Everyone Is Italian on Sunday

Sorry, Rach, but I'm very disappointed in this book. Other reviewers had commented on the lack of a decent amount of pictures and I will have to agree. As a matter of fact, there are even less than that. There are less than a handful and, like other reviewers, I like to see what the finished "product" is supposed to look like. The title implied to me that this would be a family meal type cookbook. Sunday dinners include everyone, right? I find that a very good percentage of the recipes are for the more discernable taste buds; not something that I would normally make for the children at the table, nor would I make most of them for Sunday dinner period, children or no children. Maybe I just read too much into the title, but this is not the Sunday dinner cookbook I was hoping for.

A little disappointed, I like pictures of the food dishes. But that is me maybe others liked it. Recipes are good but I would have liked more dishes that are down to earth, like meatballs ,eggplant, etc. But again that is my opinion.

Like many other reviewers, I am disappointed with the lack of photos of finished dishes. I have only come across a few recipes that I might actually make due to the heavy ingredient list including items that you cannot find at a local grocery store. It is a large cookbook, often containing 3 recipes per page (lots of room for this due to lack of photos), which is a bit overwhelming to me! I was so excited to receive this cookbook, but ended up being quite disappointed in the purchase, unfortunately.

Many of the recipes look interesting, but a big part of my decision to make a particular dish from a cookbook is a photograph. This book has very few photos of the dishes, and the photos that it does have aren't necessarily on the same page as the dish. Reminds me of the format of my mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook from the 50's. C'mon Rachael, this is the digital age of the 21st century and apparently nobody realized that photos of the recipes would be important? Pretty disappointing... I bought 5 extra copies to use as Christmas presents because I assumed any Rachael Ray cookbook would be great.

Rachael goes back to her roots with this cookbook. She seems to have put a lot of herself into it, and really wants to impress her readers with that fact. I know that ever since she was accused of having a "ghostwriter" she's had a complex about making sure her cookbooks come off as purely a personal work from a creative standpoint, with only help on the testing and clerical end. It comes through in this cookbook, but only to a certain degree. I would have liked to see more photos of Rachael and her family in the kitchen to put an exclamation point on this being a culmination of decades of family cooking. She says she was fussy about the photos and wanted them to look rustic and "homey" but truthfully some of the food looks dry and unappetizing. I also agree with an earlier reviewer that there could have been more photos. There's a lot of white space on some of the pages that could have included at least a small photo of each dish. Today people tend to expect this and I've seen this criticism about Rachael's cookbooks before - One of her more recent books claimed to have a photo of each dish. I thought perhaps she had learned from the criticism but it seems she has gone right back to not enough photos.

Some of the recipes in this book seem to be updated versions of older recipes, which is nice because it shows she's evolving, but on the other hand I personally prefer some of the originals because they were simpler and more similar to my own Sicilian family's recipes. Putting pernod in pasta with sardines? I'm a total foodie and I've never heard of that. I knew it was some kind of alcoholic beverage, but I had to look it up. I can see using vermouth, though, which I do have in the house. But am I going to run out and buy pernod for this recipe? No! Some of the new tweaked recipes are a little ingredient heavy for my taste, with obscure things that aren't traditional to add and leave me scratching my head as to whether they are worth the extra time and effort. Sometimes I think they appeal to Rachael's personal taste but not necessarily mine nor most of the reading public's. Fortunately she didn't do this with most recipes and there are many I do find appealing and won't break my budget shopping for ingredients.

Lastly, I was seriously hoping Rachael would have included a full-on recipe for "Sunday Gravy", complete with meats and sausages, but alas that is not to be found here. The title kind of set me up for it, so I was kind of let down. Despite all of my complaints, the book is not a bad work especially because there are some really good traditional recipes for dishes like aglio e olio and other Italian American standards all in one place. I'm looking forward to making some of them, minus the pernod, of course!

I love Italian food! And usually on Sundays, I'll put more effort into our supper (during the week we tend to just throw things together). That's why this book caught my eye.

The book starts with an intro about the author growing up Italian and what it means to her.

The chapters are:

* Brunch - including Ratatouille Frittata, Flatbread Pizzas with Greens, Ricotta and Eggs and Croque-Madame Italian-style
* Starters, salads and small bites - including Family-size Caesar, Italian Wings and Mozzarella in Carrozza with Ham
* Soups - including Italian-style Gazpacho, Ministra and White Zuppa Di Pesce
* Pizza, calzones and focaccia - including Naples Pizza Sauce, Focaccia and Hot Soppresata Pizza
* Pasta, gnocchi, polenta and their sauces - including Gnocchi, Walnut Orange Sauce and Short Rib Ragu
* Risotto and grains - including Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Wild Rice Blend, Drunken Risotto and Quinoa and * Vegetable Stuffed Peppers
* Seafood - including Tilapia Piccata, Cod Saltimbocca and Cioppino
* Pork and lamb - including Pork Loin Cooked in Milk, Citrus and Garlic Bone-in Pork Loin Roast and Pork Chops in the Style of Porchetta
* Beef and veal - including Easy Rib Roast with Roasted Garlic and Herbs, Italian Port Roast (Grandpa's Beef) and Chianti Burgers
* Chicken - including Roasted Chicken with Citrus and Herb Butter, Red Wine Roast Chicken Thighs on Bread and Lemon and Black Pepper Grilled Chicken with Rosemary
* Vegetables - including Sautéed Lady Apples, Applesauce with Thyme and New Year's Fancy Lentils
* Desserts - including Pignoli Cookies, Zeppole and Cannoli Cream
* Cocktails - including Grapefruit Martini, Little Italy and The Italian Flag

There are intros to all the recipes and helpful tips. There are lots of colourful pictures that makes everything look so delicious!

I can't wait to try some of the recipes in this book!

Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2015/11/book-everyone-is-italian-on-sunday-2015.html