Apparently today is National Italian Food Day, but being part Sicilian, I tend to lean toward the camp that everyday should be Italian Food Day. When I think of Italian food, one name immediately comes to mind: Chef Lidia Bastianich.
Confession time…we are addicted to Lidia’s cookbooks. We own all of them, use them regularly, have given them as gifts throughout the years and haven’t been disappointed in a single recipe we’ve tried. We’re long time fans of her various cooking shows on PBS and love how she still keeps things fresh with her current production, Lidia’s Kitchen. Over the years, her educational cookbooks and television broadcasts have changed how we cook. Simple tips such as toasting tomato paste and peperoncino in olive oil before incorporating it into the sauce makes such a difference!
We had the pleasure of meeting Lidia when we attended a cooking class & tasting she held at Eataly Chicago. The class was a birthday gift for my husband and we were lucky to sit front-row, center. I’ll fill you in on the wonderfulness that is Eataly in another post but wanted to share a few photos here, too:
On to the Ziti, Sausage, Onions & Fennel details…
One of our all-time favorite recipes of Lidia’s is quite the tasty one. I can’t even begin to count how many times we’ve made this over the last 10+ years and it is perfect for National Italian Food Day! The recipe was memorized moons ago & when our daughter is an adult she’ll look back at it, fondly, as being one of her favorite recipes since childhood.
We originally found the recipe in her book, Lidia’s Family Table.
The recipe is simple, but don’t cut corners as you caramelize the individual ingredients when adding them to the pan – a simple matter of timing, but oh so important to enhance the flavors. While we highly recommend getting your own copy of Lidia’s Family Table (tons of wonderful recipes), you can also view the recipe for her Ziti with Sausage, Onions & Fennel online at: Lidia’s Italy. It makes a lot, so you’ll need a large skillet – and if you have any leftovers, they heat up beautifully for lunch or dinner later in the week.
Happy National Italian Food Day!