- My family put the fun in dysfunctional.

They were opinionated, loud and fiercely loving.

The Costabile side from artists here in Naples to woodworkers in America built our family.

But family means different things to different people.

We're off to meet a little powerhouse of a vegan chef who's created a whole community around her restaurant right here in the heart of Naples.

(upbeat music) - [Presenter] Funding provided by finamill, the flavor of freshly ground spices and dried herbs with refillable, swappable pods.

Finamill, where cooking gets creative.

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: - Hi, I'm 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.

We will help you fall in love with cooking, eating healthy, and living a great life.

When I was a kid, my grandparents came from Naples.

And we cooked very Napoletano style in our house.

And one of the things my grandmother loved to make was a street food from Naples that you can to this day, watch people eat walking through the streets.

And it's an escarole pie or 'scarole,' as we called it in Naples.

But escarole is a lovely bitter green that... My grandmother didn't know this part.

She just knew that when she made this pie, we were deliriously happy.

She thought it was just because it was delicious.

But the truth is, in Chinese medicine, escarole helped your liver to do its jobs better.

Metabolizing macronutrients, detoxing the body.

So the result is you're a happier camper because you feel better.

My nana just knew that this was a great pie that she made.

And the way she made it was pretty simple.

She had fresh escarole that they grew.

Every square inch of my backyard in New Jersey growing up was a garden.

We had nowhere to play except in between the plants.

Because they came from Naples and made a microcosm of their life there in their yard in Kearny, New Jersey.

So here we were picking escarole for my grandmother.

And then she would take fresh olive oil.

Extra virgin of course.

They didn't know from any other kind of oil except extra virgin.

And she used it in this pie generously.

I'm gonna say there's probably 2 or 3 tablespoons of oil in the bottom of this skillet.

And in to it goes some diced red onion and some garlic.

And which you may have noticed.

And if you watch me before, you know that this is not a new thing.

You never turn on the heat until your olive oil has an ingredient in the pan.

Once you have an ingredient in there, you can turn on the heat.

There's nothing wrong with cooking with extra virgin olive oil.

Nothing.

You should do it.

There's polyphenols, there's resveratrol.

All there.

If you cook it on its own before you add any ingredients, what you'll end up with is no flavor of olive oil.

The flavor gets compromised pretty easily, but we are gonna start it building a simmer.

So you can see there's no action happening right now.

It's just kind of sitting there.

We're gonna add to it some salt.

But just a tiny amount.

And the reason it's a tiny amount is also olives and capers going into these onions that are gonna sweat.

So we're just gonna move them around as they get more coated with olive oil.

And the sizzle will build.

Eventually.

You have to be patient.

When you're cooking things like onions and garlic, you can take your olive oil, garlic, and onions and start them on a high heat and immediately get that dramatic sizzle.

Do your onions get sweet?

They do not.

They still retain some of their bitterness.

One of the things we do when we cook, generally speaking, is we rush it.

We rush it along.

"Come on, come on, come on.

Get these onions going!

We need to get this thing!"

That's not how you cook, right?

Cooking is something to be savored from the shopping to the cleaning up.

Really.

And you're thinking, "Oh my goodness.

You can roll your eyes all you want."

But the truth is, if you start to look at cooking in that way, your life completely changes when it comes to food.

Now, the next ingredient I'm gonna add is optional.

You may add it, don't add it.

It's entirely your choice.

But in our house, we like a little hot spice.

So that's just some crushed chili peppers into a powder.

And that's going to give us just a little hit of heat, which is going to be balanced by some currants.

And what we did was we took the currants and soaked them in a little bit of warm water to plump them a little bit.

Makes them a little softer.

So that when they're cooking and when they're in the oven in the pie, they don't become like little pellets.

Do you have to plump them?

No.

If that's a shortcut you wanna take, go ahead.

Next thing to go in are some coarsely chopped black olives and some capers.

Now you can see why I want really light on salt.

I'm not adding any more salt because now what I really want is for the olives and the capers... The smell is amazing.

This smells like my nana's kitchen.

She was a great cook.

She did not speak English very well.

My grandfather spoke English.

His one desire when he came to America was to become a US Marine.

And so he did that.

He came to America, renounced Italy.

Sadly, took diction classes so that he had no accent.

His English was so perfect that everyone knew that he was foreign because no one speaks like that.

Really.

So... Now that the onions have become sweet, you can smell.

There's no longer that like sulfury, strong onion flavor.

Now we've got some sweetness.

The next thing to go in is pine nuts.

The pine nuts are too expensive for you, there's walnuts or hazelnuts.

But the traditional recipe calls for pignoli.

Now in modern Naples, they sometimes add anchovies to this and sometimes even some meat.

I do neither, obviously.

So while this continues to sweat, now we get the escarole ready.

Escarole is a beautiful, delicate, bitter green that you can eat raw or cooked.

We're gonna wilt it to go into this pie.

You usually hand tear greens like escarole because if you use a knife on them, it can take on a metallic aftertaste.

So I tend to hand tear.

And it doesn't matter if the pieces are big or irregular in this because doesn't matter, they're gonna wilt down and become part of the filling.

The most important thing with escarole is to make sure you wash it.

And I mean wash it.

It grows in very sandy soil.

And so the result is that it becomes very dirty-tasting and has a really gritty, unpleasant mouthfeel if you don't wash it.

You won't die.

But try to wash your escarole and wash it really well.

And we're gonna fill this pan.

Okay.

And now you're wondering, "What happens next?"

Well, once your pan is filled... Escarole is gonna wilt quite a bit.

We will have probably... close to half this volume, maybe less.

Okay, so... No liquid.

Don't add anything.

No water, no wine, nothing.

We're just gonna help this to wilt.

If you want, you can add a touch of black pepper at this point.

Don't add any more salt.

Don't forget what's in there.

Little black pepper.

And now, this will wilt.

So now we have to make a basic pizza dough.

Very simple, easy to make pizza dough.

You can buy pizza dough, but you really should learn to make pizza dough.

So while this wilts, I will show you how to make pizza dough.

Amore!

Amore, can you bring in the ingredients for the pizza dough?

So that we can make it for the pie?

- Christina!

(speaking in foreign language) (Christina speaking in foreign language) - I got you the dough.

Where you gonna make it the dough?

- You brought dough?

(Cosimo speaking in foreign language) - You smell like a... Like a grandmama was here.

What up over here?

My God.

- This is my friend Cosimo, who is family.

You are not my friend, you're my family.

- Grazie, grazie, grazie.

- And Cosimo runs a pizzeria in Philadelphia called Puglia Pizza.

Cosimo, can you tell me what's in your dough?

Because you make a very different dough that results in a very crispy taste.

Yeah?

- More than just, it's very simple.

- Yeah?

- What we do, we just (speaks in foreign language) - Yep.

- Flour.

- Yep.

- 80% is semolina.

- 80% semolina.

- Yeah.

Semolina.

It's like a corn flour.

It's very simple, very light, very helpful to digest.

And then you put 20% of a white flour.

- Okay.

- So that's why we do it.

And then you put olive oil.

Always a good olive oil, extra virgin.

- Yep.

- Put the yeast in.

- Yep.

- And that's about it.

- And that's it?

- Simple.

- Ah.

- Yeah.

Just very simple.

Little mix and everything.

- And then this rose one time, yeah?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- Yes.

That's what I said.

Okay.

- So now, Cosimo- (Cosimo speaking unintelligibly) What I need you to do for me, you are going to, I'm gonna take one third roughly of this dough.

- Okay.

- Now you take the bigger piece and press it into a round on here.

Do you want some... (Cosimo speaking in foreign language) - [Cosimo] Nice.

- [Christina] Okay.

And the semolina on the tray just prevents sticking.

- Oh.

Then you play like this.

You know, like more you play with the dough, you know, softer get it lighter and everything.

You know?

- So the more you do what you're doing, - Correct.

You gotta play with the dough.

- But you're also not like killing it.

- [Cosimo] No.

- [Christina] You know, it's gentle.

Yeah?

It's dough.

- It's love.

It's a patient.

You gotta crazy.

You know, you just gotta love what you're doing.

- Don't you love that?

- That's what it's all about.

- He's caressing the dough.

- You know what I mean?

You gotta caress it.

That's what it's all about.

- It's true!

- You know what I mean?

- It's true though.

- It can't be rough.

You gotta love, you gotta put a patience.

- It doesn't have to be a perfect dough.

- Remember my grandmom?

Grandmom when she does it, she get up in the morning just with the idea just to go make food for the entire family.

- And they always started making the dough in the morning.

The dough was always the first thing in the morning.

When my grandmother would get up, the first thing you'd smell was yeast in the kitchen 'cause she's making pizza dough.

- And then a little rise, they used to pull underneath the blanket in the bed.

So little rise, the dough.

Because the heat.

- [Christina] That's right.

- You know?

Remember my grandmother?

When we come in in the morning, she making the dough.

I say, "Grandma, what you doing?"

She put it right under into the blanket in the bed.

I say, "What are you doing over there?"

She say, "Grandson, it's the recipe with little rise."

- Yeah.

The rise needs to be warm.

When we were kids, my grandmother used to make ravioli and we would carry them and put them on the bed on a big towel.

So that she'd make them for the whole family.

- They're amazing.

- My grandmother was the youngest of 17.

- God bless her.

- Si.

(laughs) - My God.

And I used to tell my grandfather too, I said, "Why you have 12 kids?"

They said they have no TV.

(Christina jabbers) - And make their own movie.

Unbelievable.

- That's what my grand used to say.

"We had no TV in Naples so we had 17 kids."

- Now we got TV every room now.

(unintelligible) One or two kids.

Unbelievable now.

Unbelievable.

- Okay, you tell me when it's ready.

- Okay.

(speaking unintelligibly) Open up a little bit.

Okay.

- Beautiful.

- You see, you try to make round.

You know?

- The most important thing when you try to make it round is that it's the thickness is close to even.

Right?

So that it doesn't, part of your pizza is not doughy.

And the other part is nice.

Perfecto.

- You see?

You want to do it?

- Okay, now I need you to make that one round as well.

- Okay.

- You can use the board though.

- Alright!

- Here let me put some flour.

Okay.

Now the filling goes on here in like a big sort of pile.

And the filling should be abundant.

The filling- I know, it's so nice.

- [Cosimo] My God, the smell.

- The filling is not... - Amazing, the smell.

- I mimic my grandmother would say the filling- - Oh she used to say (speaking in foreign language) (Christina speaking in foreign language) (Cosimo speaking in foreign language) - It'll smell good.

There's something about capers and garlic and onions that... I don't know.

All I think of is my nana.

- I see you put like the dry raisin over there.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

I put the currants.

- Wow, that's amazing!

Because you got the sweet, the sour (unintelligible) - Because in Naples they had the effect of Sicilians, they had the effect of Arabs.

They had all of that.

- That's easy dough.

- So now that piece is gonna be smaller.

Make it just a touch bigger if you can.

I didn't leave you much.

Didn't leave a much dough.

- It's okay.

It's okay.

- Alright.

Now that goes right on top.

Bravo.

Perfect.

(Cosimo speaking unintelligibly) (Christina laughs) (Cosimo speaking in foreign language) Okay.

- Okay.

- Now this goes right on top of this.

And then she would take it and lift it up like this.

Right?

This was my grandmother... She didn't just roll it like this.

She would come back after she rolled it.

So my favorite part of making this pie is my grandmother never just lifted the edge.

She would take the dough and turn it in her fingers to make what looked like a braid.

Because she thought it looked prettier that way.

- [Cosimo] Amazing.

Amazing.

- [Christina] And she was right.

I mean it's a very, she was very proud when she made this.

I'm very proud when I make it.

And I always think of her.

And it was the only way that my grandfather would eat vegetables.

- Wow.

- He only wanted fried meat.

That was his preference of his diet.

- Oh God bless.

- But she would eat this.

Then she would cut a slit.

And then Cosimo, if you would take that brush and olive oil and then you're gonna brush it.

She used to brush it pretty generously, 'cause it would give it a nice shine and it would help it to brown.

And this would go into the oven at about... She would say, "When the oven's hot enough."

I'd be like, "Nana, are you kidding me?"

But it turns out it's about 475 for 15 to 18 minutes.

'Cause the escarole's cooked.

Yeah?

So as soon as the dough is golden, on the edge it's- - It's good?

- Perfecto.

- Perfecto.

- So this is gonna go into the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, and then we'll have this beautiful escarole pie to taste.

- Wow.

Wow.

(upbeat music) - Alright, Cosimo.

Here it is.

- [Cosimo] Oh my God.

- [Christine] Smells amazing.

Choose your weapon.

- Alright, let me go with this.

Alright.

- Okay.

- This I know grandmom used then but let me see what's going on over here, Christina.

(Cosimo speaking in foreign language) - [Christina] It looks exactly right!

(Cosimo exclaims) - Christina, please don't take no fork (unintelligible) - No, no, no.

We eat this.

Come on.

Hm?

Just needs one thing, Cosimo.

- Grandmom, thank you.

Thank you for the recipe.

- This means one thing.

What?

- A glass of wine.

Huh?

- This is so yummy.

A little spice.

A little sweet from the raisins and the currants and the pine nuts.

(Christina and Cosimo speaking in foreign language) Cosimo, thank you my friend.

- Thank you.

Always.

Always a pleasure.

- Grazie.

Grazie.

- Always call me when you do this kind of stuff, right?

Because I really love it.

- I will.

I will.

And now, we're off to Naples.

(upbeat music) I'm here at Officina Vegana.

I'm so excited to cook with Alessandra and Rafaele who are the owners and chefs at this lovely little vegan spot in the heart of Naples.

So, grazie.

Ciao.

(all speaking in foreign language) So I just said hello and thanks for having me.

So... (Christina speaking in foreign language) (Rafaele speaking in foreign language) (Christina speaking in foreign language) So we're gonna make something delicious, he said.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) (Rafaele speaking in foreign language) (Christina speaking in foreign language) (Rafaele and Alessandra speaking in foreign language) So these guys are amazing.

They make their own tofu.

They start with soybeans.

Okay?

(Christina speaking in foreign language) (Rafaele speaking in foreign language) So they soak the soybeans for 4 hours.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) (Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Then they puree.

(Rafaele speaking in foreign language) They filter it to create.

(Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Okay.

(Rafaele speaking in foreign language) So they soak the soybeans, they cook them, they filter them to create a sort of soy milk.

Then they're cooked with nigari.

Nigari is the coagulator that helps to make tofu.

And then they end up with... tofu.

Now, it's not every restaurant in the world that makes their own tofu from scratch.

These guys do everything here.

It's amazing.

So... (Christina speaking in foreign language) (Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Okay.

(Rafaele speaking in foreign language) And then mixed into their homemade tofu is sun-dried tomatoes, cipolline onions and- - Yes.

Onion, tomato, dried tomato, and parsley.

- And parsley.

Okay.

- And rice flour.

- Rice flour.

Okay.

So before we make the burger, (Christina speaking in foreign language) For how many years?

- Eight.

- Eight.

- So for eight years, they've been in the spot.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) - Yes.

Yes.

- Okay.

In this spot.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) (Alessandra speaking in foreign language) So they've been vegan and vegetarian.

And they discovered that in Naples, even with all the vegetables they eat in Naples, it was not so easy to eat.

Let's make burgers.

Go ahead.

(Alessandra and Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Okay, so Tofu.

- [Rafaele] Tofu.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) (Rafaele speaking in foreign language) (Christina speaking in foreign language) So in go all the condiments that they made.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) (Alessandra and Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Oh, everything's raw.

That's going in.

(Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Ah.

Okay, okay.

Okay, okay, okay.

So after the burgers are formed, this will cook in a broth.

So go ahead, mix.

It already has a lovely perfume.

You can't even imagine how lovely.

(Alessandra speaking in foreign language) So the rice flour, they just sort of... As most chefs do, eyeball it to the- So that it's a texture that holds together.

'Cause the tofu is quite soft.

Yeah?

But you can see it's all starting to hold together.

Okay.

They wear gloves, so they just oil so that it doesn't stick.

(all laugh) (all speaking in foreign language) It's very easy.

What I'm doing is very easy.

I'm just holding the bowl.

So you see he forms a perfect shaped burger.

A good size.

Beautiful!

(Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Okay, so each one is 150?

- [Rafaele] Yes.

- [Christina] 150 grams of burger.

So it's high in protein, gluten free, no unnecessary carbs.

It's really quite a... It smells delicious.

So I can tell you it's gonna be a very delicious tofu burger as well as being good for you.

So that's the thing that most people forget about eating vegan food is everyone assumes it's (unintelligible) but it's not.

It's delicious.

It's really delicious food.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) - Thank you.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) (Alessandra speaking in foreign language) - He does this for eight years all day.

So he's best.

(Rafaele speaking in foreign language) (Christina speaking in foreign language) (all speaking in foreign language) Okay.

So they're only closed on Sunday.

So like every other person in the food business, they work nine days a week.

- Yeah.

(Christina laughs) - Nine.

(laughs) - Sunday.

Sunday and nine.

- Okay.

- After this, they do what we call in America sous vide.

So what that means is they encase the raw burgers in plastic and then they're cooked in broth like this.

And then when they come out, now they're fully cooked.

But now, (speaking in foreign language) (Rafaele speaking in foreign language) So after this, they grill them.

And then after they're grilled, they look like... So you see they got very firm and very beautiful.

Smell.

They smell so good.

(all laugh) Smells great.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) And then they get served either with a (speaks in foreign language) They get served either just like this, right?

With a plate of roasted potatoes and a small arugula salad and the burger.

Or they take it and they make it into a panino.

They have made a beautiful sort of mayonnaise.

Yeah?

- Yeah.

With the soy milk that we make.

- So soy milks that they make plus seasonings.

- Inside there is oil, - Oil.

- Lemon, onion, and red tomatoes.

- Perfect!

Okay, let's make it.

Okay.

- So, can I go first?

(Christina speaking in foreign language) - So now they have toasted bread.

They put- Oh, I mean this smells so good.

Wow.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) I just said to her, I like so much eating here when we're in Naples.

Yep.

Escarole.

Brilliante.

So what they do is they use a bitter green on the burger.

So that it helps you to digest the protein and the fat that's in it.

It's quite amazing.

And they also put some of the potatoes on top.

(Alessandra and Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Perfecto.

- [Alessandra] Okay.

(Alessandra speaking in foreign language) - [Christine] Then... Together.

Oh!

(jabbers) (all laugh) (Alessandra and Christina speaking in foreign language) Then they wrap it in this beautiful greaseproof paper.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) (Alessandra and Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Okay.

(Christina speaking in foreign language) It's so delicious.

You make your way to Naples.

I'm telling you it's the most delicious sandwich.

This will hold you all day.

It's quite hearty.

So... Grazie mille.

(Alessandra and Rafaele speaking in foreign language) Thank you.

Grazie, grazie.

- Bon appetit.

(upbeat music) - Just you know, think about this.

In just one generation, we went from dinner around the table with our families to dinner in a bucket.

Food manufacturers hijacked our wellness by convincing us that cooking was just another chore.

And that convenience was where it's at.

Well, with diabetes, obesity, and heart disease becoming bonafide industries in our modern life, we only have ourselves to blame.

When I was a kid, we gathered around the table at night.

No excuses.

If you missed a meal, you'd best be dead.

At the table, we learned everything.

From sharing to communication to justice and manners.

It's time we got back to the table and ate together to create future generations who can relate to each other and love each other in person.

So think about that.

And I'll see you next time on "Christina Cooks" (background chatter) (drums playing) (upbeat music) - [Presenter] Funding provided by finamill, the flavor of freshly ground spices and dried herbs with refillable, swappable pods.

Finamill, where cooking gets creative.

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.

(bright music)