Lisa Caponigri - This Is Sunday Dinner: 52 Seasonal Italian Menus

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Interior Text 2018 Lisa Caponigri

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ISBN 978-1-4549-3380-9

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Interior design by Christine Heun

Cover design by Jo Obarowski

Photographs by Bill Milne (copyright Sterling Publishing, Inc.): All other photographs Kelly Rosenhagen

For my parents

Dr. A. Robert Caponigri

and

Winifred Franco Caponigri

The most elegant, dignified couple I have ever known.

Thank you for a lifetime of love.

Sunday Dinner never goes out of style. Six years ago (I can scarcely believe it has been that long!), I wrote my first cookbook, Whatever Happened To Sunday Dinner? Some of the happiest moments of my life have been spent in the kitchen, from cooking with my Sicilian Grandmother, and later cooking with my children from the time they were very small. Building on these wonderful memories, I wanted to help other families create similar memories of cooking together. Im a grassroots kind of girlI love farmers markets, wine tasting, festivals, street fairs, and Italian festivals. I began selling my first cookbook at these types of events, and the people who bought my book would regale me with how much it meant to have a book like mine, the only book on the market with 52 easy, delicious, authentic Sunday dinner menus. One gentleman even bought six of my books and had me sign them, one for himself and one for each of his five children! Months later, he wrote to tell me that they took turns hosting Sunday dinner every week. I truly believe this is because my cookbook is not just about good food; its also about a lifestyle, about a tradition. Its about gathering those whom you love in the kitchen and cooking together, eating together, and building memories together. These are the traditions that never get old, that never go out of style. Classic. Timeless. What memories are made of.

So now I bring you This is Sunday Dinner, 52 completely new five course Italian menus for another year of delicious, memorable Sunday Dinners with those whom you love. People tease me, how many menus for Sunday Dinners do you have?! My response? Countless! I have done something slightly different and unique in this cookbook. While each menu is still five courses, the way we traditionally eat our Sunday Dinner in Italy, I have organized the 52 menus according to the four seasons and placed each season in a region of Italy that represents that season to me.

There are so many things I love about Italy. One of them is the seasonality of the food in each region. Sicily is known for its citrus, seafood, eggplant, and peppers. And these items are prevalent in Sicilian recipes. For this reason, Ive included 13 of the menus in Summer in Sicily. Likewise, for me, Tuscany represents the beautiful, harvestrich Fall: the pressing of the Chianti grapes, roasting chestnuts, the abundant harvest. Raising my children in Tuscany was a hugely important time in my life, and our favorite season was autumn. For this reason, Ive brought you 13 of my favorite Tuscan menus, in Autumn in Tuscany. Nothing says spring like Campania, the beautiful seaside region that was the ancestral home of my father and, of course, the home of the beautiful city of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Fresh mozzarella, abundant zucchini, lemonsas youve never seen them beforethis is what Campania represents in the spring, and so Ive brought you 13 Sunday Dinners from Spring in Campania. There is nothing more majestic than winter in the Italian Alps, with the snow-capped mountains, the beautiful town squares covered with snow, and the scent of cappuccino and hot chocolate wafting from the small caffs and pasticcerie. This was the life I led when I worked and lived in Piemonte. It was a new cuisine for me, being a Southern Italian girl, but one that I fell in love with, and have incorporated into my own winter menus. Therefore, I bring you 13 menus from Winter in Piemonte.

Italy has been called the most beautiful country on earth. It is a land of drama, from our breathtaking coastlines to our majestic mountains and volcanoes! And the people in Italy, especially Southern Italy, are dramatic, too, from our passion for our food to our incredible zest for life. We live each day to the fullest, in our love of food, and in our love of family life.

This is how I live my Italy, my Italian Sunday Dinners, and I hope you and your family enjoy them and make them part of your life, too, just as my family and I do. And as always, tutti a tavola e buon appetito!

My beloved Ponte Vecchio, where I raised my children. Benvenuti alla mia tavola. (Welcome to my table!)

Winter in Piemonte

When I first moved to Piemonte, I wasnt sure I was in Italy. I accepted a position with a multinational company that moved me to Alessandria, a postwar city that resembled absolutely nothing of my Italy. Being 100 percent southern Italian I was accustomed to years of living with my parents in Rome, Naples, and Sicily, and, only as far north as Florence. In short, I was used to lots of sunshine, bougainvillea, beaches, and red sauces! Alessandria, on the other hand, greeted me with cloudy skies, dense fog, cold temperatures, and a lot of white food! I still remember my first Sunday afternoon in Alessandria, when my mother called me to make sure that I had arrived safely. I assured her that I had, but I told her I was not sure that I had landed in the right country! But soon I fell in love with the regions rich, hearty, and satisfying cuisine. Full of delicious cheeses, creamy risottos, and decadent desserts, my Piemontese menus are perfect for winter Sunday dinners next to the fireplace!