium store-bought
3 medium onions, peeled and
cut into 1-inch chunks
1 pound small red
potatoes, halved
2 tablespoons chopped
fresh Italian parsley
Combine porcini and
almonds in the work bowl of a
mini-food processor. Pulse to
make an almost smooth pestata.
Heat olive oil in a large Dutch
oven over medium heat. Season
short ribs with 1 teaspoon salt
and several grinds of pep-
per. Brown short ribs all over,
removing them to a plate as
they brown, about 5 minutes
per batch.
Add carrots and toss to
coat in the oil. Cook carrots
until they begin to brown, 2-3
minutes, then make a space in
the pan and add the tomato
paste there. Cook and toast the
tomato paste in that space until
it darkens a shade or two, about
1 minute. Add thyme and bay
leaves, and stir to combine.
Add pestata and stir to toast
lightly, 1-2 minutes. Add beer,
bring to a boil and cook until
beer is reduced by half. Add
back the short ribs and add 4
cups of stock. Adjust the heat
so the liquid is simmering, set
the lid ajar and simmer until the
short ribs are almost tender, 60-
75 minutes.
Add remaining 2 cups stock,
onions and potatoes. Return
to a simmer and cook until ev-
erything is very tender and the
sauce is thick and fl avorful, 40-
50 minutes more. Stir in parsley,
remove bay leaves and serve.
Serves 6.
— “Lidia’s A Pot, A Pan and
A Bowl” by Lidia Matticchio
Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich
Manuali (Knopf, October 2021)
SKILLET
LASAGNA
Everyone loves lasagna but
a traditional recipe is tough
to make on a weeknight. This
skillet recipe comes together
in about 45 minutes using
oven-ready noodles.
For a heartier dish, Lidia
suggests adding a few crum-
bled links of Italian sausage or
browned mushrooms. If you
don’t like peas or simply want to
veg it up, add a few handfuls of
baby spinach to each layer. Be
sure to allow it to sit for at least
15 minutes before serving so
the lasagna can more easily be
cut into portions.
CHOCOLATE
CHIP RICOTTA
COOKIES
Lidia Bastianich gives an
all-American favorite Italian fl air
in this cakey cookie recipe with
ricotta cheese. Even my daugh-
ter, Catherine, who professes
to detest ricotta, loved how
it makes the cookies soft and
smooth.
1 stick unsalted butter, at
room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
8 ounces fresh ricotta
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups all-purpose fl our
2 teaspoons baking powder
Kosher salt
1 cup mini-chocolate chips
(or more to taste)
Confectioners’ sugar for
dusting, optional
]
Extra-virgin olive oil,
for coating skillet
3 ¼ cups marinara sauce,
homemade or store-bought
1 cup fresh ricotta
1 cup shredded low-moisture
mozzarella, divided
½ cup freshly grated
Grana Padano
1 large egg, beaten
½ cup frozen baby peas
2 tablespoons chopped
fresh Italian parsley
Kosher salt
Red pepper fl akes
12 sheet no-boil (oven
ready) lasagna
Heat a large nonstick skillet
over medium heat. Add enough
olive oil to make a thin fi lm on
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two baking sheets with
parchment.
Cream butter and sugar in
a large bowl with a handheld
mixer on high speed until light
and fl uff y, about 2 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium, and
add eggs. Beat until smooth.
Add ricotta and vanilla and beat
to combine.
Sift the fl our and baking
powder right into the bowl, and
add a pinch of salt. Mix on low
speed until just combined. Stir
in chocolate chips by hand.
Drop cookies in heaping
tablespoons onto the baking
sheets, leaving about 2 inches
between cookies, in three rows
of fi ve. Bake, rotating the trays
from top to bottom halfway
through, until cookies are
puff ed and golden at the edges,
about 18 minutes. Remove to a
wire rack to cool.
Dust cookies with confec-
tioners’ sugar before serving, if
desired.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
— “Lidia’s A Pot, A Pan and
A Bowl” by Lidia Matticchio
Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich
Manuali (Knopf, October 2021)
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