"lidia bastianich" news and stories

Del Posto restaurant in New York City serves a lasagna that's 100 layers. Nope, that's not a typo.

Mark Ladner, the chef at the high-end Italian restaurant (owned by Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich), was inspired by the tortilla Espanola at Casa Mono. He admits that it takes a lot of people to construct the multi-layered dish.

"Three separate departments work on it," he told Slashfood. "One department makes the ragu, one makes the pasta sheets and another assembles it in giant square pans. We butter the inside of the pans and start building in them, alternating the layers of pasta and sauce, which are Bolognese, tomato marinara and a besciamella."

The only tricky part of the whole procedure is the setting process, which Ladner says can be "fickle." Skewers are used to stabilize it while it's hot and a special spatula is used to serve it.

Mother's Day. It conjures up images of children making mom breakfast in bed, which invariably includes burnt toast, a bunch of fresh flowers and, if you're very lucky, something sparkly in a velvet box. Find out what the day means to a quintet of mom chefs.

Lidia Bastianich can be seen every week on PBS in "Lidia's Italy." She's had numerous cookbooks published and is the mother of two and grandmother of five.

Did you make your mom breakfast in bed?
LB: My mother Erminia is 89 and she lives with me. She is the matriarch of the family but does not wait in bed to be served, she is up and coffee is perking when I get to the kitchen. But her joy is when all the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren come and we have lunch all together. The menu reflects her favorite dishes -- a good chicken soup with "gnochetti di gries," and she loves "Pasta al forno con Ricotta." But then everyone's else's favorite is great grandmas "Chicken and Potatoes" and she rolls up her sleeves and joins in.

What do your kids do for you on Mother's Day?
LB: They all get involved in the cooking , prepping of the meal, they set up the table with special place card messages, bring the cookies, brownies cup cakes they baked with their mom and flowers, lots of flowers, not bouquets but flowers and branches of spring.

What's your dream Mother's Day menu?
LB: As simple as can be, but I need a salad of steamed asparagus, scallions and eggs to go along with the menu above.

Did your mom make you want to become a chef?
LB: The connection of food with me was more of a connection with my maternal grandmother, her understanding of nature, growing mostly everything she cooked for us and always cooked it with utmost simplicity but always delicious and full of love.

What do you love most about being a mom?
LB: Holding a child/grandchild in my arms and knowing that life continues within in each child nurtured by a mothers love, care and the gift of good, nutritional food.

Suzanne Goin runs four restaurants (including Lucques, which has won numerous awards), she's the author of "Sunday Suppers at Lucque"' and she's the mother of 3 year old twins and an 18 month old.

Did you make your mom breakfast in bed?
SG: NO, never in bed only because my mom hated sitting in bed! But my sister and i used to get up really early and write a menu for her -- we would put everything we could think of that we could possibly make. My mom would always place an "easy" order but my dad would call our bluff and order the craziest thing we had put on the menu.

What do your kids do for you on Mother's Day?
SG: They're still too little --1 1/2 and 3 so i'm still taking care of them this Mother's Day...maybe next year!

What's your dream Mother's Day menu?
SG: Soft-scrambled eggs with créme fraîche, really thick rare bacon, almond croissant AND a sticky bun...and a huge endless cup of coffee.

Did your mom make you want to become a chef?
SG: My mom is an amazing cook -- I would say that she and my dad together made me want to be a chef. They exposed me to great restaurants at a pretty young age, but most importantly they love food and they love the gathering of family and friends around the table.

What do you love most about being a mom?
SG: There are so many things, but I guess the best thing is having three new amazing people in my life and being able to share in their growth and discovery of the world

English cook Nigella Lawson, author of "Nigella Fresh Delicious Flavors on Your Plate All Year Round," as well as a new iPhone app, Nigella Quick Collection. She is the mother of two.

Did you make your mom breakfast in bed
NL: I used to make my mother breakfast in bed, together with my brother and sisters, and we'd go into the garden to pick some flowers and put them in a milk jug to go on the tray.

What do your kids do for you on Mother's Day?
NL: They make me lovely home made cards and sometimes they used to make me something called "A Mixture," which meant they would go through the kitchen and put nearly everything they found in the blender and present it to me an a one pint glass proudly. Lovely!

What's your dream Mother's Day menu?
NL: I'd love my children to come up with no more than a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich, but then stay with me, all of us lying on the bed together watching a DVD of The Sound of Music!

Did your mom make you want to become a chef?
NL: Well, I think my mother would have been most surprised at the turn my career has taken. She died young, and I was a young journalist at the time, and not even a food journalist at that. In many ways, my food writing started off as being a way of memorializing her and her food, and I think remains that. Cooking is my way of remembering her in what I do every day, and passing on what she gave me to my children.

What do you love most about being a mom?
NL: I just don't know what it means to be "a mom" in the abstract, so I guess I'm going to have to sound cheesy, but tell the plain truth, and that is "my children".

Alex Guarnaschelli is executive chef of Butter and host of the show "Alex's Day Off" on the Food Network. She has a daughter.

Did you make your mom breakfast in bed?
AG: My mom isn't the "breakfast in bed" type. She'd rather sit around a table with her favorite people and enjoy a leisurely breakfast.

What do your kids do for you on Mother's Day?
AG: My daughter is too young to do anything yet. I make her Mother's Day breakfast for now...

What's your dream Mothers Day menu?
AG: My dream menu would be eggplant parmigiana with baked ziti. My dream menu changes every year though.

Did your mom make you want to become a chef?
AG: My mother and father are both excellent cooks and passionate about great ingredients. It's definitely where my desire to become a chef was born.

What do you love most about being a mom?
AG: I love taking my daughter to the green market and watching her eat a large heirloom tomato like it's an apple.


Kate Honeyman is the executive pastry chef at Buddakan, in Philadelphia, and the mother of two girls.

Did you make your mom breakfast in bed?
KH: I can't recall making my mom breakfast in bed. I was a figure skater and was on the move alot when I was young.

What do your kids do for you on Mothers Day?
KH: My girls usually make me homemade cards or gifts. The like to create menus and have me choose something for them to prepare for breakfast.

What's your dream Mother's Day menu?
KH: My dream Mother's day menu would consist of really hot coffee, chocolate in some form -- maybe with crepes -- and an egg dish of some kind. I love to have sweet and savory in one meal.

Did your mom make you want to become a chef?
KH: My Mom was a great home cook. Her soups are what I remember most form growing up. I was always next to her helping cook and I usually handled the sweets since it wasn't something she enjoyed doing.

What do you love most about being a mom?
KH: That is a tough one since there are so many great things about being a mom. The girls are truly my greatest accomplishment in my life. I love teaching them new things and helping them develop their truly unique personalities. They are always willing to try my recipes. Good or bad.

At the majority of events at the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival, celebrity chefs whip up gourmet burgers, lobster rolls and even dim sum for their fans. Last night, the tables were turned at the Barilla Interactive dinner at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. At this gathering the people behind the stove weren't named Emeril, Rachael or Guy. Instead, the guests were doing the cooking for the likes of Lidia Bastianich, Philippe Ruiz and Joe Bastianich.

The ornate Biltmore ballroom was the scene of this impromptu Italian cooking experiment. Each table was equipped with a gas burner, frying pans and assorted cooking tools. A student chef from Coral Gables Senior High School partnered up with each table to guide us through the process.

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