(lively music) - All right, we're back in the kitchen, which is where I love to be.

- What's the most important ingredient?

- Yeah, you gotta put the love in.

Yeah.

- The love, okay.

(lively music) (audience applauding) - Hi, and welcome to the kitchen, where we love to play around.

I'm Chris Fennimore.

- And I'm Nancy Polinsky.

Buon giorno.

- Buon giorno, because, today, buon giorno is right.

That's all you hear in Rome.

We're gonna celebrate the cuisine of Rome.

As Nancy knows, my daughter Mary Ann moved to Rome about nine years ago, and I started to go and just visit her, and, you know, I've done all of the sights and such.

- The touristy things.

- The touristy things.

You know, I've been to the Piazza Navona, and to the Trevi Fountain and whatnot, but now I go, actually, for an extended period of time.

- Yeah, your visits got longer and longer and longer.

- They got longer and longer as my grandsons got older and older and there was more to do with them.

So, now I go there and spend two months of the winter there.

- Oh, how lovely.

- And, it's funny.

You asked about it.

The weather in Rome is, the average temperature in January, in February?

- Yeah?

- 55 degrees.

- Oh my gosh.

That's perfect for winter.

- I know, and- - You get to throw on a sweater, but you're not shoveling.

- So now that I'm not doing touristy things, I concentrate on going to the little market, not a little market, it's a huge market, right near my apartment.

It's called the Mercato di Testaccio, and in the mercato are all these artisans.

They're not just purveyors, these people are artists, and whether it's their knowledge of vegetables, their ability to cut beef, to fix fish for you, and there's several of these purveyors of each one of those things.

- Oh, wow.

- And so I thought, "This would be a great topic for a cooking show," and for a book, which we put together.

- Oh, yes.

- And the "When in Rome" cookbook has 100 of the most fabulous recipes from Rome, authentic things, and we're gonna make a few of them here to give you an idea, and one of the simplest, easiest, quickest, and most pervasive dishes that you'll see is called a Caprese salad.

We're gonna start with the first courses and whatnot.

- And it's one of my favorites.

- Yeah.

- I love that.

When I see it on a menu, I order it.

- So you get some nice, ripe, red tomatoes.

I cut some up, and if you would start to do an overlapping ring around the outside of the thing.

- Oh, happily.

I'm gonna cut a few more.

- [Nancy] Oh my gosh.

These are beautiful.

I don't know if you grew them or picked them, but you did a great job.

- [Chris] No, you know, I don't grow tomatoes anymore.

- [Nancy] Aw!

- I just go to the farmers market and let them worry about, you know, whether there were bugs or not, and you get these beautiful things to work with.

- They are gorgeous.

- Yeah.

- Now, this mercato that you go to in Rome, I'm sure it's just bustling with people and activity and life.

- It is.

It is a way of life for a lot of the people there, especially the retired people, who have more energy than than you can ever imagine.

- Well, they're getting sleep.

- I get to the market, and there's already a whole gang of people sitting at the little coffee shop in the center.

- Yeah?

- And they're thinking about what they're gonna buy and what they're gonna eat that night and whatnot, but- - And they shop daily.

- They shop every single day.

- They just buy for the day.

- That's right.

- I love that.

- And you can get, when you go to a place, if they have beautiful tomatoes, then you go, "Caprese salad."

If they have beautiful eggplants, you go, "I'm gonna make caponatina for dinner."

- Ah.

Say that again?

- Caponatina.

- Caponatina.

- Or caponata.

All right.

- Ah.

- You finish this off and that.

- [Nancy] Beautiful.

- Now I'm gonna cut some mozzarella.

This is fresh mozzarella, and there's a big difference.

You don't want to have, like, deli-sliced mozzarella.

It's fine, it's not a bad cheese, but it's not for this dish.

This dish is all about freshness.

- [Nancy] The real deal.

- [Chris] Yes, so spend the extra and get fresh mozzarella, and you're gonna put this in between the slices of tomato.

- [Nancy] Absolutely.

Now, remind me.

Mozzarella.

Sheep, cow, goat?

- Oh, it is cow's milk cheese.

- Okay.

- [Chris] And they make the curds, and then they make it fresh every single day.

- At this market or in in general?

- No, in general.

This market, there are some people who are making fresh cheeses right there.

- Oh, wow.

- But, there's also three or four places, formaggio places, where you can get, they say, you know, this cheese will be here on Wednesday, you know?

You can get stracciatella on Wednesday.

You can get the fresh mozzarella from Sardinia on this day.

So, it's quite amazing.

- [Nancy] Hm.

- [Chris] I'm gonna do one more.

- [Nancy] Okay.

- So we don't land short here, right?

- No, no.

Every piece has to have one, otherwise- - Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

- [Nancy] You're not getting all the flavor.

- [Chris] All right.

- [Nancy] Oh my gosh.

- [Chris] Yeah, this market is amazing, but it's also, you know, it's not the only market in Italy that- - [Nancy] No, of course not, but it's the one that that's become near and dear to you, so that makes it near and dear to us.

- Yeah, and you get to know the people, you know?

So, you go up to the stand and you say, "Oh, Delia, I need some meat."

"Oh, sugar, what are you making?

How many people?"

That's what they wanna know.

- Oh, really?

- And you don't say, "I want a pound."

They wanna know how many people.

- How many do we need to feed?

- Right.

I'm gonna put a little- - Here, there's an extra one there.

- Yeah, that little chintzy one.

Okay, now if you break off some leaves- - [Nancy] Oh, fresh basil.

- Mhm.

And just put those in between.

- Yes.

The whole leaf?

- Yeah.

- That's how we do it.

- And, you're putting it right on top of the mozzarella, right?

- Yeah, oh.

- Okay?

- [Nancy] Colors of Italy here.

- [Chris] Yes.

- [Nancy] No wonder it's a national dish.

- [Chris] Isn't that something?

- [Nancy] Oh, mm, that basil smells so good.

(Chris laughs) Mm.

- Yeah, and a lot of people have this growing on their balconies or out their windows.

It's funny.

In Rome, you get to know what everybody wears- - That's because they're airing their laundry out.

- Because they hang their laundry out their windows.

- Yeah, but it's such an energy-efficient way to do your laundry.

Just put it out on the line and let the sun dry it.

- They do.

There's a lot of things that we could learn from the way of life that you see in Rome.

- [Nancy] Well, yeah, it used to be that way in America, too.

Everybody, when I was a kid, we hung the laundry out on the line and then went and collected it a few hours later.

- [Chris] One more.

I got this.

Okay, now.

- We're all good?

- We're all good.

Now, I need a little bit of the olive oil.

- I'm guessing that.

- No, this is the white wine vinegar.

- Oh!

- The olive oil is the front one.

- Sorry.

- Little front runner.

- There it is.

- Okay.

- Okay?

- And I'm gonna measure it very precisely.

- [Nancy] I see that.

- [Chris] But, also, you should not land short, because- - [Nancy] Wow, that's a lot.

- It's not just to cook with.

It's a flavor.

It's a taste.

It changes the texture of everything.

- Oh, I'm glad you explained that.

- And it also, you know, spreads the flavors through.

- Okay.

- I'm gonna put some of this.

This is balsamic glaze.

- Oh, yes.

- And this stuff is dynamite.

I could put this on a shingle and eat it.

(Nancy laughs) - [Nancy] Yeah, I like it too.

Oh, nice, the way you're swirling it.

- [Chris] Well, yeah.

- [Nancy] Gives it a little oomph.

- A little flare, and you don't need much of this.

This stuff is really potent.

- It's a reduction, isn't it?

- Yeah, it is.

All that they do is get good balsamic and boil it down.

All right, a little bit of salt, and there's our Caprese.

- Oh my gosh.

- Now, we have a few minutes, so I want to jump to another salad.

- Okay.

- Which is one of my favorites.

You got some work cut out for you.

- I have some work to do?

Okay.

- Yeah, I'll take these, 'cause I think they're already, yes, they've already been, what you need, this is a celery salad, a great appetizer, part of an appetizer board, that you would put together before a meal, and what you wanna do is to peel the outside of the- - Which I don't usually do.

Why are we doing this?

- [Chris] Well, you're doing it- - [Nancy] Should I have been doing this all these years?

- [Chris] There are these long strings that run on the outside of the celery.

- Yes, I'm aware of them.

I eat them.

- I know, you can, there's nothing inedible about them, but when you do this, it makes the salad a little more tender.

- Ah, okay.

- That's all.

- You teach me something new every time, Chris.

I love it.

- You know, we always talk about that.

You know, when you come into a kitchen, expect to learn something.

Even if you're cooking by yourself, you're gonna learn something.

Oh, I should have done it this way.

I should have done it that way.

And then when you're with somebody else, you learn all of the stuff that they know, so it's nice to cook with people.

I love cooking with my grandsons, Tobias and Solomon.

- How old are they now?

- Oh, six and nine.

- Oh, such great ages.

- I know.

- I mean, they can really help you out in the kitchen.

- They do.

They do, especially Tobias, who's the older, but the only problem with Tobias is he wants to make stuff up.

He doesn't wanna cook the regular stuff.

(Nancy laughs) - So, are one of his recipes among the 100 in the book?

- Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Well, we make all of this stuff together.

- [Nancy] No, I meant a recipe that he created.

- [Chris] Oh, no, no.

- [Nancy] When he wants to do things his own way.

- [Chris] He has the same rule that I had when I was little.

My mother said, "If you want to cook, that's fine, but you've gotta eat it."

- [Nancy] Fair enough.

- [Chris] All right.

- [Nancy] So, these recipes in the book.

- [Chris] Yes?

- They're recipes that you have created, or vetted or are from family?

- Some from doing the show, our shows for the last 29 years.

- Ah, so they're all delicious.

- Yeah.

All right, if you get the olives now.

- Olives, which I'm gonna admit, I hate to say it- - You're not an olive fan.

- Never a fan of olives.

- Well, these are, they're not Roman, they're Sicilian, but you can get them in Rome.

The Sicilian, by virtue of the type of thick-skinned olive that it is- - Yes.

- And the fact that they spice them in a certain way.

When I was a kid, we used to get the job of smashing these with a coffee cup, and then you would have to, you know.

- What?

- But they're seeded, I mean.

- Oh, I see.

Okay.

- They pitted now.

Yeah.

- That's how you got the pits out.

I wasn't following that.

- So, if you would now mix all of this together.

- The celery and the olives?

- The celery and the olives, 'cause those are the two- - Okay, and roughly how much celery is this?

- Hm.

- Three cups?

- Yeah.

- About three cups.

- Well, maybe four cups.

- For people like me that need a recipe.

- Oh, yeah, and the recipe does stipulate ratios in the cookbook, you'll see.

- Okay, yeah.

Okay, and now the olives, which are not cut tiny.

You kept them big.

- [Chris] Yeah, big chunks.

- [Nancy] Big chunks of olives.

- And you're gonna put some white wine vinegar.

- That's what I had before.

Okay.

- All right.

- Carefully measured.

That looks like about a half cup.

- [Chris] It'll say it on the olive salad.

We have the recipe over there.

- Oh, that's right.

We do have the recipe right here.

So let's give you the exact.

One pound of olives.

One head of celery.

A quarter cup of olive oil.

That was more than a quarter cup.

- No.

- And a quarter cup of red or white wine vinegar.

- That was about a quarter of a cup, but I'm gonna put a little more.

You could make a little version of this, you could make a big version, but I'm gonna put the- - [Nancy] The quarter cup of olive oil.

- [Chris] The olive oil in here.

- [Nancy] Bleh!

- Spillage!

Okay, and that's it.

So, now, we have two salads to serve with some nice, fresh bread, which they have at the market, too.

They have all these bakeries where you can get nice fresh bread.

So, we have the olive and celery salad, and a Caprese salad.

- Oh, yum.

- And we have 100 recipes.

We have, you know, 98 more recipes.

- 98 others, yes.

- Other recipes than this, in our brand-new "When in Rome" cookbook.

(audience applauding) So here's how you can get it.

- And we are so excited to get things underway with those two amazing salads that will get your meal underway.

That Caprese salad.

It smells so amazing already in this kitchen.

We are really pumped to get going throughout this day.

Just two of the 100 recipes available to you in this cookbook by Chris Fennimore.

"When in Rome," it is called, and here is how you can get it.

100 recipes in here for $8 a month.

Call the number that's on your screen, or you can go to your computer or smartphone, go to the website of your public television station, click to donate $8 a month for a year, and you will get this cookbook and become a sustaining member of public television and get all of these recipes and answer the question that you get every single day from your loved ones, "What's for dinner tonight?"

The answer is here.

It's in these books and so many more by Chris Fennimore.

For just two more dollars a month, at $10 a month, you get "When in Rome," along with "G is for Garlic," one of my favorites.

And then, for $15 a month, you get "When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," plus "Appetizers," all by Chris Fennimore.

They are beloved all around the nation, and some of these foods are just incredible.

This salad in particular.

First of all, it's so simple, but it makes you look so sophisticated when you serve this salad with the right ingredients, Chris.

- Yeah.

Help yourself.

This is one of the things that you don't get.

You don't get a taste of it.

You gotta make it yourself.

We don't have aroma TV yet.

We're working on it, but Sam can ooh and ah on your behalf.

One of the reasons why I included this recipe, is that it is the epitome of the Italian or Roman philosophy of cooking, and that is that you have the best ingredients and let them speak for themselves.

So you have fresh, ripe tomatoes.

If you don't have a ripe tomato, you don't make this salad.

You have fresh mozzarella.

It's creamy, great texture.

You have fresh basil with the aromas and the pungency of it.

Then you have balsamic vinegar and delicious olive oil, and, all of those, in and of themselves, are delicious.

When you put them together in this particular way, that's what the recipe is, but it's something that is not about technique.

It's all about great ingredients.

You can be one of those ingredients.

- Yeah.

How about that, Nancy?

- If fresh and great ingredients make a great dish, it is the same for this public television station.

Great ingredients.

The best shows are a result of the best writers, the best producers, the best set designers, the best performers, and you've come to count on seeing all of that here on public television, but all of that costs money.

Those writers have to be paid.

The producers have to be paid.

The actors have to be paid.

The locations have to be scouted in this movie.

The drama is shot there.

So, whether it's a cooking show or a dramatic show, it does take dollars, and those dollars are made possible by the members of this public television station.

I certainly hope that you are one.

If you are, thank you, but if you're not, this is the perfect opportunity for you to call and become a member, or click.

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Sam?

- All you have to do is call this public television station, the number on your screen, or go to their website, and just a couple of clicks away, you can get your hands on this cookbook, "When in Rome."

Chris gets to go to Rome every year to visit his daughter and his grandchildren.

My daughter just spent her junior semester winter in Rome, and she told me how amazing it was.

I missed out on the opportunity to go and spend some time with her there, but this is helping me feel a little bit better about it.

Here is how you can get this cookbook, plus so much more, in helping out this public television station.

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- We are just getting started in the kitchen.

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- Nancy, we're gonna go right back to the kitchen in just a minute and cook along with Chris again.

Two more recipes about to come.

We've already got two in the book.

The book includes 100 recipes.

It's called "When in Rome," and you can get it by supporting this public television station.

Just call the number on your screen, or go to the website, make a couple of clicks, and for $8 a month, you get "When in Rome," and you'll become a sustaining member of this public television station.

For $10 a month, you can get "When in Rome," along with "G is for Garlic."

And for $15 a month, you can get "When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," and "Appetizers," all by Chris Fennimore.

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Meanwhile, let's get back in the kitchen.

Chris and Jolina down there, and they are cooking up for us a fantastic dish called Carciofi alla Romana.

Did I pronounce that correctly, Chris?

(audience applauding) - Oh, boy, it's great to be back in the kitchen, and I'm here with a lovely friend of all of the cooking that we do, and a great cook in her own right.

- Thank you.

- Jolina Giaramita, and she's gonna make with us the most quintessential Roman dish that I can think of.

It even has Rome in the name.

- In the name.

- Because, you say it.

- Carciofi alla Romana.

- Carciofi is the Italian word for- - Artichokes.

- Artichokes.

- Yes.

- And I have to tell you, this is not the variety that they have in Rome, and I couldn't get the Roman variety for the show here.

- [Jolina] Right.

- They have smaller, longer artichokes, and they have them in such quantity that you would think that they're eating them breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because they're stacked up maybe four, five feet high in the market, and people are just like, "I'll take 28 of those."

You know, whatever.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- And sometimes they want them trimmed, and so all the people at the little markets are trimming and doing all the stuff.

- Yes.

- But this is a quintessential Roman dish, a quintessential Roman ingredient, and this is a perfectly simple, wonderful presentation.

- It is, and it's a delicious vegetable.

This is a globe artichoke, Chris.

So, this has been cultivated many, many, many years ago in Sicily, actually, where my family's from, and the origin is a cardone, they say, and it's the original, you know, of the artichoke, and it's been cultivated into this.

So the ones that you see in Rome are a little bit smaller, more delicate.

This is the globe.

This is what we have mostly here, and this is very intimidating to prepare.

- When you look at that, it's like a armored car.

- Yeah, exactly, exactly, but it's very simple.

- Because the real fruit of this thing- - Inside.

- Is all inside.

- You gotta get in there.

- The outside is just protective.

- It is.

It is.

- Yeah, okay.

- And there's a lot of different ways, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna start with just trimming the end, and we are going to take off these exterior leaves, and we're gonna do that just with our hands.

No tools needed.

- This was one of my jobs as a kid, and what I remember is that, one time, I did it and then my grandmother said, "Okay, now touch your fingers to your lips."

(Jolina chuckles) And she taught me a lesson, to never touch your fingers to your lips after you do an artichoke.

It is so bitter.

- It is.

- They make a liquor out of artichokes.

- [Jolina] They do.

- [Chris] It's like a bitter liquor.

- [Jolina] It's almost like a digestivo, yeah.

Oh, the name is escaping me right now, but I've had it.

It's very good and it's very mild.

It's not anything too strong.

- [Chris] But it is bitter.

- [Jolina] It is bitter.

- [Chris] Then they mix it with another sweet thing and you have a little cocktail.

- Right.

So you can, at home, if you don't wanna go in with the knife, you can try the peeler, and what you wanna do is just take away all the leaves that you've kind of gotten rid of that are tough.

You don't wanna eat those, you know.

They are edible, but they're just not very pleasant, and the dish that we're doing today, alla Romana, we're cleaning these and we're quartering them, which we have some already done, and what we're gonna do is we're gonna braise the artichokes with some lovely herbs.

Lemon, olive oil, garlic.

All those delicious, you know, aromatics that just give such flavor when you're cooking, and, when I was growing up, we would have stuffed artichokes.

- Yeah.

- And I was not a fan.

It's very intimidating, so I think this preparation is a little bit, you know, less scary.

Especially, you know, if you've got little ones, or people who are kind of finicky eaters, this is a nice kind of introduction.

I also like to grill them or roast them, and use a little aioli dip.

- Oh, yeah.

- That's fabulous.

And so we're gonna cut this in half.

Now, you can see, inside here- - Yeah, there's different layers.

- It looks like a little beard.

It looks like your mustache, Chris.

- [Chris] Yeah, that's the way I modeled my mustache.

- Yeah, yeah.

- That's it.

I never thought- - So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take that out.

- That's the choke.

- The choke.

- Yeah, of the artichoke.

- So I like to use a spoon, and just kind of gently, kind of get in there.

- [Chris] Because behind that choke is more of the heart.

- [Jolina] The heart.

- [Chris] And the heart is the soft, delicious- - [Jolina] That's right.

- [Chris] The most delicious part of it, which goes out onto the leaves at the very ends of them.

- [Jolina] Right.

- It's that same kind of consistency.

- Yep, so once we scoop all that choke out, and you've got it nice and clean, and then we're gonna just cut this in half to quarter the artichoke.

- Right.

- And then we're gonna put it into water with lemon.

- Right.

- And the lemon will stop it from turning brown, oxidizing.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- [Jolina] I hope I said that right, Chris.

- [Chris] I think you're right.

Jolina has more cooking experience than I do.

You grew up in a household of cooks.

Your mom.

- Sicilian cooks.

- Your dad.

- Yes.

- And they pressed you into service in their restaurant.

- They sure did.

- And so you've really done real cooking duty.

I only cook for usually, you know, 10 to 20 people.

You cook for 100 to 200 people.

- Yes.

- So it's a whole different scale.

- But, whether it's a few people or 200 people, what's the most important ingredient?

- Yeah.

You gotta put the love in, yeah.

- The love.

Okay, so let's get this outta here.

- Maybe I should have a special page in the cookbook that just says, "By the way, if you're not putting love in, it's not from Rome."

- Yeah, close it out.

Right.

Okay, so what we're gonna do, you know what?

Before I get there, I'm gonna chop my garlic.

We've got two cloves of garlic here.

- Okay.

- And we're just gonna give them a little chop.

- [Chris] Get more flavor out that way.

- [Jolina] Absolutely.

- We were able to get nice, fresh mint, but you called for fresh oregano, but we're gonna use some dried oregano in the replacement, but in your recipe, it says fresh, and if you can get fresh, woo.

- That's right.

- It's wonderful.

- And, you know, that's the great thing about preserving things and having dried herbs, that you can have them all year round.

You know, artichokes aren't in season all year round either, so, you know, a lot of people have developed recipes using artichokes, like, you know, very popular in America is that spinach and artichoke dip, you know?

- Mhm.

- You know, and it's a nice way for people to get to try something that maybe they would be too afraid to, you know, kinda go for that fresh one.

So we're gonna have our two cloves of garlic here.

Okay, and then what we're gonna start to do is we're gonna start to put all of these quartered pieces in here.

- [Chris] Can I chop the mint for you?

- [Jolina] Absolutely.

- Okay.

- Thank you.

- Just gonna take the leaves off the stem.

Some herbs, you can just use the stem, too, but- - These are gonna be no stem, because we are gonna make kind of a marinade in here.

So, we are going to do a little salt.

We wanna be, you know, a little generous, but not overly salt.

We can always check the salt later, and pepper.

We're gonna do a little bit of oregano.

I love fresh herbs.

I love dried herbs.

Any herbs are fine with me.

And then we're gonna squeeze a whole lemon in there.

Thank you.

- All right, I got this.

You want it finer than that, or?

- That's beautiful.

You wanna pop that right in?

- [Chris] Yeah.

- [Jolina] Perfect.

- Probably a little more here?

- Yeah.

- [Chris] Waste not, want not.

- [Jolina] That's right.

- [Chris] Okay.

- [Jolina] And then you're gonna squeeze this lemon.

I like to put my hand because we catch the seeds, and just get that nice lemon in there.

- [Chris] Hey.

- [Jolina] No seeds now.

- I like cooking with my hands, I have to tell you, so.

- That's right.

- But if you had a- - Yeah, you can use that absolutely.

- One of those things, you could turn that on there, and then the seeds would be- - Would be caught, yes.

- Yeah.

Sometimes you can get a little bit more that way.

These were good lemons.

They didn't have a lot of- - [Jolina] No, no, and then our olive oil.

Now, this is a little bit heavy on olive oil, but we're using this as our braising liquid, so it's okay, 'cause we're not adding any oil to the pan.

Would you mind turning that on for me?

- [Chris] Yeah.

- We wanna go a medium-high heat to start 'cause we wanna get them working and moving, and we're just gonna toss all this and just, you know, get everything nice and covered in this.

It smells so good.

- [Chris] It does.

- [Jolina] It really does.

- [Chris] I think it's the fresh mint in this case.

I don't know.

- Mint is just so versatile, and, you know, a lot of Mediterranean, and it goes to the north, you know, up to Rome, and, you know, it's just such a great, because it's almost like palate cleansing, you know?

When you have something in there to balance out the garlic and the oregano.

So, it's really nice.

So we're gonna put these.

We're gonna braise them.

- Okay.

- In this pan, so very gently.

We've got all of our liquid in there, too.

Gorgeous.

Okay.

- And, as they say, through the magic of television, we're gonna make believe this has braised for how long?

- Braised for awhile.

So, you know, 20 to 30 minutes.

We're gonna add some white wine as well.

- Okay.

- And, you know, and that's just gonna give it a nice- - And, again, just very carefully measured.

- Yeah.

- And you use, generally, a white wine for this?

- A white wine is nice for this.

Yeah, yeah, you don't wanna go with red.

That's gonna kind of change.

The white wine is gonna just give it that little pop of acid with the lemon juice and it's just gonna be really nice.

You're gonna cover that, you can stir it every once in a while, but you can just kinda let it do its thing.

- Yeah.

- You know?

- And, then, you end up with- - Yes, our finished, gorgeous.

It's hot.

Okay, beautiful.

Very lovely.

Oh, you smell that, Chris?

- [Chris] Oh my goodness.

- It smells so good.

- Everybody in the studio just took a deep breath.

They went- - Yes, it's fabulous.

Okay, I'm gonna plate- - [Chris] We're gonna put this out for you all to eat, so don't worry about it, okay?

- [Jolina] Yeah, I'm gonna plate some of this up here.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- [Jolina] And then... - [Chris] And then we can put a little in a bowl for us to eat?

- [Jolina] Absolutely, yeah.

- I want a taste of this, yeah.

- For sure.

(Chris chuckles) - Oh my goodness.

Jolina, that looks so delicious.

- Thank you, and it's a really easy recipe.

You shouldn't be intimidated by the artichoke, you know, in its natural form.

You don't need to just use canned.

You can use fresh.

You can do it.

It's very easy.

- Oh and it's so much better fresh.

- It is.

You can taste how, you know, the artichoke really tastes.

It's hot, Chris.

Be careful.

- Yeah, it is hot.

I can see it.

(Chris and Jolina chuckle) I've been here before.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Mm.

- Good.

It's nice and meaty, the heart.

Yeah.

That's the great thing about artichokes.

You've got the leaves that you can kind of pull, and then you've got that center, which is just, you know?

- This is so quintessentially Roman.

- Roman.

- Even made by a Sicilian.

- That's right.

- Even when a Sicilian makes it.

I'm just saying, but, Jolina, terrific.

- Thank you so much.

- Thanks for having me.

- Thank you for all of your support.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- And for coming on to share your kitchen wisdom with us, and she knows about the most secret ingredient, and that's love.

- Love.

- And that's what we're gonna talk to you about, is how you can show your love by becoming a member of your local station, and here's how you can get it.

(audience applauding) - Oh my goodness, those artichokes look so delicious, and that Jolina, she's just a bundle of Italian energy!

It's so good to have her in the kitchen, and so good to have you watching.

Thank you so much for spending your time with this public television station, and this wonderful show, "When in Rome."

If that recipe caught your attention, if the previous recipe still has your mouth watering, you're gonna wanna know about our "When in Rome" cookbook.

This is something that we are offering to those of you who become members of this public television station, at at least a sustaining level of $8 a month, and with that level, this cookbook with more than 100 recipes can be yours, and these are tried-and-true recipes that people have sent in, that Chris has collected, that are absolutely guaranteed to make your mouth water.

So I hope you'll take an opportunity now to call the number on the bottom of your screen, or click on the website, and become a member of public television, so that we can continue to bring you more of these great recipes.

I was gonna say shows, but let's go with recipes.

- You know, it was so much fun cooking with Jolina.

- Oh, she's something.

- She makes it all look easy, but we could not have done a program about recipes in Rome, right?

Without making carciofi.

- Oh, perfect.

- Carciofi is the Italian word for artichokes, and in the market, I have to tell you, when I walk through the market, especially 'cause I'm there in the wintertime, it is artichoke season, and the artichokes are piled up maybe four feet high.

- Seriously?

Just on top of each other?

- All on top of each other, and that's every fruit and vegetable stand has their own stack.

They come long, purple.

They come short.

This year, they had carciofini, which were just like little round ones that you could deep fry without trimming or anything.

- Oh my gosh.

- It was just perfectly.

I never even saw that variety here in the United States, but so we had to serve artichokes, or have them in there.

- Delicious.

- And there are about four recipes, I think, four different varieties of making artichoke in this cookbook, and you're gonna wanna have this for your family.

If you never ate artichokes, I know a lot of people who are in the states, never ate artichokes.

- No, no.

- This is the occasion to do it, because now you'll know how to cook 'em.

It's not hard and they are delicious.

- So good.

- Really different.

Sam?

- These recipes, 100 of them now, in this cookbook, and not only that, recipes that you can follow, recipes that you will enjoy eating, recipes though, that maybe, most importantly, will make you an absolute hero in your home at dinnertime.

They are going to love this.

You get your own recipe for fresh pizza dough, a recipe for fresh pasta dough.

Just amazing, and not only "When in Rome" at $8 a month, but for $15 a month, you get four cookbooks.

"When in Rome," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," "Appetizers," as well as "G is for Garlic."

Just some amazing recipes by Chris for you and your family to answer the question, that aging question, that age-long question, when you are adulting, that you have to answer every single night.

"What is for dinner?"

Call the number on your screen and get the answer to that question, and support this public television station.

- I love that verb, adulting.

That's what everybody's talking about today, adulting.

You know, it is the mission of this public television station, it's the mission of public TV in general, to serve all different facets of our society, all different audience groups.

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(lively music) - [Announcer] Enjoy the treasures of Rome right from your home.

Invest $8 a month or make an annual gift of $96 and we'll send you a copy of the "When in Rome" cookbook, with over 100 simple, classic Roman recipes for you and your family to enjoy.

Make Roman meatballs, pasta, salads, and more.

With a gift of $10 a month or $120, we'll thank you with two cookbooks, "When in Rome" and "G is for Garlic."

Both books are packed with recipes perfect for any family dinner.

Make an investment of $15 a month or an annual gift of $180, and we'll send you a four pack of cookbooks.

"When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," and "A is for Appetizers."

Filled with recipes for any occasion, these books are perfect for planning all of your meals.

Call or text the number on your screen now.

for access to hundreds of ways to fill your family's table any time of year.

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- And when you do, we wanna say thank you with cookbooks galore.

Again, I wanna remind you that "When in Rome" has more than 100 recipes in it, all with that fabulous Italian flair.

I wish you could smell what's going on here in the studio, but if you obtain this cookbook, as a member of your public TV station, and you cook any one of these recipes, your kitchen will smell as good as this studio smells right now.

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What a perfect accompaniment to "When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," and then at the $15 a month level, wow, you can go hog wild with "When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," and "Appetizers."

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We are here for you day in and day out, and all of this is made possible thanks to the members of this public TV station.

We are ready to go back into the kitchen now, where Chris has a very special guest.

It kinda runs in the family, as you'll soon see.

It's Chris and his son making cacio e pepe, cheese and pepper.

Take it away, Chris.

(audience applauding) - Oh, welcome back to the kitchen< and I am joined by somebody I really don't need to introduce to myself, 'cause it's my son, Joseph, and he's been coming and cooking with me here on these cooking shows since he was 18 months old, a little tiny guy.

You weren't talking then, either.

- No, I- - Oh, look, you're talking.

- I learned a couple of words.

- You learned a couple of things, yeah.

- Still had the full-size apron on, though, even at 18 months.

- We used to put you on a little stand and whatnot and the apron just went all the way to the floor.

It was great, but it's great to have you on the show.

We're doing a show about Rome, cooking in Rome.

Joe has been able to come and visit with me in Rome for the last couple of years, and, as a matter of fact, he's gonna join me again this year, and, now, he comes with his wife, Julie.

So, we have a great time, and they love to go and see all the tourist things and go in museums and all that, but my favorite time is shopping in the morning and then cooking together.

- And, believe me, our favorite part is also when we come back to what you're cooking up.

- That's right, and these things that we're gonna make now are, well, I'm gonna make two dishes, one more complete than the other.

One is called cacio e pepe, and I have to tell you, the Romans have pasta every day.

- Yep, mhm.

(Chris speaks in Italian) - Every day, pasta.

They either have it for breakfast, lunch, supper, snacks.

- Somewhere in between.

- And you can get it in any restaurant.

This first recipe is called cacio e pepe, which just means cheese and pepper, and they will make it for you at any restaurant, a big restaurant, a small restaurant, but it's so easy to make at home.

What we have here- - Step one.

- Step one, yeah.

You gotta drop the pasta, because this is not like spaghetti or something.

I like to use a nice, thick pasta.

This is bucatini.

You can also use perciatelli or any other kind of thicker pasta, and we're just gonna drop that into some boiling salted water.

Okay, now, well, wow, that is all that jazz.

We're gonna start making the sauce for that.

This is the cacio sauce, the cheese sauce.

In Rome, and in my house, we use Locatelli cheese, which is a sheep's milk cheese.

Very common.

It's called Romano cheese.

- Yeah, growing up, I thought Locatelli was its own thing.

- No.

- I was not aware that it was a brand of Pecorino Romano.

- Interestingly enough, most Locatelli now comes from Sardinia.

That's where it's made, but the Romans have like 40 other varieties of the Romano cheese that they can use, but this is the brand that we grew up with.

So, I'm gonna start just grating some of this into a little bowl, and, as I said, the recipe ingredients are so simple.

- [Joseph] So, you've got the Locatelli here, is the one cheese, and the other one that we have is the- - [Chris] Oh, yes.

- [Joseph] Is the Parmigiano Reggiano.

- I wanted to say something else, too.

This is Parmigiano Reggiano.

You can tell it by the fact that it says Parmigiano Reggiano on the rind, and that's what it is, and this is Locatelli because it says it on the rind.

When you get those little cans in the supermarket, all that tells you is that it has "hydro-franafram-kina-pone-pone" as a preservative, and "azena-franafram-pone-pone," all these different chemicals in there, and I'm going, "Where's the cheese?"

You know, I urge you to buy your cheese in blocks, and grate it just before you're gonna use it.

That's the way you get the full flavor out of it, and if there is anything we learned from "When in Rome," that is that you want the full flavor of the best ingredients.

- Yeah, because the recipes themselves don't have an incredible number of ingredients.

They're not complex stages to throw together, They're simple to make, but they are made great by the selection of the best available ingredients that you can lay your hands on.

- Yep, so there it is.

- And between these two cheeses, is there something you think each one brings to the table?

- Well, this, the Parmigiano Reggiano is a cow's milk cheese, so it is milder.

Obviously, a sheep's milk cheese is gonna be a little sharp, and we love that.

The cow's milk cheese is sort of nuttier and more mellow, even though it ages for, you know, 12 months, 16 months, 18 months.

So, these are two really great real cheeses.

We're gonna put some of this grated cheese in a bowl.

Actually, we can put it right in our blender thing, can't we?

- Sure.

- Yeah, try that.

- Carefully.

- Yeah, carefully.

(Chris chuckles) - [Joseph] All righty.

- Yeah.

Okay.

So we have about a cup of the Pecorino Romano, sharp, and you need to put in some pasta water.

- Okay.

Scoop some of that.

- And we're gonna put some pepper.

- [Joseph] All right.

- So there we are.

We have the pepper of our cacio e pepe.

- And the cheese and the boiling pasta water.

- And boiling water.

Okay, and now, you use this implement, which they don't use in Rome, but I'm trying to make it so everybody can make this at home.

- Yeah, so I'm gonna give it a shot here.

(blender whirring) This tool here is a very powerful one, and I'm very excited to see how it does with this dish, because, when they are making it in Rome, it's a very delicate technique- - Yeah.

- To try to blend this.

You can't just mix boiling water and cheese and expect the kind of creamy sauce that this is gonna form.

- But look what we got there.

- Yeah.

- [Chris] Okay.

- [Joseph] All right.

- And, now, we're gonna have a little bit of- - The pasta.

- The pasta.

- If you could pass me the tongs, I'll grab some.

All right.

- In the meantime, I'm gonna swap out this hand tool for another one, another tool, because we're gonna make a quick version of gnocchi.

In Rome, Thursday is gnocchi day.

- Well, if we're gonna do the gnocchi, do you want me to- - Oh, yeah, just hang on to that.

Let that cook just a little bit longer.

- Yeah, yeah, all right.

- Okay, so here we go.

This recipe is so darn simple.

This is semolina flour.

If you would crack the two eggs into that bowl.

- [Joseph] Absolutely.

- Normally, the recipe for gnocchi, which is a pasta made with potato, calls for boiling potatoes, ricing them, and then you have to cool 'em and all that stuff.

I found that you can use, this is instant mashed potatoes.

They come in a box, and I just measure that.

The measurements are in the cookbook, in the recipe.

We have two eggs.

Do we have the top to this thing?

- [Joseph] Yes.

- Oh, yeah.

Okay.

So there we go.

Now, Joe, if you would get a little bit of water in one of these bowls, because sometimes this recipe, you know, depending upon the size of the eggs.

(blender whirring) - [Joseph] Oh, it doesn't have to be hot?

- No, no, no.

Matter of fact, I probably prefer it cold, yeah.

- So, not hot.

All right.

- All right.

Actually, this is not bad, just the way it is.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

It's just the right moisture.

If you could pull that down.

- Just a second.

- All right.

I'm just going to pull this out onto the board.

- [Joseph] Work it a little bit.

- [Chris] And work in whatever little semolina was left.

If you wanna give that a couple of kneads, Joe, to, you know, get it together?

- [Joseph] Sure.

- Just get all the dry part in.

Through the magic of television, I have one that I made, and you should put this in the refrigerator, by the way, after you make that dough.

It should sit in the refrigerator for about a minute.

No, about an hour.

Okay.

- It'll rest a little bit.

- Yeah.

So, then, so if you would roll, you want some bench flour here?

- [Joseph] Sure.

- [Chris] Not too much.

- [Joseph] You know, this is a nice working texture here.

- Yeah.

Let me get a little bit on mine.

And just roll it out.

Exactly.

I mean, kids who have worked with Play-Doh can do this.

All right.

That's great.

- Just don't give them ideas.

- Yeah, right, not to boil their Play-Doh.

All right, chop it up into little pieces, and I have here, and, to me, a critical tool for making gnocchi, it's a gnocchi board.

You can buy this at, you know, most Italian food specialty places, or you can get 'em online and whatever, and what you wanna do now is to just take the dough, one of the pieces, and roll it down, and you see what it- - [Joseph] And you're pressing with your middle finger on that board.

- Yeah.

- [Joseph] Woo.

It takes a little bit of practice.

- [Chris] Oh, yeah, but, again, if it goes wrong, you just roll it up and- - [Joseph] Yeah.

- [Chris] Okay.

- [Joseph] And they're soft and delicate here.

- [Chris] Oh, yeah.

- [Joseph] So you can't apply too much pressure, but the little cavities that it creates as it rolls and your finger has left behind are great for capturing sauce.

I know this.

- [Chris] That's the whole idea.

I'm gonna just rinse my hands here.

Okay, now comes the best part.

What we're gonna do is show what this looks like.

- All made.

- All made, because we made some just a minute ago.

I hope they're still warm.

We're gonna have a few gnocchi.

Now, I have these in pesto.

You can do it in just butter.

You can do it in tomato sauce.

You can have your gnocchi any way you like it.

The nice thing about pesto is that it already has all the cheese.

Pesto is a combination of basil and cheese, and pignoli nuts or some kind of nut.

So, this is ready to go.

You wanna pull out our- - Sure.

- A nice bunch of that bucatini.

Oh, look at that.

(Chris chuckles) - [Joseph] Mhm.

- [Chris] All right.

Oh, that's good.

- [Joseph] All righty.

- That's enough for me.

- Yeah.

- And then if you would pour some of the sauce over it.

- [Joseph] Oh, oops.

Gotta mix it around a little bit here.

- [Chris] Yeah, we sat too long.

- [Joseph] Yes.

- All right.

Now, if you wanna put a little bit more cheese on the top of that, which we always do.

- Mhm.

- I gotta give one of these gnocchi a try and then you can try the cacio e pepe.

Mm.

Mm.

Yeah.

Those are really good.

Really tender, soft.

It's not like other pasta.

Because of the potatoes, it's a little firmer.

Be careful it's not too hot.

- Yeah.

Gotta be careful here.

- Yeah, but brings you back to Rome, huh?

There he is, at Torricelli's, having cacio e pepe.

Oh, that's a long one.

(Chris laughs) Slurping your pasta.

Anyway, these are just two of the many pasta recipes that we have included in "When in Rome," and here's how you can get your copy.

(audience applauding) - Again, the smells and the sights, so incredible.

Really love seeing Chris in the kitchen, cooking with his son.

For so many of us, the kitchen is where we come together as a family, and for so many of you, this is where we come together as a community, supporting this public television station.

Now you can support this public television station and get this incredible cookbook by Chris Fennimore.

It's just $8 a month for "When in Rome," 100 recipes.

There are some incredible recipes in here.

Not only can you, at $8 a month, get "When in Rome," but for $10 a month, get "When in Rome" along with "G is for Garlic."

And for $15 a month, get "When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," and "Around the World in 80 Recipes," plus "Appetizers."

Start all those meals with fantastic appetizers.

Call the number on your screen right now, become a monthly sustaining member of this public television station.

Here comes my shot at the delicious dinner!

- This bowl is- - It's still hot.

- I mean, it's a great serving size.

I have so much fun cooking with my son, and it just does me so much good to see how he loves to cook.

I know I loved cooking with my mother.

I hope his children, eh, well, you know, sooner or later, will enjoy cooking with him.

I have to tell you, Sam, in Rome, do you know that they eat pasta almost every single day?

So, I think that pasta is the most represented genre of recipe in the whole book, because we have pasta ai carciofi I mean, pasta cacio e pepe.

We have the- - [Sam] Carbonara.

- [Chris] Carbonara.

We have aglio e olio.

We have it with tomato sauce, the Sunday sauce, which, you know, if you're walking around on Sunday and you pass a window, you smell sauce.

You pass another window.

You smell more sauce.

Everybody is making their Sunday sauce.

And what do you think?

- It's incredible, and you guys keep talking.

I'm gonna keep eating.

(Chris and Nancy laughing) - Well, Nancy, I know you've got a couple of boys to cook with.

- Well, they're grown men now, but we did struggle through my attempts at cooking when they were little.

You talk about the kitchen being family time.

For me, you know, restaurants are equally family time, and I love to order carbonara when I'm at a restaurant, and speaking of restaurants, when you go to a restaurant, and you get great service in a beautiful setting, and you eat a delicious meal, at the end of the meal, when the bill comes, you don't say, "Huh, what's this about?"

You totally get that there's a bill involved, because there's rent to pay, and there are people to pay, and there is food to purchase, and so you pay your bill as your part of keeping this restaurant that you're enjoying going.

Well, the same is true with public television, except that when you're finished watching a show that you love, we can't present you with a bill and say, "Time to pay your fair share of these programs that you enjoy regularly."

But what we do instead is come to you at times like this and remind you that public television is supported by members and membership dollars, and that's what we're doing right now.

We're giving you an opportunity now to pay your bill and become a member of this public television station and help support this cooking show and all the other great shows that you enjoy here, and you do that simply by calling the number on your screen or clicking on the website.

Do that right now, won't ya?

- Chris was just showing me some of the pasta recipes in here.

They are incredible, but I think, maybe most importantly, what you can start out with is fresh pasta dough.

There's a recipe in here where you can make your own pasta dough at home.

Fresh pasta compared to store-bought pasta, the difference is unbelievable, and it will make you an absolute king or queen of the kitchen that you are in if you can get this book and make fresh pasta for your family and for your loved ones.

The way you get it right now is call the number you see on your screen and become a sustaining monthly member of this public television station.

For $8 a month, you get "When in Rome."

For $10 a month, you can get "When in Rome" along with "G is for Garlic."

Who doesn't love garlic?

And for $15 a month, you get "When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the world in 80 Recipes," and "Appetizers," all by Chris Fennimore.

Call the number on your screen, and, right now, we're gonna show you how you can become a monthly sustaining member of this public television station.

(lively music) - [Announcer] Enjoy the treasures of Rome right from your home.

Invest $8 a month or make an annual gift of $96 and we'll send you a copy of the "When in Rome" cookbook, with over 100 simple, classic Roman recipes for you and your family to enjoy.

Make Roman meatballs, pasta, salads, and more.

With a gift of $10 a month, or $120, we'll thank you with two cookbooks, "When in Rome" and "G is for Garlic."

Both books are packed with recipes, perfect for any family dinner.

Make an investment of $15 a month or an annual gift of $180 and we'll send you a four pack of cookbooks.

"When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," and "A is for Appetizers."

Filled with recipes for any occasion, these books are perfect for planning all of your meals.

Call or text the number on your screen now, for access to hundreds of ways to fill your family's table any time of year.

- I know you are loving these recipes.

I can't tell you how great it smells in the studio right now, and we're going to go back to the kitchen in just a moment, but, first, I wanna tell you about an exciting member benefit called PBS Passport.

PBS Passport gives you instant access to thousands of hours of amazing programs.

Binge watch your favorite series, enjoy a thought-provoking documentary, or cook with Chris from your very own kitchen.

All you have to do is make a qualifying contribution, and when you do, you can watch any time, anywhere.

You can enjoy Passport on your computer, or through the PBS app on your smart TV, your phone, or your tablet.

Get started today by calling or texting the number on your screen or go online.

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Do not wait.

Thank you.

- And, Nancy, we're gonna go right back to the kitchen in a minute, but, right now, you and I are jockeying for position.

Who's gonna get to taste what?

I got to taste the incredible pasta.

Don't forget.

Call the number on your screen.

Become a monthly sustaining member of this public television station.

For $8 a month, you can get "When in Rome."

For $10 a month, you can get "When in Rome" along with "G is for Garlic."

You really need "G is for Garlic."

And for $15 a month, you get "When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," and "Appetizers," all from Chris Fennimore.

We're gonna go back to the kitchen right now.

Chris is about to make the incredible beef straccetti.

I think I'm in a bad spot here in terms of getting to taste that, but let's go see what's going on in the kitchen.

Chris?

(audience applauding) - Well, we are back in the kitchen, and I am joined this time, for this particular segment, by Beth Young, and, Oh, no, I'm sorry.

Beth Taylor.

I told you I do this all the time.

How long have I known you?

Like 10 years or more?

- Yes, yes, yes.

- Because you were on one of our shows with your son.

- Yes, I was.

- Yeah, and- - "Holiday Side Dishes."

- "Holiday Side Dishes," and, you made, oh, just delicious.

Like a pumpkin sauce for some pasta.

It was delicious.

Anyway, Beth is wonderful.

She's been helping out, helping us set up here, and we're doing a dish called beef straccetti.

I've been saying beef straccetti.

but actually it's straccetti with a soft "ch," and the reason why it is, Beth, is that the word in Italian for a rag is straccia, and that's what these look like.

This is beef that is cut into little rags, very, very thin slices, and that is gonna be the way we, and you go to the butcher shop in the marketplace and they will cut this for you.

- Oh, lovely.

- Just like that, but they do it by hand.

They don't even have a machine, and just make it so beautiful, and they know what you want.

They only ask one question.

"How many people?"

(Beth and Chris laugh) And that's when you find out, and this is arugula.

- Okay.

- Which is, again, not something that's that popular in the United States.

All over the place in Rome, right?

Now, I'm gonna ask you to do something for me.

- Okay.

- I wanna pre-dress this just a little bit with just a little drizzle of olive oil and salt.

- Okay.

Absolutely.

- So if you wanna do that.

Do you want a tongs to turn it a little bit?

- [Beth] Oh, that would be fabulous.

- [Chris] Yeah, I got one here.

There you go.

- [Beth] Okay.

All right.

- When I first met Beth, I said, "I finally get to be on TV with Elizabeth Taylor."

- Yes, it's true.

(Chris and Beth laughing) - And it was the highlight of that show.

- I always have to say my parents didn't do that to me.

That's my married name.

(Chris and Beth chuckle) I've heard every joke in the book.

Okay, yeah.

- Okay, so now I have a screaming hot pan, and that's an important part of this recipe.

I am gonna put in just a touch of olive oil, because this meat is so lean, so unbelievably lean, and I'm just gonna put it all in here.

(oil sizzling) Get rid of this, and all you want to do, this is like steak salad.

- [Beth] Absolutely.

- Is really what it is, but I love the method, and then I love the flavorings that they add to it to make it distinctively Roman.

As you might guess, it has cheese in it.

It has olive oil.

Now, when you cook at home, Beth, do you cook different ethnic types?

- I do.

I do.

- Yeah, like you try those things?

- Yes, I'm a big cookbook collector, and I will try just about any ethnic cookbook and cook from the whole book for a meal.

I enjoy doing that and having people over.

- I have to say, Beth is very involved in the culinary world, and so you've been a lot of places that I've been, and one of then was at a YMCA, where we did some classes.

- Yes, yes.

- It was really great, great fun.

- [Beth] We cooked beans and greens together.

- That's right.

- That was fun.

- Beans and greens.

We could have had that on the show, and there were some recipes for beans and greens in "When in Rome," because beans and greens, no kidding.

They eat that in Rome?

Yeah, they do.

- Absolutely.

Not on Thursdays, 'cause that's when they eat the gnocchi.

- The gnocchi.

- Yeah, I know.

(Chris and Beth chuckle) All right, so you can see here how this meat is just, you want it just to be not pink anymore.

It takes no time at all for this beef to cook because it is so thin, so thinly sliced, and I have to make a confession here.

Since I'm not in Rome and I can't have somebody do that, how I achieve this is I freeze it overnight, I let it thaw for about a half an hour, and then I have a slicing machine.

- Oh, okay.

- So, all right.

- But the home cook could probably do it with a nice, sharp chef's knife, I guess?

- [Chris] Yeah, yeah, you could, but, again, even if you were gonna slice it with your own knife instead of on a machine, I would partially freeze it.

- [Beth] Okay, absolutely.

- [Chris] So that you can get even thinner slices.

- [Beth] That makes sense.

- All right, so this is, for all intents and purposes, done.

- [Beth] Okay.

- And what I'm gonna do, take the meat out.

- Mm, mm, mm.

- And if you could just put some salt- - [Beth] Salt and pepper?

- Salt and pepper.

I'm gonna deglaze the pan with some white wine, if that's cranked up, and get all those little, nice beef bits off the bottom of the pan, and then we had a lemon over there.

- Mhm.

- I'm gonna put that.

- [Beth] Do you want me to shave the cheese?

- Yes.

You can make as big a slice as you can make, 'cause those go right on the top, Beth.

We're gonna, all right.

Make sure this is at a full boil.

We get all that wine, and we wanna take some of the wine-y flavor off of it, so that it's just a nice dressing for this.

A little lemon.

All right, we already put a little olive oil in with the arugula, and before you put those on, I'm going to just drizzle this.

- Oh my.

- I thought that you had to pre-cook the arugula, but you don't.

It stays just the way it is.

It wilts a little bit because of the marinade, and then shave them and put them on top.

- Okay.

- Nice little bits.

This, again, is the Parmigiano Reggiano.

- [Beth] It's a nice, easy trick, too.

It looks impressive to your friends when you have these shavings, and it's just a vegetable peeler.

- [Chris] Right.

(Chris and Beth laugh) You don't need a special Parmesan shaver.

- [Beth] Yeah, that's right.

- [Chris] Although I'm sure they sell them somewhere.

- Oh, probably, yeah, and I would probably need to get one too, but, you know.

- And, Beth, if you would put a little bit of grated, I mean, I'm sorry, the pepper, the fresh grated- - Oh, absolutely.

- No, no, use this one.

- Oh, from that.

Okay.

- And it's just back and forth.

Yeah, that's it.

- [Beth] Okay.

- [Chris] Let me have a plate here because- - Okay, absolutely.

Great weeknight meal.

- Yeah.

Have a little taste here.

- If I have to.

- Yes, you do.

That's one of the requirements of being on the show.

- Always.

- Try to get a little bit of everything.

- The perfect bite.

- Yeah, but you see how the arugula has gotten dressed.

- Mhm.

The wine is very nice.

- Yeah.

- I get that with the beef.

It's very, yeah.

- Mhm.

- Mm, delicious.

- And my shout-out here is to our friends in Rome, who taught me how to make this dish, and to Delia, who was the one who cut my meat for me.

She was in the marketplace.

They have now retired.

She and her husband, Cesare, have retired, but this is where, I mean, she's the one who gave me the beef and told me how to make this dish, and now you can have this recipe and 100 Italian recipes from Rome in our brand new cookbook.

(audience applauding) Thank you, Beth.

- Thank you.

- Chris, you need to bring some of that over here pretty soon.

My mouth is watering.

Oh my gosh, that looks so good, but don't all the recipes that we've been preparing here today for you look good?

And they can all be right there in your own collection of recipes if you become a member of this public TV station right now, so that we can send you a copy of the cookbook "When in Rome."

It's got over 100 great recipes, including the beef straccetti that Chris just made.

Mm, it really does smell so good, and all of this is made possible thanks to the members of this public TV station, because it is membership dollars that make it possible for us to either produce or purchase the TV shows that you enjoy here, day in and day out, morning, noon, and night.

Maybe you just watch the cooking shows, or maybe you watch the cooking shows and your children watch the children's shows, or maybe you also enjoy our documentaries, or our performance specials, or our news and information programs, our documentaries.

They're all made possible thanks in greatest part of all to the members who call in during breaks like this.

Oh my gosh, and pledge their support.

I pledge myself to you, Chris, if you will let me have a bite of this.

- Yes.

- It's so good.

- And you said it so perfectly, straccetti.

- Straccetti.

- You know, the Italians have this whole thing about "ch and "cch" and "cchi."

- Yes.

- Anyway, that's what it means.

It means, straccia is a rag, so this is like rags of beef, and the arugula has a wonderful.

The arugula.

They call it arugula.

- A crunch.

- Has a crunch, and it has a very peppery flavor to it, which is just perfect.

The Parmigiano, this is flakes of Parmigiano Reggiano.

I even gave a fork over to Sam, so he'll have a taste later.

- Oh, yay.

- But what I love, and why I found this recipe, was that, in the market that I go to in Testaccio, my butcher, Cesare- - Cesare?

- And his wife, Delia, they're both amazingly skilled.

They are artisans.

They take a piece of beef and they shave it as if it was a machine.

You can't believe how thin they can make it, and that's the only way that you can make this beef is to thinly, thinly slice it.

I have some suggestions in the book on how you can get that effect at home without Delia or Cesare or the Testaccio market.

(Nancy laughs) - Very good of you, thank you.

- But, right ,now we want to give you some more information about how you actually become that member who has this book.

- It looks and smells absolutely amazing.

Here is the cookbook.

You can get it right now.

Become a monthly sustaining member, call the number on your screen, and support this public television station.

For just $8 a month, you get this cookbook, 100 recipes, "When in Rome."

Some just amazing stuff, and your own pasta dough, your own pizza dough that you can kind of riff on, but my favorite is fettuccine carbonara, because it starts, the first ingredient right at the top of the list, eight strips of bacon.

You could add more if you want, can't you, Chris Fennimore?

Eight strips of bacon, and it's just incredible as you go through this book, the incredible recipes, and the time that you will spend together with your family enjoying that, and the time that you spend with this public television station, enjoying all that we do.

Call the number on your screen.

For $8 a month, become a monthly sustaining member of this public television station.

Nancy.

- You know, I have the utmost respect for people who are vegetarians and vegans.

I'm a carnivore, and this is absolutely fabulous.

Thank you, Chris, and I can't wait for you to taste it, Sam.

It's amazing, and, again, this can be in your own collection of recipes if you call in and pledge your support at a sustaining level of at least $8 a month to this public television station, and the number and the website are right there on the screen for you to see.

You know, Chris was talking about how carefully the meat was carved and crafted, and how crisp the, what kind of, arugula!

I'm thinking radicchio.

The arugula is.

The cheese, it's amazing, and, again, I cannot stress this enough.

It takes great ingredients to make a dish like this, in the same way that it takes terrific, the best elements, to make great television.

It takes top writers, top producers, top set designers, costume designers, performers, set decorators.

We could go on and on, and not to mention the equipment.

You know, a TV camera, it's not cheap, and all this money that supports these programs comes from the members of public television.

I hope that you are one.

If you're not, this is a perfect opportunity for you to call and become one.

(lively music) - [Announcer] Enjoy the treasures of Rome right from your home.

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Make Roman meatballs, pasta, salads, and more.

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Both books are packed with recipes, perfect for any family dinner.

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- And all of these recipes in this book, 100 recipes, "When in Rome," get people super excited, but the next one coming up, we're gonna go to the kitchen in a minute.

Chris and Doug are gonna be making the Roman meatball that has people wandering in off the streets to try and figure out how to get some of this Roman meatball.

Here's how you can get your hands on this cookbook.

For just $8 a month, become a monthly sustaining member of this public television station.

Call the number on your screen or go to the website, and just a couple of clicks away, for $8 a month, you get "When in Rome."

For $10 a month, you get "When in Rome" along with "G is for Garlic," and for $15 a month, four cookbooks by Chris Fennimore.

"When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," and "Appetizers."

Just amazing things.

Maybe the most amazing thing, though, that you're gonna see today, coming up in just a second, let's get back in the kitchen with Chris and Doug and that fantastic Roman meatball.

(audience applauding) - All right, we're back in the kitchen, which is where I love to be, and I'm here right now with Doug Heilman, who, when did we meet?

Because it was awhile back last year, right?

- That's right.

It's so great to be here, but the first time we cooked was at some kids' cooking camps in the summertime.

- Oh, right.

That's right.

- And you made, I think, manicotti with the crepes.

- Yeah.

- So good.

- Oh, yeah, I love cooking with kids, and you did that all last summer here.

- That's right.

I loved it.

- So I'm glad to have you in here today to help me with this meatball recipe, but it's actually not your recipe.

- No.

- This recipe came to me from a buddy of mine from the old neighborhood where I grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

So, Dan Mancini, if you are watching, this is your meatball recipe, and the reason why I'm using it is because he said he experienced these meatballs, which have a very different flavor profile, in Rome at his favorite restaurant, and I said, "Dan, this is crazy.

It has mortadella in the mixture."

I've heard of beef and putting pork and all this stuff.

I have never heard of putting mortadella into the meatball recipe, but that's what his recipe called for, and, Dan, that's why we're doing it.

- It's a magical ingredient.

- It is.

- I think it really is.

When I made these, that was it.

It just gets that really good pork flavor coming through and gives you all the salt, because there's really no other salt and pepper or anything like that in the meatball.

- Nope, it all comes from the mortadella.

- That's right.

- All right, well, let's get cracking here.

- All right, so you want me to do some chopping?

Oh, yeah.

Whatever you want to do.

- Okay, great.

- You've already made this.

- I've made this a couple times, and I have to say, it is unique.

It's different in both the way you cook 'em and in that mortadella.

- Mhm.

The flavor comes out.

- I think, when I was younger, what I knew is we would pan fry our meatballs.

That's just what I grew up with, and then, at some point, I switched over to baking them, but I bake them the entire way, and you don't do that with this recipe.

- No, you cook them in the sauce, so that the sauce then takes on the flavor of the beef.

By the way, we're not gonna make a fresh pot of sauce here, because the sauce itself is so blazingly simple.

As Dan describes it, when he sent me the recipe, he said all he uses is canned whole tomatoes.

Not diced, not pureed, not any other crazy names.

You're working on the garlic now, aren't you?

- Yeah, I am.

- Okay.

- Yeah, I'm just moving.

- And so, when I make it, I do saute a little bit of onion, that's all, just a few seconds, and then I put the sauce in and then break the whole tomatoes up, either with a potato masher or a fork, or whatever it is, and then you just simmer it, and then, when you put the meatballs in, that creates such an incredible flavor for the sauce.

- Truly.

- That you could also serve this with pasta.

There's always plenty of sauce, but how I like these, at the end, a piece of bread, and just the sauce- - Just the meatball?

- And the meatball, yeah.

- No pasta necessary.

- No pasta necessary.

Not for me, anyway.

- Yeah, I've found the same thing.

- All right, so you're peeling and smashing some garlic for flavor?

- Yes.

I think there's four cloves in this recipe.

- [Chris] Okay.

- And, like you said, I had made the recipe as well, and I didn't, lemme give it more of a smash and a chop.

I didn't add anything else to my sauce like you did.

I just used tomatoes, and after an hour's worth of, you know, simmering and sauteing, it was a great sauce.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- And so do you put this just in with your meat or do you mix it in with the- - I would mix it in with the- - The mortadella.

- With the mortadella and the breadcrumbs, so that the flavor is totally incorporated.

- Yes.

That's some strong garlic, I gotta tell you.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- And so the mortadella, if people aren't familiar with this- - Italian bologna.

- Yeah, but if not- - But don't use bologna.

- No, right, definitely not.

- This is another one of those ingredients, like the better cheeses that we've been talking about, that you want to get at a place that sells Italian specialties.

- [Doug] Where you're getting your cheese.

- [Chris] Where you get your cheese, and the reason for that is that, although it looks like bologna with fat cubes in it and pistachios, it just has a very different flavor profile.

I love it in sandwiches.

- So good.

- But cooking with it has not been something that I've done, and I just asked them to cut me a piece that's like a quarter of an inch thick, or half an inch thick, and then I cut that up for the amount that the recipe calls for.

I think a quarter of a pound?

- Yeah, a quarter of a pound.

I think we were a little more generous, and I was, too, and it's better that way.

- I like it like that.

- So, do you want to add anything else?

I know I grated, I'm with you on the block of cheese.

- Yeah.

- So I grated some Romano.

- Okay.

- Do you want to do that in the- - I think that can go in there.

- Okay.

- I like to put the breadcrumbs in here.

- Breadcrumbs in here, okay.

- And the eggs.

- All right, and that's a half a cup of breadcrumbs.

- [Chris] Okay, just plain breadcrumbs because we don't need any other extra flavorings.

- [Doug] And one egg, right?

- [Chris] Oh, yes, it's just one egg.

I'm sorry.

- [Doug] So that's the only liquid part.

- [Chris] Those are tough eggs.

Those came from Brooklyn.

(Doug and Chris chuckle) - All right.

Missed one piece.

- All right.

(blender whirring) - And so are we mashing that to a paste, or should they look to be crumbly?

What do you think?

- I made mine right into a paste.

- [Doug] Me too.

- [Chris] And that means that it just, when you put it in and mix it and make the meatballs, you never know that there's a chunk of mortadella or anything.

- [Doug] No, not at all.

- All right.

- We'll use our hands here in a second.

- Yeah.

All right, so now I'm gonna take this out.

- Here, and I can scrape that out for you.

- Oh, okay.

You got that.

- Got it.

- I'm gonna put that on the back splash here.

Now, this makes a lot of meatballs.

- It makes a good amount.

I got about 20, I think.

- Okay.

And this is about two pounds of ground beef.

- Two pounds of ground beef, yeah, and I actually used a fairly lean.

Yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, absolutely.

- [Doug] I think we need parsley, though, too, right?

A little bit of parsley?

- [Chris] Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

- Okay.

I'll get a little bit of that.

What, about half a cup?

- Yeah.

- Enough for greens.

- And I used a fairly lean beef for this.

I used I think it was 90/10, but use whatever chopped meat that you favor.

A lot of times, I buy what's on sale, and if it's 10% or 15% fat, that's the way it is, but you don't have to have the fat in it, because of the mortadella.

- Right.

It adds an incredible amount of richness.

- Yeah.

- I'm gonna- - Yes, go in there.

Some of the best tools in the kitchen are at the end of your arms.

- Right.

- My grandmother would make meatballs for the tomato sauce, the Sunday sauce, every Sunday.

We never went a Sunday without tomato sauce, and it always had meatballs in it.

- [Doug] Oh my goodness.

- [Chris] And then, sometimes, she would add things like spare ribs.

- [Doug] Wow.

- [Chris] Or sausage, depending upon what she had or how many people were coming.

We were generally, over the course of the day, I would say there were 20 to 25 people who came to our house for dinner every Sunday.

- [Doug] Oh my goodness.

- Some of them would only come for one part of the meal.

They would only come for the pasta, then they would disappear.

My cousin Chris used to come with his son, and he wanted to have the whole thing, but he didn't want it until after everybody else had gone.

(Chris laughing) - He just wanted whatever was left, right?

- Yeah, exactly.

- And we're gonna roll these out.

- Okay, because you already have the cheese in there.

- I do.

So we got our cheese, our breadcrumbs, our egg, mortadella.

Now we got our parsley.

- I'm gonna help you with this.

I'm gonna actually wet my hands.

They were cleaned before, I promise, but it helps if you have a little moisture on your hands.

- [Doug] I have noticed that too.

- [Chris] You know?

- [Doug] Actually, I have a little water here too.

It doesn't stick as much.

- [Chris] Right.

Yeah.

- [Doug] And what kind of size?

- [Chris] Well, it depends.

I mean, I like 'em big, 'cause- - So do I. Yeah, they're a meal.

- I have one or two of these, and I'm good with a piece of bread.

So she would make the sauce.

She would get up in the morning about, ooh, eight o'clock, start the sauce.

- [Doug] All day.

- [Chris] Then we would come home from church and we would be hungry, and she had just put the meatballs in, and so she would get a couple of the polpette out on a dish with the sauce, and that's the way I like to have these.

- That's it?

- Yeah.

- No pasta necessary.

- No, pasta would come later.

- Yeah, but bread is good.

(Chris chuckles) Sop up some of that sauce.

- Yep.

- Oh, I love that.

- [Chris] I should have thought to bring some bread for myself.

- [Doug] Oh my gosh.

- [Chris] Oh, okay.

- [Doug] So the cooking method for these, they go in the oven for a moment, right?

Like, 400 Fahrenheit for 10 minutes, and it kind of gets them to stay together.

- Yeah.

- And then you take them out.

They're not cooked yet.

- Right.

- But we drop them in the sauce.

- Well, let's do that.

I'm not gonna make up all of these right now.

- And I have some in the oven.

- Oh, okay.

- Do you want me to get those?

- Yeah, sure.

- Okay.

- And we'll just put these aside and make the rest of these meatballs and then put them in the oven to cook, because we don't want these to go to waste, do we, Frank?

No.

Okay.

(Chris chuckles) All right, I'm gonna put these back here.

Now, is Doug with the- - [Doug] No, they look good.

- Yeah.

- But they're not done.

- No.

So we're ready to just pop them in here?

- [Doug] I think so.

I think, when I read the recipe last, you leave it kind of covered for the first half hour, turning them.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- And then you uncover it for the last half hour to make sure that sauce kind of gets concentrated.

I just thought it was phenomenal.

- These even got a nice little brown color on them.

- Yeah, they're great, and you just want sort of a low simmer on the sauce - [Chris] I'm gonna turn them so they're covered.

- [Doug] Yeah, that looks good.

- And as you said, 20 minutes at first, and then another hour, or half?

- I think it's about an hour total, right?

- Oh, okay.

- 20 or so minutes.

- Okay, so let's put the cover on this and let that simmer away, and I'm hoping that you have some- - We did, right.

- All right.

- We did a little earlier, and they are definitely gonna be hot.

(Chris chuckles) They look good.

- [Chris] Here you go.

- [Doug] Do you want me to get, yeah?

Gotta do a little tasting.

Oh, yeah.

- [Chris] Because that is, well, it's not my favorite part of every cooking show that we've done.

- [Doug] I'm gonna try and get a little bit of your sauce on there too.

That looks phenomenal.

- Good?

- Yeah.

- All right, Doug.

I would say the proof is in the pudding, but this is not pudding.

- This is how you get to Rome, if you can't actually travel there.

- If you can't actually get there.

Oh, look how tender they are.

- They're tender, yeah.

- And the meat is really totally cooked.

Beautiful.

Mm.

Because the sauce is just tomatoes, it's sweet.

It's really sweet.

The meat is as tender as you could possibly imagine, but also because all of those ingredients are mixed in, the flavors are intense when you- - That's right.

- That is a special meatball.

Daniel, thank you.

- Yes.

- You're a genius, and I hope, one of these days, I'll run into you when we're both in Rome, and we can go to that restaurant and have a plate of the Roman-style meatballs.

(audience applauding) And, Doug, thank you.

- Chris, thank you.

- For coming on and helping us out with this recipe, and for being such an ardent fan of everything we do.

- Love it.

- This recipe, 100 recipes, you're gonna want 'em in the brand new "When in Rome."

(audience applauding) - At the beginning of this day, I strategically placed myself so that I would be here when this moment came.

I am about to taste that Roman meatball that you just had a great time watching Chris and Doug make.

It's very, very popular.

It's very exciting.

We had to bring an extra security to keep folks away from the studio and away from that Roman meatball.

It is absolutely amazing.

I'm gonna be honest, I've had it before, but I'm about to have it again and enjoy it just as much.

Here is how you can get your hands on this cookbook, "When in Rome."

For just $8 a month, become a monthly sustaining member of this public television station.

Call the number you see on your screen right now, or go to the website and get these 100 recipes, but the big one is the Roman meatball.

Chris is on his way over here with that meatball right now.

I've got my fork at the ready.

I'm gonna tell you right now.

I've had it before.

It's amazing, but I'll tell you again after I take a bite.

Chris, hello.

- Hello, I barely got here.

It was sort of dangerous coming from the kitchen all the way over here.

- Is this all you brought?

We're gonna need more.

You have to ship in some more.

- No, these are a recipe, actually, it's not one of my recipes, but I included it in the book because it's an authentic Roman recipe from a restaurant in Rome called Osteria dal 1939 and it is the favorite restaurant of a friend of mine from Brooklyn, called Daniel Mancini, and this guy knows something about meatballs, because he's the head of Mama Mancini's meatballs.

That's his company, but he doesn't make these.

You have to make these yourself, and this recipe has got a secret ingredient.

I'm not gonna ruin it, it's in the book, but you're gonna have to get the book to find this.

It's not an ingredient you would imagine to be in there.

It's so simple and you're gonna love it, like all of these recipes, but, you know, again, it's not just about the recipes, and, for me, to be in Rome is all about the people and the sharing and being with my grandsons and being in the markets and meeting the people who are the artisans who put this food out, and, you know, it's just a great way of life.

- This is a meatball, though, that will make you say, "Whoa, mama," when you taste it, and they take their meatballs very, very seriously over there in Italy.

- Oh, yes, they do, and they don't serve it with pasta.

You know, they'll serve it with a piece of bread is the way they serve a meatball like that.

So, I hope you'll take advantage right now.

Get the secret ingredient in this meatball, these Roman meatballs, and over to you, Nancy.

- You've got me thinking about secret ingredients, You know, what is the secret ingredient that makes public television so special?

And, frankly, I've come up with one that is actually an ingredient, and one that is the omission of an ingredient.

The secret ingredient that exists to make public television so special is you.

It's the viewers who have become members of your public TV station that make all of this happen, because it is membership dollars that fuel this fabulous machine that is creating all of these great programs for you, and the secret ingredient that is kind of omitted, that doesn't exist, that makes everything so special, is the lack of a commercial venture attached to public television.

We are not here to get as many eyeballs as possible in every single day, part of the day, so that we can sell commercial time.

We are here to devote this part of the day to people who enjoy this type of programming, and this part of the day to those people who enjoy that type of programming, and to make sure that, over the course of a week, we are serving the whole community.

Children at some times of the day.

People who like to do things with their hands at another time of the day.

People who are interested in news and information at another time of the day.

People who like to cook at another time of the day.

And that is what helps to make public television so very special.

So, if you value this, if you treasure it, if you wanna keep it going, call us right now and become a member.

The number's on the bottom of your screen, or you can click on the website, and we'll be happy to hear from you.

- Nancy, I'm valuing this meatball.

Chris tried to take this plate of meatballs with him when he left.

I was like, "Get outta here, mister!

Get back in that kitchen.

I'm gonna keep this."

I am gonna save a little bit for you though, Nancy.

You'll get a taste of one of these incredible recipes.

100 recipes in this book, "When in Rome."

You can get all those recipes that we talked about.

Pasta carbonara, starting with eight pieces of bacon.

We talk about this meatball, it starts with two pounds of fresh ground beef, and there's not a lot of ingredients.

Yes, there is a secret one in this meatball, but there aren't a lot of ingredients.

It's very simple.

It's easy to do in your kitchen for your family, for your loved ones.

You can get this by calling the number on your screen right now, become a monthly sustaining member of this public television station for just $8 a month and get "When in Rome."

For $10 a month, you get "When in Rome" along with "G is for Garlic," and for $15 a month, "When in Rome", "G is for Garlic," "Appetizers," and "Around the World in 80 Recipes."

(lively music) - [Announcer] Enjoy the treasures of Rome right from your home.

Invest $8 a month or make an annual gift of $96, and we'll send you a copy of the "When in Rome" cookbook, with over 100 simple, classic Roman recipes for you and your family to enjoy.

Make Roman meatballs, pasta, salads, and more.

With a gift of $10 a month or $120, we'll thank you with two cookbooks, "When in Rome" and "G is for Garlic."

Both books are packed with recipes perfect for any family dinner.

Make an investment of $15 a month or an annual gift of $180 and we'll send you a four pack of cookbooks.

"When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," and "A is for Appetizers."

Filled with recipes for any occasion, these books are perfect for planning all of your meals.

Call or text the number on your screen now for access to hundreds of ways to fill your family's table any time of year.

- Now, I realize some of you may have just recently tuned in and maybe you missed the first part of the show.

No worries.

When you make a qualifying donation to this public TV station, you get access to PBS Passport.

PBS Passport is a member benefit that gives you access to thousands of hours of amazing programs.

You can binge watch a new drama or discover a fascinating documentary.

Enjoy Passport programs on your computer or through the PBS app on your smart TV, your phone, tablet, or on TV with your TV streaming device.

Get started today by calling or texting the number on your screen or go online.

Do not wait.

Thank you.

- And, Nancy, we're gonna get back to the kitchen in just a minute.

It's time for dessert, but I still have some meatball I need to work on.

I wanna give you one more opportunity and a reminder here.

For just $8 a month, become a monthly sustaining member of this public television station.

Call the number on your screen and get "When in Rome," 100 recipes.

Answer the question, "What's for dinner?"

With alacrity every single time you get that call, or every single time you get that text.

For $10 a month, you get "When in Rome" along with "G is for Garlic," and for $15 a month, four cookbooks.

"When in Rome," "Appetizers," "G is for Garlic," and "Around the World in 80 Recipes."

There are some amazing recipes in there.

None more amazing than the one we're about to see, as Chris gets set to make Biscotti di Regina.

It's dessert time.

(audience applauding) - Well, here we are.

We're at the end of this particular journey.

- My favorite part.

- I know.

What we're gonna make now is Biscotti di Regina, and one of the wonderful things about Rome, and probably there's a lot of European cities, the same thing.

Their coffee shops and their patisseries, I mean, what's better?

- Wait, that's French.

- No, I know, but I'm saying, in different countries, they have different names, but, in Italy, they have coffee shops, and even the little coffee shops have great arrays of cookies and things with cream in them.

(Chris speaks in Italian) I mean, they have great names for all these things, and they change from neighborhood to neighborhood, and this particular cookie is one, though, that my mother made all the time.

- Who's Regina?

- The queen.

It was called the- - Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

- Biscotti di Regina means the queen's cookies.

- Got it.

- Yeah, so.

- It's gotta be good.

- Yeah, it didn't have anything to do with the royalty in my family, but, you know, we still made them.

(Chris laughs) All right, but it's a very, very simple recipe.

The first thing you want to do is to mix your dry ingredients together.

So, we have I believe it's four cups of flour.

- It is.

We've been assured.

- There it goes.

- There it goes.

- And we have, is that two cups of sugar?

You got the recipe there.

- I got one cup of sugar.

- [Chris] Oh, it's one?

- [Nancy] Four cups of flour.

One cup of sugar.

- One cup of sugar, and the baking powder?

- One tablespoon of baking powder.

- Baking powder.

- And a quarter teaspoon of salt.

- All right, and I will put the paddle on.

- You wanna throw in a little bit of salt?

- Oh, yeah.

How much was it?

- A quarter teaspoon.

- [Chris] Just exactly a quarter teaspoon right there.

- [Nancy] There you go.

- And I'm gonna put the- - The bread kneader thing.

- Yes.

- Oh, because this is ultimately gonna be a batter.

- Yeah.

I want to just mix the dry ingredients together.

- Okay.

- In the meantime, I have started to- - Voila.

- Yeah.

- This was not easy, folks.

Let me tell you.

- Yeah.

Oh, I know one thing that I still want to add into the dry ingredients, and that is some grated lemon peel.

That's the only flavoring that's in there.

It doesn't have vanilla or anything like that.

- Right, which now is called zest, I suppose.

- Yes.

Yes, zest.

- Taking the peel off.

I've learned a thing or two in this kitchen over the years.

- [Chris] Yes, you have.

- [Nancy] And this lemon peel has magically become lemon zest.

- [Chris] And you have taught us a lot in this kitchen over the years, Nancy.

- [Nancy] Oh, well, thank you for saying that, but my culinary skills are limited.

- When we do these shows, though, whose recipes does everybody want to eat at the end?

Yours.

- No, I wouldn't say that.

- Although, I think, this time, the meatballs are gonna be- - The meat, oh my gosh.

They smelled so good.

Oh, I smell that lemon.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- [Nancy] That's nice, and it doesn't take much lemon zest.

- [Chris] No.

- To add a little oomph.

There you go.

- So I'm just gonna put that in there.

- All right.

- That's that.

I'm gonna finish.

- What we started here.

This was really hard, I started to say., This was frozen butter.

- Butter.

- That he's grating, and it was not easy.

- Oh, I'm going the wrong side.

I gotta go on the big side.

- Big side.

- And the the reason for this is that what you want to do, these cookies are, you know, they don't follow the general rules.

Usually, what you do is you cream your butter and sugar and then you add your other ingredients.

- Correct.

- This one, you cream your dry ingredients with the butter, and then you add the wet ingredients, and it becomes this nice workable batter.

So it's a little different.

I'm gonna need two eggs.

- [Nancy] Now, does the recipe require that this be frozen butter, or is this just way you like to do it?

- It's just a little easier this way, or you could use butter that's not frozen and just cut it into little cubes.

It's going to go into this dough and get all mixed up anyway, you know?

- Mhm, okay.

- So.

- All right, I just wanted to make sure, because in some French pastry recipes, everything has to be ice cold or it's not gonna work.

- Yeah, I know.

Yeah.

- [Nancy] I'm gonna grab some eggs.

Thank you.

- All right, and what you'll see is that the butter starts to get all mixed in with those ingredients, and- - [Nancy] Do we need to mix these in a bowl first?

- Well, we certainly have to crack 'em.

- Okay.

- So, you wanna do 'em?

- Oh, that is something I can do.

- And I'm just gonna crank this up a little bit to get it more mixed.

- Wait, you only said two eggs, right?

- Let's do three.

- You're just willy nilly, saying, "Let's do three," or does the recipe call for- - No, the recipe calls for three.

- I need to know, because I'm one of those people that follows the recipe.

- I know.

- I don't do anything willy nilly.

- And I'm one of those people who can never remember the recipe, so, fortunately, I have reminders over here in the kitchen.

All right.

- Okay.

It's got little clumps of butter.

- Yes, and that's it.

It's supposed to look like biscuit dough.

- [Nancy] Yeah, it does.

- And these are, in a sense, biscotti.

So, now, let's just add the eggs.

You can add 'em all at once, and I'm just going to mix this until it forms a dough.

- Which doesn't take long with the magic of modern machinery.

- No.

- We were talking about, off camera, how our grandmothers used to do all this without this, and it's amazing.

- Yeah.

Now, the thing about this dough is that, when you mix it like this, it's sort of a dry dough, and what you need to do is to mix it a little bit longer than this, and then you need to put it in the refrigerator and the flour will absorb some of the moisture.

- Oh, so it softens.

- And it'll become softer and more workable.

- Got it.

Got it.

- But, fortunately, I have some dough.

No, that's not it.

- That's not it?

- No, that's, here it is.

- It looked like dough.

- I know, and we do need some flour for the board.

That's right there.

Yeah.

- Yep.

- And we're gonna flour the board.

Take that out.

So, I put the dough into rest, as we would call it.

- Yeah, that's the technical term, I believe.

- Yeah, and then once you've done that, it's much easier to handle.

You don't want it to freeze, but you do want it to be nice and cool.

All right, my big knife, or you got a little knife?

- [Nancy] We got a big knife.

- [Chris] All right, I'm gonna.

You can use this or you could use a bench cutter.

- [Nancy] A bench cutter?

- [Producer] A bench scraper.

- [Chris] A bench scraper.

- [Nancy] Scraper, okay.

Sorry.

- [Chris] And I'm actually gonna cut this into eight pieces.

- [Nancy] I see that.

- [Chris] And you can start rolling one out.

- You're asking me to do something in the kitchen.

Okay.

- Into a log.

- Oh, see, it's crumbling.

What am I doing wrong?

Let me squish it a little bit.

- Too much flour, probably, yeah, but you can... All right.

- [Nancy] No, you're working it more.

- [Chris] Yeah, probably.

- [Nancy] Making it softer.

That's the key.

All right, remember that.

Work the dough before you roll it.

- [Chris] Actually, I'm gonna change gears here and I'm gonna start making them into cookie-size pieces, and then we just have to shape each one.

- [Nancy] Oh, that would be better.

I'm gonna persist, though, and see if I can roll this out into a log, and if this next attempt fails, I'm gonna follow your lead.

- Okay, so, now, if you would put just a few drops of water into this.

These are the toasted sesame seeds.

- Yeah, okay.

- Yeah.

- [Nancy] A few drops.

- Just a few drops.

- Oops.

Okay.

- And mix it around a little bit.

Whoop.

We're gonna... - We're dampening.

- Yeah, dampening the- - [Nancy] The sesame seeds.

- [Chris] The sesame seeds.

- [Nancy] Because?

- [Chris] It's gonna help them to stick, adhere to the cookie, and right beneath you is the cookie tray, and we're at that stage.

Okay?

- Okay.

You're already making cookies, I'm still trying to roll out this log here.

(Chris and Nancy chuckle) - Well, what I need you to do is stop rolling a log, and start rolling these in the seeds and putting them on there.

- [Nancy] I can do that.

- I'll do one for you and show you what I mean, 'cause I put it in a bowl like this.

Actually, maybe if we use that orange bowl, it'll be easier to roll them in it.

There we go.

- Are they damp enough?

- Oh, yeah.

- [Nancy] Okay.

I don't wanna mess up my one assignment.

- [Chris] And then you just take them and put them down.

- Oh, okay.

Can do, can do.

- And I'll keep making little nuggets, all right?

- All right.

- [Chris] There.

- [Nancy] Mm, I love sesame seeds.

- [Chris] Get the ends, too.

- [Nancy] Okay.

- [Chris] I don't wanna miss- - [Nancy] Oh, I hear you.

- [Chris] Any place where there can be the sesame seeds.

- Yeah, that's how I feel like with my bagels.

Some bagel places just put it on one side, on the top, and some put it on both sides.

(Chris chuckles) You know, I want my sesame seeds on both sides of my bagel.

- All right.

So, we'll make that one and make one more.

We're gonna cook all of these, because there are people here in the studio.

- People you can't see that we can't live without.

- Right, and, you know, that's sort of the way of public television, isn't it?

You know, we people who have been fortunate enough to work in public television, you see us, but we don't see you, but we feel the effect and we appreciate it.

So, those of you who are members who have supported us over all these years, I say thank you.

I wish I could see you and I wish you could smell what's going on.

- I was just gonna say that.

- All right, so now you put these into the oven.

You bake them off at, what's the temperature?

- The temperature is 350.

- 350.

- For 15 minutes.

- Right, it doesn't take that long, and what comes out is- - Oh my gosh.

How beautiful.

- [Chris] You can put those to the side.

This is what they come like.

So, they're not overly browned.

If you like them more well-done, I suppose you could, but I think you need to have a taste.

I'm gonna have a taste.

- [Nancy] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- That one.

Did you get enough seeds?

- Mhm.

Mm, fit for a queen!

(Chris chuckles) - Mm.

- Well, there'd be nothing better with a cup of coffee as a matter of fact, I'm gonna go get a cup of coffee, than these Biscotti di Regina.

A perfect way to end your next Roman meal, and the best way to get to that Roman meal is through a cookbook called "When in Rome," and here's how you can get your copy.

(Nancy speaks in Italian) (audience applauding) - Chris and Nancy doing amazing things in that kitchen.

You will note that at no point was I allowed anywhere near the kitchen today.

It's the same at home.

I'm allowed to come in after.

I'm allowed to do the dishes, but I cannot be involved in making that incredible-looking biscotti.

I'm gonna get a taste of that coming up in just a second.

Here's the cookbook.

You can get your hands on it right now by calling the number on your screen, and you can become a hero in your kitchen.

For just $8 a month, become a monthly sustaining member for this public television station, and you will get these 100 recipes, "When in Rome."

We've seen so many of them, amazing, today.

The smells continue and the taste and the sights, really.

Some of them, just so incredibly beautiful.

When you make it, you're gonna be like, "Don't eat it," but once you eat it, you're gonna be glad that you did that.

That biscotti is on its way.

$8 a month gets you "When in Rome."

Call the number on your screen or go to the website and support this public television station.

There's my biscotti little dessert now.

- You know- - It's not overly sweet, though, in terms of a dessert.

- It has, these are, and I love the, to use the actual term for these, Biscotti de Regina, because these are my mother's and she was the queen, and so that tradition continues.

She used to make just dozens and dozens of these and other cookies on the same basic dough and everything, but I wanted to say to you, Sam, don't feel that you are not a part of all of this.

You know, the same way you're sitting out there.

You love public television, but you can actually be a part of it.

You don't just have to be a viewer.

You can actually be a producer, and it's not just doing the dishes.

You're doing essential work when you are a member of public broadcasting, and so I wanna thank all of you who have supported our cooking shows over the years, because this is not the first rodeo that we've had here, because I love to do it, and you make that possible, and I am really grateful to all of you for the support that you've provided over the years.

If you'd love to see more of these shows, this is a good way to let the powers that be know that this is the type of program that people really want to see, and I'm glad to do them, you know, for years to come if you make it possible.

Nancy?

- Thanks for the cookies, guys.

(Nancy chuckles) I started to reach into the frame and take one out.

Okay, we've ended this wonderful spread with a little sweet item at the end.

We began with appetizers and we had a full meal in between, and I was sitting here thinking that's very similar to the smorgasbord, if you will, of programs that we present for you every day, 24/7, here on public television.

We have sweet little items every now and then that just are like a piece of dessert for an hour.

We have meaty, like a meatball, kind of a documentary that you can really sink your teeth into and enjoy.

We've got appetizers that kind of wet your appetite for more that's coming in the season ahead.

We have all kinds of programs, because, as I so often like to remind you, we are here to serve every single segment of the population, so that, on any single day, there is something that appeals to you.

There is something for your children.

There is something for your parents.

There is something for every segment of society, because that is what public television is all about, public, and we do serve the public, and we count on the public, as Chris was saying, you, to make all of this possible.

So, if you're already a member of this public TV station, thank you.

We hope you'll take an opportunity to make an additional little gift of support so we can send you that cookbook, and if you're not a member, this is the perfect opportunity to do that right now.

Call or click.

We're waiting to hear from you.

- And, Nancy, you are so right about what public television has done and what we have done here today, and, Chris, I think, really amazing.

I go back, and, you know, I'm a little, not the brightest bulb in the drawer, if you will, but you did.

You started with the appetizer, then you went to the main meal, and you went through the meat, and then you ended up with, I didn't even realize that we were progressing through a meal until Nancy said that a minute ago.

So many incredible recipes, I get kind of locked in.

I was really focused on the meatball there for a while, and the pasta was incredible.

This cookie is amazing.

The sights and sounds and smells, just fantastic.

- Well, to be true to Rome, you know, when they sit down to a meal, they don't just go and eat one thing.

They're there for the duration.

They usually go in groups when they sit together at a restaurant or if they're doing it in somebody's home, and you start with the appetizers, Then, you go to, you know, a primo, which is the first dish.

You have your secondo, which is the main dish.

You have contorni, which are the vegetables that you might want to have.

All of these, I've articulated, so you could have a true Roman meal, and then after you've had your secondi, your main course, then you have your dolce, your sweets, and that's whether it's cookies or pies or cakes.

They really love them.

A lot of those recipes, when they do sit down to eat, are things that they get from pasticceria in the neighborhood.

They don't make all of those things, but we have recipes so that you could make your own in this book, because you're not gonna fly to Rome and go, you know, to a pasticceria.

You know, you gotta be able to have access to it.

- Chris is so right about that.

My daughter just spent recently a semester abroad in Rome.

The first thing they did when she got there was have a welcome meal.

It took six hours for that one welcome meal to take place.

Here is how you can become a monthly sustaining member and get your hands on this and so much more.

(lively music) - [Presenter] Enjoy the treasures of Rome right from your home.

Invest $8 a month or make an annual gift of $96 and we'll send you a copy of the "When in Rome" cookbook with over 100 simple, classic Roman recipes for you and your family to enjoy.

Make Roman meatballs, pasta, salads, and more.

With a gift of $10 a month or $120, we'll thank you with two cookbooks, "When in Rome" and "G is for Garlic."

Both books are packed with recipes perfect for any family dinner.

Make an investment of $15 a month or an annual gift of $180 and we'll send you a four pack of cookbooks.

"When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," and "A is for Appetizers."

Filled with recipes for any occasion, these books are perfect for planning all of your meals.

Call or text the number on your screen now for access to hundreds of ways to fill your family's table any time of year.

- I have loved every single dish we have made today.

You need these recipes in your life.

They're simple, but your family will be so impressed if you, for example, make those meatballs for Sunday dinner.

If you missed the meatballs or any recipe in the show, do not worry.

You can catch the entire show with an amazing member benefit called PBS Passport.

When you make a qualifying donation to this PBS station, you'll have access to programs like this any time, anywhere.

Enjoy Passport programs from your computer or through the PBS app for your smart TV, your phone, your tablet, or your TV streaming device.

With PBS Passport, you can cook along with Chris in your own kitchen or curl up on your couch with your favorite drama.

Call or text the number on your screen or check out our website to give now and get started on your Passport adventure today.

Gentlemen?

- Nancy's gonna make her way over here.

You know she wants one of these Biscotti di Regina.

- Yes, thank you.

- They're just absolutely incredible, and while she gets a little taste there, I'm going to remind you how you can become a monthly sustaining member of this public television station and get your hands on this cookbook.

It's called "When in Rome".

It's got 100 recipes.

Call the number on your screen.

For just $8 a month, you get "When in Rome."

For $10 a month, you get "When in Rome" along with "G is for Garlic," and for $15 a month, four cookbooks by Chris Fennimore.

"When in Rome," "G is for Garlic," "Around the World in 80 Recipes," and "Appetizers."

So many amazing recipes, and this one, I know, very special to you, Chris.

Yeah, I know.

We ended the show with probably my favorite recipe of the day, and that's because this is my mother's recipe and they're called Biscotti di Regina and she was the queen.

My grandmother did most of the regular food cooking.

My mom made the cookies.

She was the master cookie maker, and she would be just overjoyed that we're sharing this recipe with you, because what we found out is that it's not about the food.

- Per se.

- Entirely.

It's about the sharing, and that's what you love about making a meal is having people enjoy it.

That's what we love about sending these recipes is to know that you are gonna have a chance to enjoy them in the same way that we did.

- Absolutely, and I had the pleasure of being on a show with your mother once.

It was such a joy.

- Yes, long years ago.

She made cookies.

- Yes, she did.

Yes, she did.

And we've also made my mother's recipes, and my mother's been on our shows in the past.

So, it really was a family affair, and you're sort of new to the family here, so you didn't get to do that, but- - Mom, you gotta come over here and start making some recipes now.

Let's go.

- But speaking of family, you are the most important members of the public television family.

There's no question about it.

- Oh, yeah.

As we always say, we do it for you.

- [Chris and Nancy] But we can't do it.

- So, for those of you who have been members and plan to renew your membership, for those of you who have never been members, this is your chance to join the family and make it possible for us to continue making these shows, because I like to make them.

(Nancy chuckles) - [Nancy] If you're already a member, thank you so much.

You get it.

Now, maybe you'll make an additional gift of support.

You can get this great cookbook.

If you're not a member, what on earth are you waiting for?

This is the perfect opportunity for you to call or click.

Take advantage of the opportunity to get "When in Rome" or maybe some of the other cookbooks as well at those other levels.

- We do our best to make a thank-you gift that will be of a value to people when they're doing something good to begin with, and that's what you're doing when you're becoming a member of public television instead of just a viewer.

You really change your status.

You can only be one thing or another.

You could be a person who has never been a public television member, you can be a person who is a current member and you wanna make sure that you keep things going, or you could be somebody who was a member and let it lapse.

Well, if you are in two of those categories, we really need you.

As a matter of fact, we need you in all three of those categories.

So, now's the time, and this is the place, and these are the thank-you gifts that you want.

Let's cheers.

- Cheers.

- Oh, cheers wasn't what I was doing.

Cheers, and to all of you, thank you.

As we so often say- - [Chris and Nancy] We do it for you, but we can't do it without you.

(peaceful music) (upbeat music) (bright musical jingle)