An Ode To Sunday Dinner
food as tradition
I’ve been thinking a lot about food as tradition—specifically, the act of Sunday Dinner, where Italian-American families gather mid afternoon at the end of the weekend to feast on pasta with meatballs & sauce, anitpasto, slices of mozzarella with tomatoes and basil, eggplant or chicken parm, an assortment of meats and cheeses, occasionally (often untouched) salad, and to spend time with loved ones.
Sunday dinner is something my grandparents did with their children, and my parents did with me and my siblings. Both my mom and dad talk affectionately of Sunday afternoons spent with their extended family in Brooklyn, and I feel so lucky to have so many memories of my grandparents’ apartment in the Rockaways, entire days sitting, talking, and laughing around a table.
Lately, my friends and I have come together for our own Sunday dinners. I get incredibly emotional and nostalgic thinking about my own family gathering each week to share a meal with the people they love, and how I get to continue that tradition with both friends and family alike. There is something so special about cooking a meal and opening up your home for the people you love.
We’ve had a few different iterations of Sunday dinner so far, but the things that have stayed consistent are as follows. Feel free to use this loose structure to host your own Sunday dinner <3
Sauce, made from canned or jarred tomatoes. I’m a Cento girlie but Paige, my best friend, prefers Pomi. We’ve also used jarred tomatoes from both Paige & Adge’s family, which is ideal, in my opinion. We’ve had meatballs every single time so far, made from equal parts pork, beef and veal; I like when meatballs are fried and finished in sauce, and when a vegetarian is at the table, a separate pot of sauce for them, too. My mother and grandma’s sauce is filled with meatballs, ribs, braciole and sausage.
A short tubular shaped pasta (like rigatoni), which we’ve all come to agree is our favorite to eat with Sunday sauce. Occasionally we swap for ravioli, specifically from Pastosa’s, filled with ricotta. I like to top my pasta with grated parmigiana or pecorino, and fresh ricotta.
A main: the first of our Sunday dinner featured Paige’s chicken cutlets, homemade from thinly sliced chicken breast, using her mom’s recipe (find that recipe here!). I’ve baked my grandma’s eggplant parm a few times, too.
A number of sides ranging from: focaccia (Gab likes Saraghina’s) and/or bread from an Italian bakery, caprese or a simple salad (usually romaine, tomatoes, red onions, and a light dressing), and whatever we use as toppings (ie: ricotta, olive oil, parmagiana)
Dessert, also rotating. Something people always comment on whenever they come to my parents for a party is how absurdly full the dessert table is (see below). I suppose I’ve inherited the stereotypical over-feeding ways of the Italian-Americans of my past. The first Sunday Dinner: Friends Edition, I made an olive oil cake with whipped cream & macerated strawberries. Often, we pick up pastries from an Italian bakery, like Sfogliatella (lobster tails) or Cannoli. I love Italian cookies, specifically 7-layers or Savoiardi (lady fingers), the fresh far superior than their pre-packaged counterparts.
The food is important, sure, but at the end of the day, what matters most are the people at your table. I was raised to treat my friends as an extension of my family. Sunday dinners are a way to take a moment, break bread, swap stories, and eat an amazing meal with the people you love. I’m so thankful to have this beautiful tradition in my life, and have been able to share it with both my family and my friends alike.