In Pennsylvania, a way to serve Italian food (5)
I believe the answer is:
pasta
'italian food' is the definition.
(type of Italian food)
'in pennsylvania a way' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pennsylvania' becomes 'PA'.
'way' becomes 'st' (abbreviation for street).
'a'+'st'='ast'
'pa' enclosing 'ast' is 'PASTA'.
'to serve' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pasta that I've seen before include "Flour and water foodstuff" , "eg Tortellini" , "dish of food" , "eg Macaroni" , "Dish of dough made with durum wheat" .)