Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner? Lisa Caponigri Has an Answer

I’m a sucker for old recipes, and when a new cookbook’s inside cover is littered with well-used hand written ones, I feel I’ve struck gold. Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner (Lisa Caponigri, 2012, ISBN 9781402784828) was written with the author’s belief that “the family that eats together stays together.” For families with busy schedules and uninspiring recipe boxes, the book makes it easy to create great tasting and complete dinners.

Unlike cookbooks that divide the recipes by course – like a pasta chapter or dessert chapter – it is separated by week. Each week contains everything needed for a complete dinner: an antipasto to pass at the table, a primo (first course such as a pasta, risotto or a soup), a secondo (the main course) which includes a side dish (usually a vegetable), and of course, dessert. The recipes can be made and planned as laid out or they can be switched around to revolve around farmer’s markets or grocery aisle specials.

While the recipes are simple and resulting dishes well-flavored, and the photographs make them beg to be tried, the underlying theme is an important one. Family dinners can be done, and aren’t as difficult as it may seem. Caponigri’s introduction at the beginning and her family history at the end illustrate the importance of Sunday family dinners at her house: how it impacted her as a child, and how it positively affects her children and her children’s friends. She stresses that dinners should be stress-free and can be prepped ahead of time. The dinner combinations she’s put together are relatively easy to put together.

Caponigri includes her tips for making a commitment to Sunday dinner doable in any household:

  1. Make Sunday dinner a priority – Schedule it! Talk about it! Make it clear to everyone (including all the adults) that Sunday dinner is special and reserved for family conversation at the table through dinner.
  2. Plan ahead – Similar to any weekly menu or shopping list, plan what you are going to do before hand which makes execution simple.
  3. Decide the menu and assign the chores together – Getting the whole clan on board will make it much easier to finish, but more importantly, it gets the whole family in the kitchen cooking together, at least one night a week.
  4. Keep the menu simple – Recipes don’t need fifty ingredients to taste good. Caponigri’s recipes mainly consist of standard pantry items with a few shopping list ingredients. Incorporate your family favorites with her menu elements, like a pasta dish or side dish, to make it uber-family friendly.
  5. Let go and have fun – Having everyone together should be the highlight of the week, and a time for the family to connect and have fun. Sunday dinner shouldn’t be stressful, and if it starts to feel that way, simplify the menu and delegate more giving everyone in the house something to contribute for the dinner meal.

I enjoyed Caponigri’s recipes and the color photos, but in the end Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner? was a reminder for our family to continue cooking together, no matter how busy our work/school/sports/scouting lives may be. Our kids have chefs as parents, and I know when they are all grown up they will care little of our job titles and what they did in school, but remember all those meals we stood around the kitchen counters creating together.

roasted-plum-tomates

For a sample recipe, here is the Pomodori Arrostiti con Aglio – Roasted Plum Tomatoes with Garlic, used with permission by the publisher. It’s a good representative of the type of recipes found in the cookbook: simple, delicious, and adaptable to other family menus.

Pomodori Arrostiti con Aglio - Roasted Plum Tomatoes with Garlic

This dish is all about fresh flavors—ripe tomatoes, garlic, oregano, bay, and olive oil. Roasting accentuates the sweetness of the tomatoes and transforms the garlic cloves into savory softness—diners squeeze the cloves out onto slices of bread to spread.

Ingredients
  

  • 8 plum tomatoes cut in half
  • 12 cloves garlic left unpeeled
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 bay leaves
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Sea salt
  • 3 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
  • Italian bread for serving

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 450F.
  • Select a baking dish that will hold all the tomatoes snugly in a single layer.
  • Place the tomatoes, cut side up, in the dish and push the garlic cloves between them.
  • Brush the tomatoes with the olive oil, add the bay leaves, and sprinkle pepper over the top.
  • Bake until the tomatoes have softened and are sizzling in the pan; they should be charred around the edges.
  • Season the tomatoes with sea salt and a little more pepper, if you like.
  • Sprinkle with the oregano and serve with bread (your guests and family squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their wrappers onto the bread for spreading).

Author Information:

Book Information:

Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher and any opinions are my own.