Lidia Bastianich, the most admired teacher in America of good Italian cooking, gives us her most instructive & personal cookbook yet. Focusing on Italian-American cooking--a cuisine of adaptation born of necessity--Lidia restores the true flavors to time-honored dishes, demonstrating a light, subtle approach & using authentic Italian ingredients that are now readily available. Old favorites, like veal parmigiana & spaghetti & meatballs, baked cannelloni & lasagna, pizza & gnocchi, take on new life. You'll find variations on familiar themes in her Scampi alla Buonavia & Clams Casino, & in dazzling pastas such as her Bucatini with Chanterelles, Spring Peas, & Prosciutto & her Cavatelli with Breadcrumbs, Pancetta, & Cauliflower. There are also many hearty meat dishes here, as well as substantial bean & pasta soups, an abundance of foods from the sea, & some sweet endings. Laced with stories about Lidia's own experiences since coming to America, & full of the instructive detail & warm, earthy personal commentary that have made her TV shows so special, this is a cookbook that is almost as much fun to read as it is to cook from.