Giada De Laurentiis grew up in a large (and admittedly famous) Italian family, and it was among them that the chef found the early foods and recipes that kickstarted her career.

A 2002 “Food and Wine” article featured several of De Laurentiis's recipes, which caught Food Network's attention and subsequently offered the chef her first cooking show, "Everyday Italian."

Perhaps the almond cornmeal cake and her baked rigatoni with mushrooms and prosciutto sealed the deal for the television network.

The next step was for De Laurentiis to create a dish to catch her viewers’ attention. Her lemon spaghetti quickly became perhaps the most famous recipe in her long and successful career.

This recipe is so famous that the lemon spaghetti remains the most ordered item at her Las Vegas restaurant GIADA.