Grana padano cheese versatile and very italian. An italian family brand. Buon giorno buon giorno, benvenuti, to lidias italy in america. Today ill take you from the luscious new jersey garden state on the east coast, to california, the bountiful, green california on the west coast. These beautiful fields of silvergreen artichokes, and there i visited the pezzini farm, four generations of italians still growing artichokes there. And guido, who is the patriarch, i said, well, guido, what is your favorite way of eating artichokes . And he looked really kind of nostalgic, and he said, you know, my favorite way is when my mother made artichoke soup. So, lets begin. A little bit of olive oil, garlic you can chop them, you can slice them. Chopping them like this just lets out more and more of the flavor, so. The more you chop up a garlic, the more flavor youre going to get. So theyre just golden. A little shallots. Again, were building the flavors. Just a little bit of salt. And what i usually do, just so it disintegrates a little bit when it begins to be golden, i just take a little bit of the water. And that will begin to break things down. A little peperoncino. You know, thats, again, i think, my touch although, at the farm, basic italian elements where there, because, you know, thats what they needed to cook. And food, in ones culture, in ones roots, is one of the most important elements, because it transcends, you know . You lose the italian or the language within the first generation, most likely. But food transcends three, four, five generations. Keep those recipes, make notes, and pass them down through generations get them in the kitchen. Let me just kind of put the shallots and the garlic on the side so i have some nice, clear hot space to toast the potatoes right here. Okay, just a little bit of salt on the potatoes. And now lets clean the artichoke. And just pluck them off. You go down to the base. You can do that. If youre a little bit more adventurous, you can just go in and just cut them off, just like that. And you get to the heart. And these these are tough, as well, and then we have to go into the choke. And this is the choke that kind of spiny and dry. And you see the line right here, this is the heart of the artichoke, which we all love. So you go with a sharp paring knife right in there. And you get the choke out, like that. And you see how it oxidizes rather quickly begins to be black. Make sure you have a bowl of acidulous water, just like this, where you put the cut artichokes in there. Scrape off any of the beard thats in there. Let me just check the potatoes here. Okay. And small slices. Theres some great frozen artichoke hearts that you can buy, and it still would make a great soup. But, you know, the beautiful fresh ingredients actually cannot be replaced now im going to flavor it a little bit with one bay leaf, some thyme fresh thyme. Then well put in lots of leeks. Leeks are delicious for soup. Here i have some hot water, and well just pour it in. To that we will add the artichokes. Lets just fish them out of the water. And that will simmer away, covered, for about a half an hour, and it also really depends on the artichokes and some are tougher than others. Salt. Ill cover this. You bring to a boil then let it simmer for about a half an hour, ill taste it and well see if its done. In castroville, california, the artichoke capital of the world, tanya and i visited the pezzini farm, which is run by three generations of italian americans. Son, tony, and his father, guido, met us in the artichoke field what better place to talk about this delicious vegetable. So, tony, artichokes are a Good Business . It is a Good Business. And just growing up here, working in the fields every day, i just love walking through, just like my father, and just and its great to grow a good quality product, too. Isnt it . It really is. I mean, you know, as a chef, i appreciate so much what you do, and the people out there appreciate. Now, tell me, how much acres do you have . What kind of volume do you do . Right now we have about 100 acres of artichokes, and we do roughly between 75,000 and 80,000 cartons a year. Wow, thats a lot of artichoke i use a good part of it for my recipes. You do oh, good [ laughter ] lidia we walked through the beautiful artichoke field until we came upon a perfect specimen, a hardy artichoke plant with buds of many sizes. This is a beautiful specimen, and different sizes tell me about it what would this size be considered . Yes, we call this a number one, and this will turn into a jumbo size, or a large artichoke. And then further down the stalk and we call this the stalk you have your mediumsized, which are number twos. And this will produce three or four different sizes in the mediumtolarge category. And then further down the stalk you have your smallloose and largeloose. Oh, so, here, you have even the little ones look at this, the little ones. You know, i get those, i buy them at the store, and i just braise them i eat the whole thing, its like candy you can, theres no choke in the middle. Right. When is an artichoke ripe, ready to be picked . Well, the guys will go through and theyll look for an artichoke like this. You can tell its ready to pick because the leaves are starting to spread out, the inner part is not spread, so it is ready to pick. And let me pick this off for you. Okay oh, this is beautiful. So, tell me [ leaves squeaking ] its squeaking. So, when i know, and i look for an artichoke when i buy it, i love it when it squeaks. It speaks to me that means freshness, right . That means freshness, and also the stem, if the stem is rubbery, you know its a few days old. If its dry and if its wilted. Dry, rubbery, wilted, it wont squeak like and, certainly, when the leaves become a little brown, thats a nono. Thats a nono. That means its been around for a few weeks. Right. And with artichokes, its okay for the leaves to spread out, especially during the summer months they will spread out, but it wont affect the heart. The hearts will still be. Right, so you kind of peel them off, and then you cook them the way you want it. Yes, just like what you do, many different ways. Beautiful theyre gifts of nature. Verdura imbottite tanya or farcite. Farcite stuffed. Any way you put it, theyre stuffed. In italy, the ligurians were really great at this they had these recipes. Then, sort, it transported, like everything else, like the immigrants. The ligurians came they came into baltimore. Thats sort of where the ligurians settled first. But, you know, in new jersey, which is such an enclave of italians and vegetables, and the two just go together well. Yes, new jersey has, you know, a great climate. There are the jersey tomatoes and all the other beautiful vegetables that are grown there. From liguria, from the hill towns of liguria, they would have these great vegetables growing there, and when the immigrants came here, its really one of the first things they did, if they could find a little piece of land, is begin growing vegetables for their own family, these Backyard Gardens and things like that. And, of course, in a place like new jersey, that grew into a wonderful industry. Sure, sure, its the garden state, it produces, i think, three crops a year when we went to the maugeri farms, yeah. Yeah, they told us. So, you save all these pieces, you know . And that were going to put all that in the in the stuffing. So, im stuffing here an onion, some peppers, zucchini, even celery. You have two children, lorenzo and julia. Will they like Something Like this . My kids would like this. They like things that are stuffed with bread, or you could stuff sometimes they do it with ground meat, you know, so the kids like that. You know, my kids are fortunate in that, from a very young age, we kept vegetables on the table. It was just we like vegetables, so it was just part of everything that we did normally. So, theyre used to seeing vegetables. Its not like when julia turned six i surprised her with broccoli shes always eaten it, so it goes down fine. This, in particular, because you have the cheese and it gets a little crunchy in the oven, so its kind of, like, camouflaging the vegetable a little bit, but. Youre adding another dimension, some texture, flavors. Like this onion, you see . Im just kind of scooping it out. Im going to use that, but were going to put the stuffing right in here. Put that there. And ive separated the vegetables like this. First of all, because theres a lot of volume, but also because some take longer to cook. These will cook faster than that, so we put them in a separate venue and we bake them more. Zucchini, readily available, certainly, you know. Economical, its not expensive, yeah, sure. So just just kind of, you know, make a pocket for yourself. And even the celery, it cooks very well. You know, i mean, just braising it with tomato sauce. [ sizzling ] okay, oh, the soup the soup is acting up. Do you want me to squeeze this out . Yeah. So, now, is it nice and wet . Its wet, ive been putting a little pressure on it. So, squeeze it out, put it in here, and then im going to chop all of this and were going to put it in the stuffing, and then we have a whole other slew of things to put in. So, another element, i think certainly the genovese are very known to be frugal, because using everything in the kitchen, in this case were using the bread and you dont go out and buy fresh bread to do this, you use the bread that you have thats leftover. The crustier the bread, the better it is. Okay, let me just work away at this. Okay. Okay, so, we have a little bit of chopped provola. You know, melted cheese is always good in stuffings. A little bit of grated cheese. A little bit of scallion just to give it that freshness. And scallion is another one of those underused vegetables, and its yearround you get the freshness of the green, and its not expensive. Parsley. Okay. Just a little bit to kind of tighten it all up. Go ahead. Give it a good, good make it into a mesh, kind of. So, i will just season these, because well bake them right into in these pans. So, lets do a little bit of salt. Mmm. I didnt put any salt there. It smells delicious just even like that. Already. Yeah, with the olive oil and parsley and scallion. You see how simple it is . A little bit of i think the kids would, like, enjoy stuffing Something Like this, too, and i find that if they cook it, they eat it more willingly because theyve participated in it. This is an ideal dish to get them involved. You know, you have it all clean. Theyre getting to smell them and see the vegetables, and, ultimately, i think the feeling of accomplishment that theyve kind of worked at it, it really is okay, so, let me just you know, i mean, stuffing you know stuffing. Not too much, just like that. Well put it right in there. I will toss these. I just love it, you know, when the onions kind of really roast and become sweet, and the stuffing gets crunchy on top. And you can do this with those fabulous maugeri farm tomatoes, too. Ah, okay so i have a little bit leftover, im just going to top it off here, and anyone thats missing. Thats right, press it in. A little extra stuffing. Yeah, dont let it go to waste. And then we will drizzle it a little bit with the oil. Just like that. And lets top it with some cheese. Just a little bit. And Everybody Loves cheese, of course. Everybody loves cheese. Okay, well cover it with some paper. Okay. Okay, so you. Cover it tightly, like this. You put it in a preheated 400 oven, and you leave it for about 20 minutes to a half an hour, depends on how big the pieces are. You look at it, you uncover it, and you let it get crusty for another 10 to 15 minutes, you pull it out. I mean, you could serve it hot. I love it at room temperature, you know . So, thats great. Thanks, tanya. My pleasure. And youll get one of these. Ill be back to eat some. Oh, you will . You want to take some home for the kids . Sure. Okay. Tanya and i had the great pleasure of visiting the maugeri family of maugeri farms, a thirdgeneration italianamerican owned farm, at their home in woolwich township, new jersey. Joe maugeri, jr. , greeted us. Thank you for having us in your home my daughter, tanya. Your gorgeous farm. Beautiful. Lidia maugeri farms provides delicious new jersey produce to local restaurants and Grocery Stores across the nation. So thats anna . Hey, anna, youre the matriarch here, huh . How are you doing . So nice to meet you mama anna maugeri served tanya and i a wonderful lunch of roasted peppers, eggplant parmigiana, tomato and cucumber salads, and a platter of chicken cutlets thrown in for good measure. All the produce was freshly picked that morning at their farm. Allora, thank you for having us, salute, buon appetito. It felt like a homecoming, a welcoming like my mother would prepare. But we came to the garden state to see the vegetables in all their glory in the fields. So joe and his son, cameron, took us to see the seemingly neverending bounty of wonderful tomatoes. So, tell me, how many acres do you have here . I believe theres about 20 acres in this field. So, how long will you be picking . Because i see some very green ones do you pick every day . We pick usually every other day. We try and pick half of the field each day. When the tomato first starts to turn we call them breakers, because its just starting to break a little bit of color, and we pick them just past breakers. So, they have a little bit of color, but far from ripe, because we have to have time to pack them and ship them to the customer. If we pick them red, by the time they got to the table, theyd be mush. Lidia and then i got to work, harvesting some myself. This is perfect. Yeah, i try to tell the men its anaranjado its turning starting to turn orange. Just when it turns orange . And this will have, now, what, four or five days and by the time it gets to the market, its red. Exactly. And it doesnt need any special, uh, place to mature or anything, just no, no. Beautiful. Dont refrigerate them. Yeah. Never refrigerate. Dont refrigerate. Never refrigerate. Right. Okay. Ah im getting to sweat im working up a sweat, here cameron me, too [ lidia laughs ] lidia a great, simple salad of radicchio, goat cheese and raisins. So, radicchio the radicchio di chioggia, and radicchio trevisano both are really readily available in the markets. Chioggia and treviso are two different cities in italy, and, you know, this belongs to chioggia, this belongs to treviso. But whats wonderful about this and certainly theres plenty of it now, even growing out in california. But whats great, this is from the endive family, it has the bitterness. So, if youre used to endives, uh, you know, those white basically, theyre the same family, and you know, that kind of crunchy and bitter taste. And it makes a great salad. So, chioggia this one is the one that, maybe, youll find more in the stores. Its very simple you wash it, of course. You take out any of the outer leaves if theyre old. Then you just cut out the core. Just like that almost like a cabbage. You just shred it. And you can shred it larger or smaller, depends on on how your family or guests like it. What i have added here to this salad is and it could be endless. I added goat cheese, because thats a great, kind of, pronounced flavor, nice acidity. But gorgonzola cheese or bleu cheese could be just as good. There. So, here we are. And, basically, you know, just make a salad out of it. I have some raisins that have been soaking in the balsamic vinegar, so im going to just put it all in, raisins and the balsamic vinegar. Olive oil. Salt. Just a little parsley for, kind of, another color element. And goat cheese and im going to break it in like this, now, and even big chunks. But ill leave some, also, for the topping, crumbling it like this. So, lets toss it now. And get yourself a big i mean, i made it here for for, uh. A table full. Okay, so let me plate it for you now. So, im going to showcase it on a nice, wide bowl. The cheese is evenly spread. The raisins are throughout. Take a little bit for me, because i want to taste it. Okay. And, maybe just crumble some more goat cheese on top, just like that. And i think thats. Thats enough. Put a little bit on my own. Okay so, oh, im going to get this spoon, because here you have all the let me let me just eat it with the spoon. Mmm. Really good. Bitterness of the radicchio, and then you get the sweetness of the raisin; balsamic vinegar, and then, of course, the complexity of the goat cheese. Delicious salad. The soup is ready, vegetables are done, i made a salad, and tanya im back im back to taste it all. Ah, you see . You see no, you helped. You helped, so its always nice. Well, we have a little lunch teteatete, you and i its beautiful. So, what would you like . You like a little, um, olive oil in the soup . Some formaggio . Uh, yes, i would like a Little Olive Oil and formaggio. And im going to serve the vegetables. Which one do you want for yourself . Oh, its up to you. Im going to give you a piece of celery. Okay and an onion, and, uh, what else . Uh, a pepper. Yeah, yeah. I think id like a pepper. Okay, so, lets taste the soup first. I am kind of. You know . Guido and his soup, you remember . You were there with me. I was there that was adorable, with all the dogs running up and down, checking out the artichoke plants, and guido was so cute. Good soup. You know, really good soup. Mmm thats delicious and how soft all the artichoke is yeah. Okay, tell me what you think about the celery. And. Okay, im cutting it all up. Mmm do you like the celery . Mmhmm isnt that good . Thats delicious. Mmhmm so, let me taste the celery. Mmm. Mmhmm mmm. Nice and crunchy. My pepper comes with a piece of onion. Delicious really good. Mmhmm. Nice and crunchy. Now, this one is really crunchy, i left it on top the cheese, its like having, you know, that cheese crisp, almost. Really, really good. I think we did a good job. So. I think we deserve to toast to ourselves. Absolutely to ourselves, to our family well invite them all over. But weve forgotten somebody. Yeah. Go ahead . So, come join us tutti a tavola a mangiare yes, you heard the lady this companion cookbook, available for 35, contains every recipe featured in this season of lidias italy in america. The best of lidia dvd is also available for 19. 99. For 39. 95, well send you the cookbook and the best of lidia dvd, a 54. 99 value. To order, call 1800playpbs, or visit shoppbs. Org lidia. To get recipes, tips, techniques and much more, visit us online at. Established by the Italian Ministry for agriculture, food, and forestry policy, we promote and protect the italian agrifood system all over the world. We represent authentic, artisanal products from italy, buonitalia. Grana padano cheese versatile and very italian. A dark chocolate and hazelnut kiss from the heart of italy. When you have a good chunk of cheese, it doesnt always have to be like this it could be like this or like this or just like this. Mmm welcome to skyweek. Lets see whats happening in the sky from monday, july 22, to sunday, july 28. Two fine constellations are sidebyside in the south hooktailed scorpius on the right, and sagittarius to its left. Modern star charts usually show sagittarius as a teapot. Its an eyecatching pattern, even though none of its stars is super bright. But sagittarius means archer, and the bow and arrow are easy to picture if you visualize the stars that way. According to ancient greek tradition, the bowman was either the centaur chiron, or the satyr crotus. This is Tony Flanders from sky telescope magazine, wishing you clear skies and great views. Brought to you by. Manufacturers of telescopes and binoculars. Maybe you have some Energy Saving appliances, like an Energy Starrated washer and dryer. But what about your tv . Chances are its on more than your washer, dryer, and Kitchen Appliances combined. Did you know that if half of us in the u. S. Replaced our regular tvs with an energy star model, the change would be like shutting down a power plant . You can find the energy star on everything from standard to high def to the largest flatscreen your heart desires. Ow that makes sense. Gcgcww hi. Im rachel. Come join my friends, alex and leah and hopkins, for signing time leah uses american sign language. Well teach you some. Come sign with us. Theres singing time and dancing time and laughing time and playing time and now it is our favorite timesigning time its signing time with alex and leah