Chefs Bastianich explores regional Italian cuisines

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Chef Lidia Bastianich explores the lesser known regions of Italy and serves up recipes in her new cookbook that highlight the complexity of the country's history and cuisine.

In "Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy," the award-winning US chef includes recipes from regions such as Valle D'Aosta and Sardinia which have been influenced by neighboring France and Spain.

The 62-year-old, who was born in Pula, Croatia, spoke to Reuters about her passion for Italy, collaborating with her daughter and saving cheese rinds.

Q: What do you want people to learn from your latest book?
A: "This particular book I have really chosen the less traveled roads in the regions of Italy. The jewels, the flavors and the intensity they have to offer on the table. Italy was first homogenized into one country, and slowly the regionality came out. The focus has always been on Tuscany and Veneto and maybe Rome and Naples. There are jewels in Italy that have so much to offer and which haven't been explored."

Q: What make these regions special?
A: "These regions not only reflect their topography and climate, but reflect their border situation and different occupations. Valle D'Aosta, which is a drop between France and Piedmont, is very French in their cooking and even the speaking. There is also a German-Slavic influence -- the sauerkraut, the horse radish. Beer is drunk. Then you go down to Basilicata, the in-step of the peninsula, and Calabria, the tip of the boot. You had the Greek occupation, couscous and all those flavors."

Q: What is the contribution of your daughter Tanya (who has a PhD in Italian art history) to the book?
A: "With each chapter, I come into it by talking about the positioning, the topography, the food, the artisans and parts of culture left behind from the occupations. What they also left behind is art, statutes and architecture, so that's what Tanya follows through. When people visit these places, they can also explore these archeological and art sites."

Q: You speak about cooking from the heart in the book. Do you have to have a heart of an Italian to cook Italian cuisine?
A: "We have quite a few restaurants. Not all the chefs are Italian. The reality is that Italians are not immigrants anymore. Who is going to carry on this culture in America? That's why I feel like such a mentor to these young American chefs and the public. I take my chefs regularly to Italy because the enthusiasm of young Americans to become chefs is just wonderful. I feel chefs are using the Italian culture, Italian products and Italian cuisine in the most wonderful way, even if they don't cook Italian food. You see the influence permeating in every ethnic cuisine."

Q: You are passionate about not wasting food, even water. What advice do you have for the home cook?
A: "Cooking the vegetable, fish them out, and cook the pasta in the same pot. Another one is save the cheese rinds of grano padano or parmigiano reggiano and throw them into a soup. If you have enough of them, it creates a wonderful stock."