Valerie Bertinelli for This L.A.-Based Celeb, Cooking Is All About Connecting with Family and Friends

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KITCHEN STORIES: CHAPTER SEVEN VALERIE BERTINELLI FOR THIS L.A.-BASED CELEB, COOKING IS ALL ABOUT CONNECTING WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

Text by ANDREA CHIU

YOU PROBABLY KNOW HER as Barbara from the 1970s sitcom One Day at a Time or Melanie from her recent hit

show Hot in Cleveland, but Valerie Bertinelli’s longest-running role is as a passionate home cook. She even fell in Bacon/ Quentin by foodphotographs and Inc./Recipe Rodale of permission by Reprinted 2012. © Copyright Bertinelli. Valerie by love with her husband, Tom Vitale, while they were making appetizers together. “The two of us kept trading glances and helping each other,” she recalls in her cookbook, One Dish at a Time (Rodale). “Walls came down as we touched and tasted each other’s ingredients.” In fact, many of the meals she makes can be traced back to a happy memory.

She’s also turned her love of food into a second career with a Food Network show, Valerie’s Home Cooking, now Time a at Dish One Lifestyle photographs by Brian Bowen Smith/Family and candid photographs courtesy of Valerie Bertinelli/ Photograph courtesy of Photograph Bertinelli/ Valerie courtesy of photographs candid and Smith/Family Bowen Brian Lifestyle by photographs heading into its second season. Here, she shares her favourite family recipes and the memories that go with them. From

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MMAYAY - KKitchenitchen SStoriestories VValeriealerie BBertinelliertinelli - LLR.inddR.indd 111818 22016-03-10016-03-10 33:17:17 PPMM My Family Recipe! ITALIAN FINGER SANDWICHES CREAM CHEESE CRAB SPREAD PASTA ALLE VONGOLE MINT-CUCUMBER SOUP LIMONCELLO LEMON MERINGUE PIE For recipes, see pages 128 to 132.

Recipe ITALIAN FINGER SANDWICHES | PG. 128 “ MMyy mmotherother mmadeade tteaea sandwichessandwiches fforor mmyy father’sfather’s pokerpoker ggames,ames, bblendinglending hherer EEnglish-Irishnglish-Irish uupbringingpbringing wwithith mmyy father’sfather’s ItalianItalian bbackground.ackground. TThey’rehey’re simple:simple: justjust uusese thethe best-qualitybest-quality

Valerie’s treasured family photos, mmeatseats andand breadbread and her mother’s handwritten recipe book. Bottom: Cooking yyouou cancan find.”find.” with first husband Eddie Van Halen’s mother.

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MMAYAY - KKitchenitchen SStoriestories VValeriealerie BBertinelliertinelli - LLR.inddR.indd 111919 22016-03-10016-03-10 55:01:01 PPMM Recipe CREAM CHEESE CRAB SPREAD | PG. 128 “ MyMy mmotherother wwouldould bbringring tthishis outout forfor everyevery singlesingle pparty.arty. ItIt waswas specialspecial becausebecause ccrabrab wwasas eexpensive.xpensive. SheShe wwouldould cchangehange uupp tthehe ccrackersrackers oorr tthehe bread,bread, butbut itit wwasas a hithit everyevery singlesingle timetime bbecauseecause iit’st’s ssoo ssimpleimple andand iit’st’s ssoo ttasty.”asty.”

Valerie and her mom in their Shreveport, La., RRecipeecipe kitchen. PASTA ALLE VONGOLE | PG. 128 “ II’ve’ve lovedloved clamsclams sincesince I wwasas a llittleittle girl.girl. WWhenhen I wwasas growinggrowing uupp inin NNewew Jersey,Jersey, wewe wouldwould gogo ttoo a rrestaurantestaurant ooffff tthehe turnpiketurnpike fforor theirtheir steamers.steamers. A girlgirl atat thatthat aagege eatingeating steamersteamer clams?clams? YouYou ddidn’tidn’t seesee thatthat veryvery often!”often!”

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From One Dish at a Time by Valerie Bertinelli. Copyright © 2012. Reprinted by permission of Rodale Inc./Recipe and food photographs by Quentin Bacon/ Lifestyle photographs by Brian Bowen Smith/Family and candid photographs courtesy of Valerie Bertinelli that says love to me.” to love says that together: family Foodand games. played then and day our about talked meals, hearty good ate and laughed, together. We and joked cooked we night every and us, with came kids the of Most City,Utah. Park in up house a rented I Tom and Christmas, Last now. feeling same the re-create to try I table. the at laughter of lot a was there and were, days our how about in chimed We all time. family was Dinnertime night. every meal home-cooked a had all. it of simplicity the and dressings salad aboutcuisine: Italian cookies, more me she’s taught and Italian now,mother-in-law Helen, is houseandhome.com/sambal [ recipes amazing some me taught she and Indonesian-Dutch was VanHalen’s Ed mother husband, Mymothers-in-law,first too. preppingfor dinner. then and dishes breakfast upthe atwas school, she’d be cleaning I While kitchen. the in oftime lot a spent mother my — life my othertheby women in influenced been always has My cooking had. ofbowlsoup best I’veeverthe soup.day, Toprobably this it was ofbowla meas itto handed and Shesomeput itchickenin broth cappellettifrom to start finish. the first time I watched her make cooking love fellin with I think grandmother roll out pasta. I Adeline’sbasementmy watching myAunt in sitting be haveto “My first memory of food would find her chicken sambal recipe at recipe chickensambal her find When I was growing up, weup, growing was I When my from lot a learned I And husband, Eddie Van Halen. Van Eddie husband, asachild with her first Valerie’sson, Wolfgang, ]. My]. “ Ifirst had this soup at a book group meeting. The Recipe MINT-CUCUMBER SOUP I were discussing, but I still remember this soup!” remember this still butI discussing, wwere tthisyears ago. I don’t remember which book we ffriendJulie (Wolfie’s kindergarten teacher) made iit’sa great way for me to learn new recipes. My aalwaysmakes something delicious for us to eat, so ggrouphas been meeting for 19 years, and the host t h r

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s 2016-3 :PM2016-03-103:20PM e s e o t 121 Recipe LIMONCELLO | PG. 130 “ I makemake llimoncelloimoncello fromfrom lemonslemons growngrown inin mmyy oownwn yyard,ard, bbutut thethe bestbest I eeverver ttastedasted wwasas iinn IItaly.taly. TomTom andand I werewere hikinghiking throughthrough CCinqueinque Terre,Terre, aandnd aann ooldld mmanan wwasas sellingselling hhisis limoncellolimoncello onon thethe trails.trails. AsAs wewe werewere ddrinkingrinking itit outside,outside, wewe werewere surroundedsurrounded byby ggrapevines,rapevines, aandnd tthehe wwaterater wwasas blueblue andand gglistening.listening. ItIt waswas gorgeous!”gorgeous!”

TOP: At home in her lemon orchard. ABOVE: Valerie and Tom in Liguria, sampling the homemade limoncello that inspired her to make her own. by Valerie Bertinelli. Copyright Reprinted © 2012. by permission of Rodale Inc./Recipe and food photographs by Quentin Bacon/ Lifestyle photographs by Brian Bowen Smith/Family and candid photographs courtesy of Valerie Bertinelli One Dish at a Time a at Dish From One

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MMAYAY - KKitchenitchen SStoriestories VValeriealerie BBertinelliertinelli - LLR.inddR.indd 112222 22016-03-10016-03-10 33:20:20 PPMM Recipe LEMON MERINGUE PIE | PG. 132 “ TThishis isis suchsuch a delicious,delicious, llightight aandnd ttangyangy ppie.ie. UUsually,sually, mmyy mothermother wouldwould savesave itit fforor specialspecial occasions,occasions, butbut ssometimesometimes sheshe wouldwould mmakeake itit forfor nono particularparticular rreasoneason — eexceptxcept tthathat sshehe pprobablyrobably hhadn’tadn’t mademade itit inin a whilewhile andand waswas cravingcraving iit!”t!”

Mom’s Flaky PIE DOUGH This makes enough crust for two single- crust pies or for one double-crust pie, and you can store any unused dough in the freezer. nelli 1. Put 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp kosher salt in a food processor and pulse until the ingredients are combined. 2. Slowly add ¾ cup unsalted butter in chunks, pulsing until the largest pieces are pea-sized. 3. Add ice water 1 tbsp at a time until the dough starts to clump together, approx 6-8 tbsp. 4. Put the dough on a clean work surface and use your hands to make it into a ball. 5. Divide the ball in half and wrap the portions in plastic wrap. 6. Refrigerate for 1 hour before using, or if using another time, cover it in an extra layer of plastic wrap and put in a

LEFT: Valerie and Tom are enthusiastic cooks, so the kitchen of their L.A. home is designed for comfort and functionality. She wanted a large sink so Time a at Dish One it’s easy to clean up big pots and a Wolf range — a playful reminder of her son, Wolfgang. During the day, natural light streams in through the skylight, and windows offer views out to the front and back yards, where their dog, Luna, can often be found relaxing. photographs by Quentin Bacon/Lifestyle photographs by Brian Bowen Smith/Family and candid photographs courtesy of Valerie Berti Valerie courtesy of photographs candid and Smith/Family Bowen Brian Bacon/Lifestyleby Quentin photographs by photographs PhotographJessicaby Sample (bottom)/From For an extra recipe and more tips from 124 H&H MAY 2016 web Valerie, visit houseandhome.com SEE SHOPPING LIST and click on the current issue

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