Growing up in an Italian household, Sunday Dinners were not optional. Sunday was a family day in our house. But the best part about it was that anyone was welcome to join us. Friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents always sat with us at the dinner table on Sunday evenings.
Whether it was big summer grillouts or Sunday sauce with meatballs and sausage the whole family sat around the table for hours, ate, drank, and ate some more. In this series, we’re going to learn how to make some of these classic Italian Sunday dishes. So prepare your family for some delicious meals and get everyone around the table for a Sunday meal that will have them salivating. Welcome to the Family!
Selefina invites you to enjoy this series by Vinny DelGiudice of Always from Scratch. Whether you're new to the experience of Italian-American Sunday dinners or grew up savoring pasta and gravy, we think you'll appreciate Vinny's classic recipes and the stories of inspiration behind them. Plus, we're privy to the dishes he has planned, trust us, we've been drooling in anticipation. All photography on this page is ©Vinny DelGiudice.
Grilled Eggplant
You’re going to be the one who is outside grilling these so that you can be the first one snacking on them because these grilled eggplant are the ultimate summer snack. It’s almost impossible to not be eating them as they’re coming off the grill.
We eat eggplant like it’s going out of style. Whether it's eggplant parmigiana, eggplant rolatini, marinated eggplant, or grilled eggplant, eggplant is a mainstay in our diet. But you have to change things up as the seasons change. We can’t eat a tray of eggplant parmigiana on a Sunday in the middle of a southern summer.
Whenever I know we’re doing Sunday grilling, I always grab an eggplant. Slice it, season it with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. It’s the perfect vegetable with dinner or to snack on while we have something on the barbecue.
One of my mom’s signature recipes is eggplant parm, so whenever my dad eats these, he always has to add the caveat that he prefers eggplant parm. My whole family agrees, but I have never once made these and had a single leftover. The longer we sit at the table, the more people keep coming back for more of these crispy eggplant.
Usually when I make eggplant, I have to salt the eggplant for 20 minutes on each side to remove the moisture, but when you’re grilling you get to skip this whole step. The grill gets so hot and there is no flat surface that keeps the moisture in the eggplant, so they get nice and crispy
The best part about making these on the grill is that I can make them all in one shot and they take less than 10 minutes to make. When I use a pan, I can only cook 5 slices at a time, but when I grill them, you get it done so much quicker.
It’s so hard to time your dishes to be done at the same time. Because these eggplant cook so quickly, you can finish cooking your main meal and throw these on after. Your dish will still be hot as these are coming off the grill ready to eat.
I like to keep it simple. This should be quick and easy. Just season the eggplant with a little garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Depending on what you’re making you can switch up the spices. Make it a little smoky or spicy with paprika or cayenne pepper.
The best part about this dish is how versatile it is. It can work with any Sunday dinner you make. My son eats these like they’re potato chips. They’re so addicting and a great way to make eggplant in the summer.
by Vinny DelGiudice - Always from Scratch
A delicious and easy side dish perfect for when you grill out on the weekends. Grilled eggplant is the most addicting vegetable dish that you will ever indulge in.
Sausage and Peppers
Sausage and peppers is a classic Sunday dinner in the summer. Once it’s hot enough to stand outside and grill, sausage and peppers is a no brainer. This is the perfect dish whether you put it on a sandwich or sop up all the delicious juices with a piece of Italian bread.
I can remember being a kid and pretending to like the peppers because my Dad liked them. For some reason peppers did not agree with my palate as an 8-year-old. Whenever my dad cooked, he made it seem so cool, so I told myself I had to like it. Whether it was stromboli, Sunday sauce, or sausage and peppers. He always had everyone crowding around him as he explained why his recipe was the best (and he wasn’t wrong).
This was a dish that we grew up having every other week in the summer. If we weren’t having sausage and peppers, it was steaks and chevalatta. We would always have enough sausage and peppers to last us a couple days. My brothers and I would always have ours with some Italian bread with butter and my Dad and Mom would have theirs on a sandwich.
Sometimes my dad would use the leftovers to make pizza or sausage and pepper rolls. This dish is a great family dish because it’s versatile and it makes for great leftovers. The one part I hated about cooking it when I started cooking on my own was having to go outside just to grill the sausage. I wanted to do the whole thing on the grill.
I LOVE using my cast iron pan on the grill. It’s the perfect tool for the grill because it can handle that high heat and it perfectly chars the peppers and onions. I just don’t love recipes that are half on the grill and half in the oven. The notion of turning my wimpy oven on when I have my grill roaring feels ridiculous.
The cast iron pan is the most versatile tool in the kitchen, and everyone should have one. With a large cast iron, you can feed an army of people on a Sunday with sausage and peppers.
Sausage and peppers is a delicious and savory dish from the pungent fennel within the sausage to the delicate and subtle flavors of basil, garlic, and parsley. I season the dish in layers with Himalayan salt and Black pepper to bring out the flavors of the peppers and onions.
There is nothing like sitting down to a table with a plate of savory Italian sausage and vibrant bell peppers and onions all sauteed together until tender and flavorful. This recipe is perfect for any occasion, especially a Sunday Dinner.
by Vinny DelGiudice - Always from Scratch
Sausage and Peppers is a classic Italian American meal with savory hot and sweet sausage combined with charred peppers and onions for a flavorful dish! This recipe is great because it can be made start to finish on the grill with a cast iron pan!
