- As I age, I find it essential to surround myself with younger people.

I love their optimism and vitality, how they see the world, what's important to them and what isn't.

But I also value the wisdom of my more mature friends.

When I put all my friends together, they've taught me that when life gives you lemons, you make lemon cake in two ways.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] 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.

- 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.

More importantly, we will make you fall in love with cooking, eating and living a healthy life.

So in my life, there is no life without dessert.

Healthy dessert, yes.

But there has to be a dessert.

And in Italian cooking, lemons seem to play a massive role in desserts.

Gelato, sorbeto, limoncello.

Everything's about desserts.

So we are making today a lemon cake that a friend in Italy taught me the trick that I'm gonna teach you.

So now it's global, but nobody likes to eat dessert alone.

And you certainly don't like to bake dessert alone.

So I've invited a friend to join me today and talk about this lemon cake and make it together.

Oh, Andrea?

- Hello.

- Hi, come on in.

- I hear lemons.

- You hear lemons and you hear cake.

So here we are.

- Thanks for having me.

- Thanks for coming.

So we're gonna make a lemon cake today that has polenta and almond flour and a little bit of an Italian secret that we have.

- Great.

- So you are Italian.

- I am.

- Tell me about your, part, I am too.

When I met my husband's family, they said she'll be okay.

She's half Italian.

My god, go ahead.

- And they accepted you.

- They did, they did.

- My father's family is Italian and my grandmother lived to 102 years old.

- 102?

- 102.

And when she was 80, I was like, what is she doing to be so vibrant?

And she was a phenomenal cook.

And everything was from scratch and actually lemons were her favorite fruit.

- She ate them like fruit.

- Yeah, she could bite into a lemon.

And that was her favorite fruit.

- So was she a happy person?

- Oh, absolutely.

- So in Chinese medicine, we say sour tastes like lemon governs the emotion of irritability and anger.

So people who eat sour tastes are happy.

So there you go, there you go.

- Does vinegar count?

I love vinegar.

- It does, sour taste.

All right, let's start this cake.

So what we did this morning was we boiled, boiled these two whole lemons for 20 minutes.

Feel how soft they got.

- Oh my goodness.

- And you say, and you boil them just in water to cover the lemons.

Then you're gonna take these same lemons and cut them in half just to remove the seeds, because the seeds can be a little bitter.

So you just wanna take these out.

Just put them on the side there.

You just wanna make sure that there's not a lot of seeds in here, because we're gonna puree the entire lemon.

- That's great, you get the zest.

You get the juice.

- You get everything.

We get the pith, everything.

So they're gonna go in here.

Along with, if you wouldn't mind measuring eight tablespoons to a half cup.

So two quarter cups of extra virgin olive oil.

This is an olive oil based cake.

- You want two of these?

- Two of those.

I know.

I measure in a very odd way, either quarter cups or half cups, no matter how much of something I'm making, it's ridiculous but that's how I work.

- Hey, it works.

It's worked for a long time for you.

- It has worked for a long time.

We put some man vanilla in, carefully measured about a teaspoon.

But you know, people measure the way they measure when they bake, some sift, some whisk, some weigh.

And there are some recipes I weigh things for like when I make French cakes, French canelé, I weigh my ingredients.

Most of the time, I don't sift, I don't whisk.

I don't do any of it.

Nothing, nothing.

So you're gonna add to that seven tablespoons of coconut sugar and coconut sugar's a low glycemic index sugar.

It's still sugar.

Listen, sugar is sugar is sugar.

But this one's low glycemic index, meaning it doesn't give you a heavy load on the glycogen in your blood.

And it tastes like caramel and brown sugar.

It doesn't taste like coconut.

So it's a really nice option, shall we say.

- And it won't be too sweet either.

- And it won't be too sweet.

- I love that.

- Now we'll add to this some of the cooking water from the lemons.

And now you're gonna mix that into a slurry.

- Okay.

- Okay.

So just have at it.

- My pleasure.

(blender whirring) - All right.

- Okay, so there's our slurry.

Now, before we actually make the cake, you and I have a very sort of similar, we're not supposed to be here history.

- Yes.

- So while I measure flour.

- Yeah, - Let's talk about that.

- So, you know, when I was in my early 30s, I had, my life kind of came to a sudden halt.

I had this explosive headache that turned out to be a benign brain tumor and a bleeding AVM.

And I had to have emergency brain surgery.

And it was a pretty harrowing experience and recovery, when I started to like, you know, pay attention more to what I was eating.

And I learned that what we eat and our lifestyle choices account for much more than our genes.

Everything shifted.

That was so empowering to me.

So then I just started to pay attention to what the evidence-based nutrition said.

And I started, it was like, plants, plants, plants.

That's how you're gonna live a long, healthy life.

- That's exactly right.

And the cool thing is, being Italian, it's so easy.

- Plants.

- Right?

All they eat are plants.

- Yeah.

And luckily I found the right cooks.

I came to your classes and you were a resource and with how to make delicious food that tastes good and promotes health.

So that's kind of, and then I found out, you know, you have a similar story.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

So in here we have so far sprouted whole wheat flour.

Then I added to it some almond flour.

A little bit of polenta, now goes in some baking powder.

About a teaspoon.

- About.

- Yeah, about.

And then I have two tablespoons here of, it's just, you can use any plant-based egg replacer.

And you're gonna mix this up.

And now my friend, you are gonna add this slurry.

- Okay.

- Into this mix.

And you see it's nice and thick.

- Yes.

- It smells amazing.

- Look at that.

This is such a cool technique.

- The only thing that would make this better is if we were on the Amalfi Coast doing this on Amalfi Coast lemons.

- Can we do that next time?

- We can, sure.

So now you're just gonna mix this into a cake batter.

And you save all of the lemon cooking water.

Because if your cake butter's too thick, I don't wanna thin it with things like oat milk or soy milk.

Number one, they don't really add anything to it in terms of your crumb.

And number two, it just add calories.

When I bake at home, everything you've ever tasted that I made is with water.

And I hardly use plant milks at all.

I do use them in my French canelé.

- Is that bitter, the lemon water?

- Taste it.

- No.

- It's just like a hint.

It's an essence.

- Yeah.

- Nice.

- And then if you would take the zester while I mix and zest this lemon into this batter.

- Sure.

- And so what you're trying to create here, the smell is amazing between the lemons and the lemon zest and the, ugh.

- A little bit of the sweetness.

- Yep.

But you want this nice sort of what they call a spoonable batter.

And then seeing as it's vegan.

Oh yeah, taste that.

- All right.

Perfectly balanced.

- Yep.

- Are we good with the zest?

- Yep, we're good with the zest.

So now you're gonna take this small ladle, my friend, and you're gonna fill these, you make it five, you make it six.

- Okay.

- It depends.

- Can I be messy?

- Yes, you can.

So this recipe makes what's called a standard bunt pan.

Or it makes five or six of these minis.

I'm gonna take a small sauce pan and some brown rice syrup.

And brown rice syrup is a fermented sweetener made from rice and cultured rice that gives you the flavor of say, I wanna say like butter scotch, but is a fermented sweetener.

So it digests differently than a sweetener that's made just from sugar.

And we're gonna bring this to a really high rolling boil.

I never told you I'd give you the easy job.

(cooks laughing) - I'm sweating over here.

- That's all right.

Don't worry.

They look like when I do them, they're just like, there's stuff everywhere.

- You don't measure sometimes.

So this is that.

- I don't, if this is easier than the ladle.

Like we can fill in with this.

- Okay.

Hey, we got six here.

- We did get six.

And once these are to where you want them.

And don't worry if the pans are messy.

The cool thing about these little bunts is they come out like super clean and the pan's clean really easy.

And then once you have the batter in here, you really wanna go around and kind of like make sure your batter is even so your cake's bake even.

And also so that you have an even like, you don't have holes in it.

A lot of times when people bake, they now take the pen and they slam it.

We don't have eggs, we can't do that.

So I just kind of shake them a little bit.

And these will go in the oven for what a shame, 23 minutes.

And then after 23 minutes, they come out looking like this.

And then you take your brown rice syrup that you've heated, take a little tablespoon and you just glaze them.

- Beautiful.

- You can add lemon juice to this, but if you add lemon juice to your glaze, you have to be really careful because lemon juice will turn really bitter really fast if you cook it for too long.

And this is just a tiny amount of like, almost like just a finish.

What would your nana think of this?

- Oh my gosh, she would love this.

- She would love these?

- Yes.

Absolutely.

- Okay, shall we?

- Yes.

Let's do it, can't wait.

- I'm just gonna start with a small sliver.

- Thank you.

- But really.

- It's so tender.

- We kind of split these.

- Cheers?

- Cheers.

And guess what?

Now I'm off to the Amalfi Coast to make lemon cake another way with a vegan chef in Scala.

(upbeat music) So I'm in the kitchen today with my new best pal Marinella.

(cooks speaking in Italian) She says she doesn't like to say it, but yeah, she's the boss.

Okay.

(cooks speaking in Italian) So we're gonna make a torta with lemon and lemon cream.

Very different than the lemon cake I just made with Andrea.

So this is a totally new version.

(cooks speaking in Italian) So this is for the cream, the lemon cream.

But first we have to make pastafrola.

Now pastafrola is a very soft dough that's very commonly used in Italy.

We don't make it so much in the US, it's always made with butter.

So the fact that Marinella told me that she can do it vegan has me very excited.

So in here?

(cooks speaking in Italian) So this is soy milk.

(cooks speaking in Italian) So this is 125 milliliters of soy milk.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - A hundred grams of sugar.

You can use coconut sugar, integrale sugar, brown sugar or regular sugar mixed together with a whisk so that it begins to dissolve the sugar.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) So she's using sunflower oil, 80 milliliters.

Now I know in America we do tablespoons and cups but you go on your phone, convert the recipe and actually convert your recipes to grams and milliliters, because that makes the most accurate baking.

So cups and tablespoons can be dodgy.

So really consider doing that.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - So now she has about two tablespoons of natural leviner, sort of baking powder-ish.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - She just is mixing it in sale or no?

- No.

So you don't put salt in pastafrola, which I always am surprised by.

- No.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - Okay, so now she added potato starch.

See, in here?

So potato starch, but you can use arrow root, tapioca as you wish.

But potato starch will make a really nice soft pastafrola.

Now, something I'm not good at that Marinella is going to do is sift her dry ingredients.

I'm not a very good sifter, but cooking with her has taught me that.

Never say never.

When you sift your flour, when you make a pastry, it makes for a lighter end result.

So don't be lazy like I can often be, sift, and then gradually mix into the liquid.

So you have your dry ingredients going into your wet ingredients, and you can see it looks very wet now.

And all of this dry ingredients will go in.

And what I like about using a sieve for this instead of an actual sifter is, especially if you're using whole grain flours or something like that, it'll go through, in a sifter, a whole grain flour, which I often use at home, can clog the sifter.

So now using the whisk, she's just kind of pulling the dough together.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - Okay, so now the dough is very soft and sticky.

So just we say amano by hand, pull it together and the dough, you'll see the dough start to form and become very, very responsive.

What's interesting about this dough is that it's so easy, right?

Everybody that I teach in cooking is very afraid to make a dough.

This is so simple and so easy to pull together.

And now it's just a soft knead.

You can see how responsive the dough is.

It's pretty amazing.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - Can I feel?

It's lovely.

It's really lovely dough.

Okay.

- Okay.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - So I'm gonna start making the lemon cream.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - Okay.

So she's saying I should put everything in here.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - Okay.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - So this is a hundred grams of fresh Amalfi lemon juice that I wish I could just dab behind my ears and walk around smelling like the Amalfi Coast.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - Okay, 50 grams of sugar and a little bit of lemon zest, big pieces.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - To dissolve.

So I'm just gonna stir this to dissolve the sugar a little bit.

Okay?

(cooks speaking in Italian) - So 40 grams of flour and you mix the entire time, Marinella was telling me earlier, you mix the entire time so there's no lumps and bumps.

Okay?

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - 200 grams of whatever vegetable milk you like.

But I suggest if you start with one, you finish with one.

If you start with soy milk, use soy milk.

If you start with oat, use oat, okay.

And it's already like sort of turning creamy without even cooking it yet.

Okay.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - So you keep the heat low and it's important that you stir the entire time.

So while Marinella rolls out the dough and fits it in the pan, I'm gonna make the cream.

So we have a beautiful pastafrola that we let rest for 30 minutes 'cause you wanna let the gluten rest now that it's been mixed and kneaded.

If your board's not stable, put a towel under it.

It's simple, I know, but many people struggle.

And when you watch someone who cooks a lot cook and you see all these simple little steps that we know sort of by instinct, if you do cook, I suddenly feel compelled to tell you to do it so that you make your life easier in the kitchen.

Okay, a little bit of flour on top of the dough.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - I asked her how many years she's been cooking.

She said easily 40 years.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - All our lives we've been cooking.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - It's a wonderful pleasure to cook.

So when people say they don't like cooking or they're not, you know, they don't like being in the kitchen, I always wonder how they manage 'cause it's such a wonderful thing.

Look at the beautiful dough this is, it's smooth, it's pliable, it's perfection.

As someone who bakes, I'm telling you it's perfection.

Then you just fold it in half because it's a really responsive dough.

Don't oil the tin.

Pop it in there and you just fit, when you make a dough like this, you fit it into the pan without stretching.

If you stretch it, your dough becomes tough.

And then using whatever implement you have in your proximity, you take away the excess dough, which will be re-rolled and used somewhere else.

Okay.

Watch it.

So the cream has thickened, you can see it's really right like that.

That's what you're looking for.

So I'm gonna pour it into the crust.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - She said I did good.

Yay!

Okay?

(cooks speaking in Italian) - Okay.

(Christina speaking in Italian) So now we're not just making a top like you do on a pie.

We're gonna make this a little bit fancier.

We're making a lattice crust and a lattice is, everyone looks at a lattice and thinks there's no way I could do that.

Wait till you see how easy this is.

Just wait till you see how easy this is.

So she rolled the pastafrola a touch thicker so that it would hold up and the lattice pieces won't break.

That happens a lot.

People struggle a lot with the lattice when they make it too thin.

Just lay it on top, break it.

It's so beautiful.

It makes your pie or your tart look so delicate and special.

And it's so easy.

You don't have to do the lift the every other one.

And you just make something that's just a little prettier than you wanna serve this on a Sunday brunch, you make it a little prettier.

That's all.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - So 15, 20 minutes, it's a quick pie.

And around 350 Fahrenheit?

Yeah, about 350.

Okay, so this is gonna go into the oven.

Wait till you see the finish.

So Marinella made one earlier and cooled it, when you make a pie before we cut it, when you make a pie, let it cool and set before you cut it.

I know it's hard, it smells like heaven.

But you gotta let it set, it's gotta rest.

Okay.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - So a little bit of powdered sugar to finish it.

Optional, do it, don't do it.

Can I use this pieto?

So since it's a lemon tart, best we serve it on an Amalfi Coast lemon plate.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - And you can see the, you can almost, you can hear the crust.

It's crispy but soft, it's perfection.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - Okay.

The first piece is always you cross your fingers and hope for the best.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - Here we go.

It's as though you took a bite of the Amalfi Coast right here on this plate.

Marinella.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - Amazing.

(Marinella speaking in Italian) - I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna.

Yeah.

(cooks speaking in Italian) - She said she's happy.

Me too.

(cooks speaking in Italian) (upbeat music) Just, you know, think about this.

Respect.

We live in a time when respect seems to be in short supply.

There's no shortage of meanness.

Gotcha politics and insults being hurled at anyone who's different or vulnerable.

Social media has brought all of our ugliness to the fore.

We post comments and criticisms with no regard as to what the person these are directed at might be going through or how they might feel.

How do we find our way back to respect?

It won't be easy to put the genie of meanness back in the bottle.

It's so much easier to tear someone down than to build them up.

But if we listen, really listen to each other, if we communicate, if we treat each other as we'd like to be treated, if we're kind and considerate and not so quick to judge, when we know nothing about someone, we can do this.

So take a breath before you say, post or write something and think, would you want someone to say or write this to you, your family, your friends?

That's how we turn this ship around.

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

- it is 9:55, shots fired.

Shots fired.

- Hi Robert.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for Christina Cooks is provided by Fina Mill, 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.

(bright music)