Lidia Matticchio Bastianich - Lidias Favorite Recipes: 100 Foolproof Italian Dishes, from Basic Sauces to Irresistible Entrees

I want to thank my great team for the creativity, enthusiasm, hard work, guidance, ideas, testing, and tasting that have gone into creating this book.

To Jessica Freeman Slade, thank you for your enthusiasm, for fresh perspectives, and for your incredibly thorough editing. And dear Ken Schneider, thank you for pulling it all so diligently together. Thank you also to the newest members of my Knopf team, Peter Gethers and Christina Malach. I look forward to working on many more projects together. Thanks to my ever-dependable kitchen companion, Amy Stevenson, for her shopping, testing, and contribution in writing to the recipes for the book as well as for being our culinary producer for the companion TV series.

For capturing my food through his eyes, I thank Marcus Nilsson. For tying up all the efforts and hard work into a wonderful design, thank you to Carol Devine Carson, Kelly Blair, and Kristen Bearse. A special thanks to my old friend Paul Bogaards for his endless efforts in marketing and promoting my works.

Thanks to Robert Barnett and Deneen Howell from Williams Connelly (wc.com) for helping me when I most needed assurance and security. This book would not have happened without your guidance and counsel.

A constant support throughout my life, Erminia, my mother, is a source of wisdom and good laughs for me. Thank you to my daughter, Tanya, for being my researching and writing companion as well as my confidant and partner, and thank you to my son, Joseph, a solid business partner; a family to be proud of. And not enough could be said about my love for my five little darlings: Olivia, Lorenzo, Miles, Ethan, and Julia. They make all the long hours and hard work easy; they make me so proud to be a grandmother.

I also want to thank my strong office team, led by Shelly Burgess Nicotra, who has stood by me for the past fifteen years: Lauren Falk, together with Sara Eagle from Knopf, who have kept me and my book in the limelight during and after my promotional travels; Rebecca Fornaby, who has kept our website visitors and Facebook fans informed; and Meghan Liu, my assistant, who has kept me and my ever-changing calendar updated and on schedule.

I would also like to thank those who make my show on public television possible. Thank you to the American Public Television team for always doing a stellar job distributing my show. And thanks to the wonderful team at my presenting station, WGBH in Boston. Their enthusiasm is contagious and their professionalism is exemplary. My show would not be possible without my sponsors: Grana Padano, Colavita, Perugina, and Cento.

While I am on the road filming and researching, there is an army of people who work and make sure my businesses continue on as I would have them. For their dedication and hard work, thank you to the staffs of Felidia, Becco, Del Posto, Lidias Kansas City, Lidias Pittsburgh, and Eataly.

And a big thank you to all my viewers and readers. I am so pleased you enjoy and am ever so grateful for your appreciation of the work I do.

Mille grazie!

Lidia

Lidias Italy in America

Nonna Tell Me a Story: Lidias Christmas Kitchen

Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy

Lidias Italy

Lidias Family Table

Lidias Italian-American Kitchen

Lidias Italian Table

La Cucina di Lidia

Lidia Matticchio Bastianich was born in Pula, Istria, and came to the United States in 1958. She opened her first restaurant, Buonavia, in Queens, in 1971 and a second restaurant, Villa Secondo, shortly thereafter. Their tremendous success inspired her to launch Felidia in 1981 in Manhattan, followed by Becco, Esca, Del Posto, and Eataly (also in New York), and Lidias in Kansas City and Pittsburgh. She has developed a line of Lidias Pasta and Lidias Sauces, available across the United States.

Lidia Bastianich is the author of eight previous books: La Cucina di Lidia, Lidias Italian Table, Lidias Italian-American Kitchen, Lidias Family Table, Lidias Italy, Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy , and Lidias Italy in America (the last three with Tanya Bastianich Manuali) and her childrens book, Nonna Tell Me a Story. She has also been the host of several public-television series Lidias Italian Table, Lidias Italian-American Kitchen, Lidias Family Table, Lidias Italy, Lidias Italy in America , and Lidia Celebrates America and she gives lectures on Italian cuisine across the country. Lidia also has developed a very interactive website, www.lidiasitaly.com, where she shares daily recipes, pictures, information about seasonal products, tips, and personal stories. She lives on Long Island.

Tanya Bastianich Manuali s visits to Italy as a child sparked her passion for the countrys art and culture. She dedicated herself to the study of Italian Renaissance art during her college years at Georgetown and earned a masters degree from Syracuse University and a doctorate from Oxford University. Living and studying in many regions of Italy for seven years, she taught art history to American students in Florence, and also met her husband, Corrado Manuali, from Rome. Tanya co-created, with Shelly Burgess Nicotra, Esperienze Italiane, a custom-tour company devoted to the discovery of Italian food, wine, and art. Tanya is integrally involved in the production of Lidias public-television series and is active daily in the family restaurant business. She has also led the development of the website, www.lidiasitaly.com, and related publications and merchandise lines for tabletop and cooking. Tanya has co-authored three previous books with her mother: Lidias Italy, Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy , and Lidias Italy in America. In 2010, Tanya co-authored Reflections of the Breast: Breast Cancer in Art Through the Ages , a social-art-historical look at breast cancer in art from Ancient Egypt to today. Tanya and Corrado live in New York City with their children, Lorenzo and Julia.

APPETIZERS