- Italians and family are like love and marriage.

Sometimes too close for comfort but when you're family, your family as we'll discover today in Pompeii with my Neapolitan sister as we cook a family favorite in her kitchen.

(dramatic music) - [Announcer] Funding for Christina Cooks is provided by Finamill, the flavor of freshly ground spices and dried herbs with refillable swappable pods.

Finamill.

And by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties, sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

And by Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

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- Hi, I am Christina Pirello and this is Christina Cooks where each week we take fresh seasonal ingredients and whip them into amazing dishes.

Will they all be plant-based?

Yeah.

Will they all be delicious?

Yes.

And on top of all of that, we will have you falling in love with cooking, eating, and living a healthy life.

So stick with it.

In our world, we have lots of vegetables, lots of whole grains, lots of beans that we eat that are nutrient dense and incredibly good for us.

But then we have the superheroes and the salad we're making today is not only yummy, but is comprised of all three of those superheroes.

And they are part of the family of vegetables known as cruciferous.

And they're called that for a silly reason, which is at the bottom of their stem and when they grow, it looks like there's a cross shape.

But really why you want to eat these guys is because of their cancer fighting properties, their ability to improve digestion, their ability to help you become not insulin resistant.

They are like the trifecta of wellness.

And are they delicious?

You have no idea.

Raw?

They can be a problem for us digestively.

We can become musical if we eat them raw like in a crudite but cooked lightly where they still have a little bit of crunch and freshness?

Amazing.

So we're gonna take cauliflower, just plain, ordinary, buy it in any supermarket, cauliflower and into salted water.

When you cook veggies, you wanna cook them the mildest or sweetest to the strongest.

And you wanna salt your water.

That helps to mineralize the veggies and also salt makes things contract, right?

So the flavor stays in the cauliflower, not in the water.

Now I don't need my water to be a rolling boil.

I am just taking the rawness off this cauliflower.

So it's gonna go into almost boiling water.

Cover it loosely.

Next, we'll take a purple cauliflower.

Now purple cauliflower is cauliflower, but it's really much higher in magnesium.

Anything that's purple or red is higher in magnesium.

And magnesium is a mineral that helps to soothe our nerves, helps us to sleep better, and helps us to generally be happier campers.

So when you can find a purple cauliflower, it's the way to go.

But purple cauliflower is so valuable to us nutritionally.

And so I'm just gonna cut it off at the stem and then break it into florets.

You can break it, you can cut it.

If it's not breaking for you easily, just take your knife and run it through the stem and pull the the florets apart.

What you don't wanna do is slice all the way through your florets.

'cause they tend to fall apart.

It's not the end of the world, trust me.

It's just that if you can just cut through the stem and pull a little bit with your knife, you end up with a much, oh, how do I say this?

A much more aesthetically pleasing, gorgeous dish.

And if you are new to veggies or if the people you're cooking for are new to veggies, trust me when I tell you, you really want things to be aesthetically pleasing.

People eat with their eyes first.

So if your dish is beautiful, they're gonna be down with it.

If your dish is not, eh, maybe not so much.

So let's check our cauliflower.

It's beautiful.

It's still holding its shape and you can tell when you lift it outta the water and here it hit the pan.

It's not cooked.

I am not looking to make cauliflower puree.

What I want is a nice, almost raw, crunchy cauliflower.

But this version, because it's lightly cooked, will be easier to digest.

In goes the purple cauliflower covered loosely again.

So while this cooks, the last vegetable that we cook will be broccoli.

Broccoli has the strongest flavor.

We all know this.

Broccoli, you know, you can't miss it.

So while that's cooking the purple cauliflower, we're gonna take some black olives, pitted black olives.

You can use whatever kind of black olive floats your boat.

It doesn't matter.

Can be pitted, you can pit them yourselves.

It can be oil, cured, spicy.

Either way is fine.

And we're just gonna cut these in half.

You can coarsely chop them.

If you're cooking for a crowd that doesn't maybe like olives, you might wanna coarsely chop them so that they miss them until they get used to the flavor.

And then we're gonna take some Sicilian green olives and we're gonna slice those into rings because usually Sicilian olives, they're called Castelvetrano are very large.

And did you know that in ancient Rome, they believed that eating olives could make you live forever?

The truth is olives are loaded with a compound called pantothenic acid, which is a massive contributor to longevity and people who age like super agers.

So they weren't too far off.

I mean, you don't live forever, but they weren't too far off.

So now we'll take our purple cauliflower and when you're taking it out of the water, you can feel that it's beginning to soften, but it's still got some tooth.

You could say you're cooking it al dente, which we usually say about pasta, but you know you're doing it this way.

And the fact that the water's just really hot is doing the job.

And what you want for your broccoli is for it just to be an incredibly bright green.

So don't get distracted at this point and leave this in here for too long, right?

Kind of pay attention.

Now we have roasted peppers.

Coarsely chop them.

We're gonna mix those in with our olives 'cause these are all going in when the vegetables are all cooked.

We're gonna take some chopped garlic.

Now, garlic whole gives you the most mild flavor.

Garlic sliced gives you stronger flavor.

Garlic minced in this fashion gives you the strongest flavor.

This is gonna be pre-garlicy tasting.

But the reason you want this is these guys taste like Clark Kent.

Yes, they're superman, but the flavor's really mild and not all that interesting.

So you want a dressing that is.

Now look at this color.

This is what you want.

It's perfection.

So now they go on.

I mean, look at this color.

Just look at the color of these three veggies.

I wanna eat this right now without any dressing or peppers or olives.

It doesn't matter.

But we're gonna do the whole thing so here we go.

And because I salted the water, the water is clear.

My minerals are still in my veg.

They are not in the cooking water.

And now we'll start to build our dressing.

We're gonna put the garlic in.

Now, if raw garlic is not your thing, now is the time to put it in because in with the hot veggies, it'll sort of cook a little bit.

Stir the garlic in so that it does cook.

Next go your olives and peppers.

It's starting to be beautiful and the smell is amazing.

Next we have fresh oregano.

Fresh oregano is a wonderful flavor and oregano is a very popular herb in Italian cooking.

They say it wards off the evil eye.

So in that case, it's going in.

Then some fresh lemon juice.

(lemons squirt) The lemon juice will give a lovely lift in flavor to the dish, but it will also help you digest the oil that we'll be adding next.

Next goes extra virgin olive oil generously.

Some salt.

(salt shaker whirs) Not too much.

There's olives and pepper.

(salt shaker whirs) You can make this with a mustard dressing, honey, mustard, whatever you'd like to do.

But this dish, just as this is, is one of the simplest.

You don't even break a sweat.

One of the yummiest, one of the most exquisite dishes that you can make.

Let's test it for salt.

If you like cauliflower, this is your dish.

If you don't, you will learn to.

Okay, let's plate this up and you'll be so happy to learn.

Next, we go to Naples and Pompeii to cook with my Italian sister, Antonella, who is a force of nature like you have never seen.

(upbeat music) (people chattering) So all of us have our families.

We have parents, grandparents, cousins, extended families, families we choose.

And I'm here today with my novella dama sorella, my novella sister, - My big sister.

- Who has actually made me a part of her family.

Her daughters are amazing, her husband's amazing.

We've had more dinners in this home, in this kitchen, cooking together ciame and Antonella cooking for us than I can count.

So to be here today as un'ora ancora it's another honor for me.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - We're making a vegan eggplant parmigiana.

Now you should know parmigiana in Italy means eggplant.

In America, I know we have chicken, we have blah, blah blah.

No, eggplant parmigiano is just parmigiano here, okay.

- Okay.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - Onions from Tropea.

We're making the tomato gravy first.

Now I know some of you call it sauce.

Please, in New Jersey, we call it gravy.

It's tomato gravy.

So Antonella is just slicing the Tropea onions.

They're very sweet.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - [Christina] I'm gonna put some olive oil in the bottom of the pan.

This is gonna- - Extra virgin.

- Extra virgin olive oil, of course.

When you cook, cook with oil that you would eat.

Sort of like when you cook with white wine.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) - Generous with oil as always.

(food sizzling) Okay.

- Okay.

(Christina speaking foreign language) So just a pinch of salt.

Okay.

(Christina speaking foreign language) - Stir.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - So this is just tomato puree and that goes in and this becomes the base for the gravy.

It perfumes already.

It smells so good already.

Okay, we get every drop out.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, so the onions have to become sort of a golden blonde.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - The salt is gonna make the tomato sweet.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Cover?

- Cover.

- Cover.

That's it.

So we're gonna put the gravy onto a lower heat so we can simmer and move our fry pan to a higher burner so that we can fry the eggplant to make the parmigiana.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - This is sunflower oil to fry eggplant.

We don't waste extra virgin olive oil.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, so this is like a shallow fry, yeah?

Okay.

We're gonna move it to another burner so that when you heat oil, what you don't wanna do is heat it on such a high heat that only the center of the oil gets hot.

You wanna be a lower heat so that the oil becomes hot through and through.

And what you'll notice is the oil does something called dancing when it's hot and that's when you know you can fry and have your food not be oily.

- Garlic.

- Okay.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Whole?

Or chopped?

- No.

- We chop differently, but we chop.

So the garlic has been cut into chunks and that's gonna flavor the oil.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - [Christina] Okay.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - When the garlic turns golden, we're gonna take it out of the oil.

You want a really mild taste.

This isn't a garlicy dish.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Right.

It's only to perfume the oil.

The thing that's interesting to me, the more I cook in Italy is the more mild the garlic is that they use.

It's either whole or in chunks like this and then it gets taken out.

In the States, we use so much garlic, it become so overwhelming to the dish.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, take off the top and the bottom of the eggplant.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, cut it in half lengthwise.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) - She says this is how she does it, it's an art.

And I said- (Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, okay.

With her little knife, she can slice thinner than I can.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, this is blonde.

So it's ready.

See how the edges are sort of browning, but you don't wanna brown the whole clove 'cause then it becomes bitter.

So now we take it out.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) - So now we're gonna fry the eggplant until it's soft.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) - A little salt.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - So what we're doing is just turning the eggplant in the oil with this gigantic fork (Antonella speaking foreign language) - [Antonella] Okay, eggplant.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, so it's gonna stay in the oil for a little while longer.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Until it's golden, sort of like the garlic was.

So we're gonna continue to do this and then we'll build the eggplant.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - So we're gonna have a little aperitivo.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) - For the chefs.

This is a little treat for the chefs.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - [Christina] Oh yeah.

We did this when we were kids all the time.

My poor mom.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - It's called a little cup.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - See this is how we know- (Antonella speaking foreign language) - If the gravy's ready.

Okay, it's time.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (food sizzling) It smells so good.

It smells so good in this kitchen.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - And you have to cover it.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - It is so good already.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - No fair, no fair.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - She said too bad not everyone's getting it.

(Christina speaking foreign language) - Okay.

- So the frying goes faster now because the oil's really hot.

So I was just asking Antonella because my grandmother used to soak eggplant in salted water before cooking and I asked her why we are salting it in the oil and we didn't soak it.

And she said that this keeps it fresher and more natural.

And when you soak it in salted water, it becomes drier and not as delicious, not as nice.

So we're doing it this way, which is new for me.

I'm learning.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, I give you this.

So now we're gonna take the last eggplant out of the oil and we're gonna start to build the parmigiana before it goes into the oven, okay?

Turn off the oil.

Now we have hot eggplant.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay.

So we turn off the heat and now we're gonna bring really boiling gravy over here.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - It's ready.

So you can see how it's become like thicker and richer.

I know many people call it sauce.

In my house, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, we call it gravy.

This is Sunday gravy.

Even if it's not a Sunday, this is Sunday gravy, okay?

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, so we bring it over here.

And now- (Antonella speaking foreign language) - We begin to assemble the eggplant.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, so you line the bottom of the tray with the fried eggplant.

The other thing that's different than the way my Nona used to make it is we didn't bread the eggplant.

We didn't put breadcrumbs.

This will make it a little bit lighter and a little bit less heavy in your tummy.

- Okay?

- Okay.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - So you cover the entire bottom.

Now we put some of the freshly cooked hot gravy on top.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) - This is a very rich, simple, but rich dish because you can see Antonella is not being stingy with the gravy.

She's putting some gravy on this.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - You put a lot.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - So now we're gonna hand tear some basil across the top of the gravy.

And this will give it- (Antonella speaking foreign language) - The perfume is amazing.

And if you're noticing we are hand tearing the basil, instead of using a knife.

A knife can give it a bitter aftertaste, so you try to, when you can, hand tear it (Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - So now we just do this, we just assemble, assemble, assemble until the pan is full and then.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - And then an hour in the oven and then you let it rest for?

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Depending on your oven, 50 minutes to an hour.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Like about a 350 oven covered either with aluminum or a cover or casserole, however you do it.

So we're gonna continue to build this eggplant and then you'll see the finish.

Amazing.

(Christina speaking foreign language) - A lot of gravy.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - [Christina] Okay, because the oven will make it drier.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - And you won't have good flavor.

And there's no mozzarella, no cheese.

So this is the vegan version of it.

This is the vegan version.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - She said it's better with mozzarella.

I don't eat it, so bye.

- Basilica?

(Christina speaking foreign language) - One thing I have to say, and this is very much what makes us family is Antonella knows she can tease me about being a vegan and I can tease her about mozzarella and it doesn't matter because we love each other so much.

And I can't begin to tell you how much time I've spent in this kitchen with her.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) (upbeat music) (people chattering) - It smells so good in here.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - It's hot, hot, hot.

Okay, are you guys ready?

(Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) - Okay, I said my hands are hard.

Ready?

You guys ready?

You ready for this?

(Christina speaking foreign language) - This is the most amazing dish and you saw how simple this was, how easy it was.

It's solid.

It's held together.

I cannot wait to eat this.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - But now I see why so much gravy.

May I?

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - Look, it's so tender.

Eggplant usually does not sort of melt like this, but it's because there's so much gravy.

(Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) (Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) - Thank you again for making me part of your family.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) - I'm just going to eat my eggplant.

(upbeat music) If I hear it once, I hear it a million times, cooking is hard.

There's all the prep, the washing, slicing, dicing, pots and pans to clean.

Cooking should be as natural to us as brushing our teeth and it's just as essential.

It's a life skill that ensures you have the strength and vitality to move through this adventure we call life.

Hard?

Cooking?

Having ill health is hard on you and all of society as we shoulder the cost of our bad choices.

With 80% of disease considered preventable, cooking and taking care of our health is the easy choice.

I'm always amazed that people think caring for their health and wellbeing is hard.

This body we inhabit is the only one we get, and yet we treat it as disposable.

Look, I'm not a your body is a temple purist, but if we don't care for this organism, we call home, what do we have really?

I mean, we get a new mattress when it sags in the middle, but our bodies, our literal lives?

It's too hard to care for ourselves with nutrient dense nutrition?

Time to rethink, my friends and take care of the only body we get in this life.

So think about that and I'll see you next time on Christina Cooks.

(upbeat music) (both whoop) - It's so good.

(Antonella speaking foreign language) (Christina speaking foreign language) (Cameraman speaking foreign language) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Funding for Christina Cooks is provided by Finamill, the flavor of freshly ground spices and dried herbs with refillable swappable pods.

Finamill.

And by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties, sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

And by Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding provided by.

You can find today's recipes and learn more by visiting our website at christinacooks.com and by following Christina on social media.

(dramatic music)