Lidia Bastianich Just Shared the One Food She Will Never Use in Her Recipes

Plus her favorite comfort foods just in time for fall.

Lidia Bastianich has been a chef and television host for decades, sharing her stories and delicious dishes on her award-winning PBS shows. Since 1990, Lidia Bastianich has also published a slew of cookbooks, and her newest book, Lidia's From Our Family Table To Yours was just released today.

Ahead of the cookbook being available in stores, we had the incredible opportunity to talk to Bastianich herself. From her favorite comfort meals to her Spicy Crispy Roasted Cauliflower recipe, here's what the chef had to say about her new book and recipes in this exclusive interview.

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EatingWell: Tell us more about your new cookbook, Lidia's From Our Family Table To Yours. What makes this one stand out beside your other cookbooks?

Bastianich: With 16 books, 50 years in the business and 25 years on PBS, I connected with the people out there. They follow us because on my show, I have my family. The show is taped in my house, so when my mother was alive, she would come on, and as my grandkids got older they would come on. I get a lot of comments about each one of them, like "Oh they've grown up," but also, "What is their favorite meal? What do you cook most at your house?" These recipes that we selected are family favorites, things that we cook at home all the time, so we wanted to share with families out there to taste with us.

EatingWell: Let's talk about your Spicy Crispy Roasted Cauliflower recipe. What do you love about it?

Bastianich: Cauliflower is delicious and nutritious, and it's a vegetable that's certainly in season. Preparing it this way, roasting the cauliflower like this, it becomes crispy and sweet. The flavor of the breadcrumbs, the cheese and the great vegetable makes it a good snack or hor d'oeuvre.

Get the Recipe: Lidia Bastianich's Spicy Crispy Roasted Cauliflower

EatingWell: What are some of your favorite comfort foods?

Bastianich: For us, we make a lot of soups. Or pasta with cabbage with sausage. Cabbage is a fall or winter vegetable, and if you just prepare it in the pan with oil, onions and crumbled sausages, it makes a great dressing for pasta. And baked pasta with cheese, who doesn't love baked pasta? Also gnocchi, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cheesy baked chicken wings. The kids love them.

EatingWell: What's one ingredient you never use and why?

Bastianich: Cilantro, I don't like it. it's not part of my culture, but you find it today in so many things. I don't like cilantro and I never use it in my cooking.

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EatingWell: What are your top three pantry staples that you always have on hand?

Bastianich: A good olive oil, canned plum tomatoes—if you put those two together with a little bit of garlic, you can do anything from pasta sauce or risotto to a fish dish or shrimp to a chicken dish and so on. Also, we have a lot of legumes. Having them in the cupboard is so handy, whether it's lentils, dry beans or split peas. I love using lentils to make lentil and rice soup with some carrots and celery, that's a great meal.

EatingWell: What does "eating well" mean to you?

Bastianich: Eating well means eating in the season, with the season. And it's eating a balanced meal. I always think of the Mediterranean diet as balanced—you have vegetables, legumes, carbohydrates and proteins. Eating well takes that balance into consideration, and it also means to research cooking techniques and to pay attention. That's something that's evolved with me as a chef: being conscious of what we eat and the techniques we use.

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Read the original article on Eating Well.