Original subtitles

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Each generation takes all of their grandmothers' recipes and secrets

and keeps that tradition going strong into the future.

So today, I'm going to show you my inventions.

I am Nadia Caterina Munno, and I am...

The Pasta Queen.

I come from the Macaroni pasta dynasty.

We've been making pasta for over five generations.

Come on a journey with me through Italy.

I am going to teach you how to cook like a real Italian.

We are going to make a dish that's so irresistible

so incredible,

that it squeezes all the essence of life

into one dish.

It is my lemon temptress.

Spaghettini cooked in a lemon infusion.

It is...

Ingredients:

Extra virgin olive oil,

provolone cheese, salt,

spaghettini, lemon leaves,

and, of course, lemons.

So, where did you bring me, Peppe?

Where did I bring you? I brought you to the lemons kingdom.

- We're in Sorrento. - Sorrento, a great...

- Here we go. - You always teach me something.

A great citrus grove. Amazing! Look at this.

Today, I'm going to Sorrento with my mentor and friend,

Michelin star chef, Peppe Guida.

And just like Peppe Guida, I am absolutely obsessed

with this citrus fruit.

Lemons.

- The Garden of Cataldo. - Wow.

- It's one of the oldest gardens... - Really?

- How old? - ...of Sorrento.

- At least 300 years. - No way.

- Hi. - Good morning.

- Welcome to the Garden of Cataldo. - Good morning.

- Thank you! I'm Nadia. - Hi.

- Good morning. I'm Rossella. - Good morning to you, Rossella.

My grandfather started a lot of years ago

just to produce lemon and orange trees.

That's why the village named it Cataldo. Cataldo was my grandfather.

- Oh, wow. So, Cataldo's Gardens. - Yes.

How many lemon trees do you have here?

A lot! Too many.

Exactly, but how often do you have to pick them before...

We pick them every day.

So, because we make Limoncello,

we make gelato, marmalade.

So we use every part of the lemons.

We're both obsessed with lemons.

Lemon leaves, lemon peel,

lemon juice, everything with lemon.

They're delicious in a salad.

You slice it thin like ham,

mix it with a good pinch of chili, so that it's spicy, like you.

Very spicy. Then, some oil and you'll eat a sensational dish.

- Wow. Okay, let's go. - Let's go and pick lemons.

Look how beautiful those are bunched there. We have to pick them.

They're calling us.

Okay, let's have a... Look at this beautiful one.

Right. Look at this.

Mamma mia!

Sorrento lemons are so flavorful,

you could eat them as apples.

- Yes, these are the best. - Why?

Why are these the best lemons in the world?

I think from the soil and the weather.

- Really Mediterranean. - Mediterranean climate.

- Why the soil? This is volcanic soil. - It's volcanic soil.

So, Mount Vesuvius is giving us so much love.

All the soil that you see that's soft,

- to ease the roots to move. - More nourishment.

And there's also much passion and love for these plants, see?

Do you name your lemon trees?

- No. - Do you talk to the lemon trees?

- Sometimes. - Good.

Look, Nadia. This flower is for you.

Oh, wow!

Smell this. Feel the scent of the lemon blossom?

Mmm.

When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade

make the lemon temptress pasta dish!

First thing first, we are creating the infusion with the peels of the lemon.

Now, a very important tip for this one:

You have to get the peel alone.

You should have only the yellow part of the lemon

where all the essential oils live.

Just like my nonna used to do with the paring knife.

So what you want is the essential oils of the lemon and no white part.

That's gonna make your infusion bitter.

You will need the peel of four lemons.

And then we stick all of this gorgeousness

into a little pot with lemon leaves.

I mean, the lemon leaves are like...

They represent the tree, the dirt.

Okay, so once you've got this, you're going to fill it with water.

We're going to bring it to a boil.

As soon as it boils mildly

simmering, you switch it off,

you cover it with a lid, and you leave it overnight.

In this case, I made one yesterday so that it was ready for today.

We're going to bring this infusion to a boil.

We ladle some in this pan.

Nothing happened.

We put just enough

so that we can lower our spaghettini in.

We're using spaghettini because this dish is so delicate

that we want to really use a very delicate shape.

It is not a shape I use enough.

But because of Peppe Guida,

he kind of, you know, inspired me to use it.

So you see, we're using about 300 grams of spaghettini,

with a tiny bit of lemon infusion again.

And then we let it soften up. It's really fast.

This is really incredible because this is a risottata pasta,

which basically means it's cooked in a way

you would a risotto.

As you see what's happening, the starches are already going into the infusion,

and it's becoming a little bit cloudy.

So this is going to be a very creamy,

delicious, simple light recipe.

Now I'm going to add a little extra virgin olive oil.

A little bit of salt. Remember, the infusion is not salted.

So all the salt you need, you're going to have to add now.

To make sure your pasta is salted just like you like it.

You see how the pasta is basically absorbing

the only thing it can to hydrate.

This is the power of the lemon trees

and the zest, and all the essential oils.

It's like you're in a lemon paradise.

So, at this point, I'm going to add

just a tad of lemon zest.

And now, we just mix it,

and finish it off until it's almost al dente.

We are nearing the end here, huh?

It's time for the provolone!

And that is Provolone del Monaco, which has a sweet note,

but also some spiciness to it.

And that's what you need really to counteract and to combine

the lemon delicacy

with a little bit of spicy provolone.

Now, if you can't find Provolone del Monaco,

get some aged or smoked provolone.

Something with some spicy.

I'm going to put a lot of provolone.

This is really main character energy.

Excellent.

Now, the last final mix.

That's it.

That's a lemon provolone cream.

And it's done.

Now, I have a little, secret, final ingredient.

You're going to be blown away.

Look at this.

These are lemon leaves that have been simply baked in the oven

until they're completely dehydrated.

And I'll show you how we use them.

First, we plate.

Excellent.

You want to grab these leaves.

See? Just dehydrated.

It's like this.

A little bit of lemon zest.

Just like this.

Some curlies on the top.

Perfection.

The smell is amazing.

Aged provolone is incredible.

Super creamy!

Delicious!

Volcanic!

Mmm, that's so good.

I am taking you on a journey of the Campania region

and everything beautiful it has to offer

with my latest innovation...

the Vesuvius portal cocktail.

I want to really take you on an adventure with me

into some of the freshest ingredients that the region has to offer,

and some that don't belong there, but it doesn't matter.

It's innovation that we're after.

Ingredients:

You will need tomatoes, basil,

gin, prosecco,

salt, pepper,

and Limoncello.

- Okay. - Yes, we dress nicely.

I'm the lemon scientist.

- Does it suit me? - It really does.

How much Limoncello do you produce?

About 30,000 bottle a year.

Thirty thousand is a lot!

Are you ready?

First, pick everything by end.

It puts a lot more passion into it.

Look at this peel coming off.

Perfecto! You can come to work with us.

- Only the yellow part. - Only the yellow.

Otherwise, the Limoncello is going to be bitter.

Yeah, yellow.

The essential oils are coming out.

Okay, so what do we do next?

So, we take the peels,

and we put in infusion with the alcohol.

What kind of alcohol is in here?

Molasses alcohol from sugar cane, 96.5.

So, it's 96.5

- alcoholic percentage. - Yeah. Yes.

Are we gonna have to drink this because I don't know that I can take this.

Of course, at the end, mixed with sugar and water, will be 30%.

How many days do you let it seep in the alcohol?

After this, we leave it for a week.

How often do you stir?

Generally, once a day.

But I show you here...

- This has been here for a week? - Yes. Look.

- Shall we smell it? - Of course. Be careful. I'll hold you.

Whoo!

- See? - It really hits you.

The passion of the lemon!

Now, let me show you a trick

to marinate these little, tiny cherry tomatoes.

Cutie patooties.

We poked holes...

"We"? Who am I talking about?

It's just me in the kitchen. There's nobody else.

I did little, tiny pokes in the tomatoes,

and then I marinated them

in gin for an entire night, at least.

The holes create little gin portals.

But you see that little tint of red in the gin?

We are going to use that gin to create the cocktail.

I'm going to fill the shaker halfway through.

Now, we're adding the gin.

Now it's supposed to be one ounce of gin, but, hey, who's here to tell on us?

Do what feels right to you.

It's your cocktail. Make it yours.

We're going to do two ounces of chilled Limoncello.

First, I need to smell it. This is from Sorrento.

So good.

Excellent.

Now, two basil leaves.

Then we're going to do a pinch of salt.

Why? Why not?

It's your innovation.

Actually, going to counteract the sweetness.

Okay, now shake with the passion of an Italian.

It's never too late to...

There was so much passion, it exploded.

Okay, let's start all over.

That's it.

Excellent.

Little at those little, cute bits of basil inside.

Perfect.

Now, we open the prosecco.

Yay! Make a wish.

Ooh, look at those bubbles. It's like a smoking volcano.

Now, a scrunch of pepper.

It looks like volcanic ashes.

We take a little skewer,

and we create the garnish.

A basil.

Ooh, it's gorgeous. Look at that.

Gonna use this, give it a nice toss.

And then, serve it with a lot of passion.

The Vesuvius portal!

It's Campania in a glass!

I mean, now we gotta taste it.

Just gorgeous-imo.

Divine! Explosive!

It's important to keep innovating in the kitchen.

What we eat today that was created hundreds of years ago,

was, at that time, an innovation, an invention.

Pizza margherita has become a staple

in the entire world.

It is the most well-known pizza on this planet.

Maybe even other planets.

But do you know how this dish came to be?

Well, legend has it,

in the heart of Naples,

a chef created one of the most famous dishes that ever was.

This is the story of Pizza Margherita.

One day, a great chef was working in his kitchen

when he heard that the Queen of Italy had arrived in Naples.

The Queen Margherita had grown tired of the royal food

and demanded to try something new.

So, the chef worked tirelessly

to make three pizzas for the queen herself.

But the chef had a stroke of genius,

to create a pizza in honor of Italy.

He would make a pizza that represented

the green, white and red of the Italian flag.

So he grabbed mozzarella,

tomato, and basil to create a masterpiece.

Finally, he carried these three masterpieces to the queen to try.

The chef nervously waited for the queen to try each pizza,

until finally she took a bite of the pizza

with tomato, basil, and mozzarella.

The queen loved the pizza so much

that the chef declared it to be named after her.

And so, the pizza margherita was born.

The End

Pizza really is the Italian's gift to humanity.

Italian cooking is all about tradition.

But what would be today a tradition

if there wasn't an initial invention in order to solve a problem?

Let's just say we've got some mushrooms in the fridge,

a bit of time and some provolone.

We can eat a new recipe!

My finger food pasta bake

is based on my Nonna Caterina's pasta bake recipe.

I change. I added. I made them more relatable.

Thank you, Nonna!

Ingredients:

Giant shells,

Parmigiano Reggiano, provolone,

ricotta, mushrooms,

garlic and extra virgin olive oil,

parsley, a sprig of thyme,

starchy pasta, water, salt and pepper,

bechamel sauce, which is made with milk,

nutmeg, flour and butter, and, of course,

innovation.

First thing you want to do in this recipe is have your pasta water boiling,

so that you can get going by cooking the pasta first.

We salt the water.

The giant shells, conchiglioni.

That takes quite a bit of time to cook. It's beautiful. It's artisanal.

We're using about a pound of giant shells.

While these cook, we're going to start prepping our mushrooms.

We are creating the stuffing for the shells.

So, we're going to mince this.

I'm using about ten medium-size, cremini mushrooms.

We don't want big, chunky pieces of mushrooms inside the shells,

so we want them nice and fine.

I mean, you got to be assertive when you cut.

They need to know who's boss in the kitchen.

We're going to add some extra virgin olive oil to the pan.

You know how I feel about garlic.

There is different stages of using garlic in your cooking.

This time, I want the garlic inside.

So, we're going to do nice, fine, little mincey bits.

Talking about innovation,

this has gotta be one of my favorite tools.

Some of you might know this as a garlic press,

but to me is a garlic scruncher.

I leave the peel on.

I stick it in, and then I scrunch.

It's literally almost like a paste.

You're not going to know, but it's going to add so much energy.

The moment it scrunches, it releases that power.

But, please, don't use the dried garlic!

That is against Italian law.

The pasta is done.

When I touch it, it moves the way it wants to move.

You can tell.

Okay, we get this out, and we let them cool off.

This is great. You see it sizzling?

We're not burning the garlic. Now, it's time for the mushrooms.

The sound of innovation.

It's the dirt singing!

Toss it about. Beautiful.

Now, a sprig of thyme.

Sounds like the title of a new song.

♪ The sprig of thyme ♪

You know what I'm doing, because I'm fancy?

Putting a tiny bit of starchy pasta water in here.

Just give it that softening, you know?

Okay. A tiny bit of parsley, roughly chopped.

Now, we put this in.

Oh, look at that. Toss it up.

This is going to be the base of your filling

that's going to be combined with ricotta and provolone cheese.

Now, salt, a pinch.

Ooh!

And a scrunch of pepper.

So, it's done.

You don't want to overcook this. It's done.

Now we make the bechamel sauce.

Don't be scared. It's okay. I'm right here to show you the way.

It's very important to understand why this sauce came together.

This sauce originally was a binding sauce.

It used to be called in Tuscany "the gluey sauce".

God knows what they were trying to glue together.

We will never know.

But in an effort to solve a problem,

so out of necessity, they had to create the bechamel sauce.

I'm using three ounces of butter for three ounces of flour.

On a low flame, we melt the butter.

We added the flour into the butter.

And now, we are using our whisk.

It's important that you use a whisk and not like a wooden spoon

or a metal spoon for this process.

We're creating that little paste.

We're simmering the milk, not to a boil.

Now, this is a very important step.

We add the milk in layers,

because you're trying to achieve the right consistency

of creamy, not lumpy, gorgeous, smooth.

A little bit more.

It's very warm. It's very embracing.

I feel it adds a layer of comfort.

Oh, yes.

Okay. Now listen, guys,

it's time for the nutmeg.

A scrunch of nutmeg.

Don't overdo it.

The spicy aroma of nutmeg is gorgeous.

So, that's it. I'm turning it off. This is perfect.

I'm going to show you. You see, this is how it's supposed to be.

It's not like milk anymore, but it doesn't stick.

It's really gorgeous.

Now, it's time for the ricotta.

We add the ricotta in to the mushrooms.

Give it a nice toss.

And now, the provolone.

Everything is coming together really quick after this.

A little bit of salt.

Pasta Queen hack:

Taste your food as you cook it!

It is the easiest way to not use weird condiments after the fact.

Now, the fun part, stuffing the shells.

Yes!

We are taking one.

You can squeeze the shell that it becomes a little vessel.

Look at that, and then you close it.

It needs to be nice and rich.

And then we set it.

Remember, this is finger food, So, you can eat them individually.

Or you can have them all. It doesn't matter.

It's up to you.

So, we do this all around the pan.

Mmm, it's so good!

Now is where we go back to our bechamel sauce.

Now, here we go.

We're gonna put bechamel sauce...

Excellent. Now, the final touch.

The Parmigiano Reggiano.

Remember, this is an innovation.

If you want to use pecorino Romano,

it's up to you.

As long as you never...

never use American cheese for this.

Gorgeous-imo!

In the oven till you have that crustiness,

that brown, gorgeous finish.

Mmm.

Do a good job, my little innovation.

Now, we wait.

We're ready.

♪ This is the moment ♪

Oh, yes, yes!

♪ La la la la ♪

At this point, let's sprinkle it with parsley.

Remember, when you're using it as finger foods,

you can let it cool down a little bit

so that people don't burn their hands when they pick it up.

But it should still be warm and juicy.

We gotta taste it. It's one of those things, as a cook,

you have to taste your own food before you serve it.

Okay.

This is perfection!

What can I say?

A success.

Wow, this is good!

Wow! What a pasta!

Guys! Everybody at the table, let's eat!

I've been hungry all day waiting on this.

You're going to be very happy with this one if you like lemon that is.

I'll like anything right now.

- But first, we have to drink my invention. - This is your invention?

It's called the "Vesuvius portal,"

because it's a portal into the land of Campania.

So when you eat, these little tomatoes

are like a portal into a lot of happiness.

Chin, chin. Cheers.

So, this one is the lemon temptress.

- So, it's kind of nice, but very delicate. - Yeah.

Just like Titus.

- Can we dig in now? - Yes. Let's eat.

- Buon appetito! - Buon appetito!

Invention is what keeps the tradition moving forward.

Generations after generations added something of theirs.

- Yeah, just drop that in. Thank you. - There you go.

There's no such thing as boring pasta here.

What once was an innovation, it's now tradition.

And that's what really keeps life so exciting.