Cover Image: Cooking with Nonna

Cooking with Nonna

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Member Reviews

This book had wonderful recipes - definitely was like cooking with my own Nonna! I loved how descriptive it was and how easy it was to follow.

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Fans of Rossella Rago and her delightful Nonna will want to pick up a copy of Cooking with Nonna: Sunday Dinners with La Famiglia, another great cookbook in the popular series.

The cookbook’s early chapters cover making your own pasta in different flavors, and also basic sauces. The recipes that follow are varied and mouthwatering. They are written in the traditional recipe form and are easy to follow. Most of the recipes are fairly easy and can be made picture-perfect by cooks with experience from beginning to advanced. The recipes include basics, antipasto, soups and salads, side dishes, mains including poultry, meat, & seafood, as well as pasta dishes and desserts.

Although there are beautiful photographs of some of the recipes, it would have been better if every recipe was pictured to help decide just what to make next.
There are enough appealing dishes in this excellent cookbook to please almost everyone. They call for ingredients that are easy to find at any mainstream grocery store, so cooks won’t need to make several special trips to make their favorite dishes. The recipes are suitable for family Sunday dinners, but also suitable for friends and holiday get-togethers.

All told, this excellent cookbook is a great addition to any cookbook collection and is a good addition to the Cooking with Nonna series. There are recipes to please everyone and several quick and easy recipes for cook in a hurry. Highly Recommended.


Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

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I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This is an excellent Italian cookbook filled with recipes I plan to try. I really like the family photos that are inside each cover and how easy the recipes seem.

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This was a really cute cookbook! I enjoyed reading through it and there are some amazing recipes I have already tried that I've recommended to family.

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Such an amazing cookbook. Like truly learned so much while also being extremely hungry. Every recipe ive made has been delicious.

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Cooking with Nonna Sunday Dinners with La Famiglia is the newest cookbook with recipes and tutorials by Rossella Rago. Released 25th Oct 2022 by HarperCollins on their Harper Horizon imprint, it's 272 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. 

These are traditional Sunday family dinners to be shared with loved ones. There's such a homey and warm vibe to the whole book along with the reminiscences for which she's well known. She has a chatty and informal style of writing, and I enjoyed her stories about her family and growing up (and learning from her Nonna) almost as much as the recipes and instruction. 

The recipes are arranged by courses just as a dinner would normally be served: basics (doughs & sauces), antipasto, soup & salad, sides, pasta al forno lasagne & primi, secondi & parms, oven dishes (with love), sweets, biscotti, and alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks. Recipes are written with an introduction/history, servings, ingredients in a bullet list sidebar, and followed by step-by-step directions. Ingredient measures are provided in imperial (American) measures only, no metric equivalents. Nutritional information is not included. Most of the ingredients will be readily available in an average well stocked grocery store in North America. Some few specific ingredients and types of olive oil, anise oil, etc might require a gourmet food store or specialist supplier. 

The photography is stellar. The dishes are beautifully prepared, appetizing, and professionally styled. 

Four and a half stars. This is a very good Italian cookbook with lots of traditional sauces, pasta doughs, prep instructions, serving suggestions, sweets, and everything needed to prepare a traditional Sunday dinner. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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I normally don't read cookbooks cover to cover. I just look for the recipes. But I had to read this one. As there were stories in it about the author cooking with her grandmother.

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Cooking With Nonna: Sunday Dinners with La Famiglia by Rossella Rago is a beautiful cookbook with simple instructions. It is also jam-packed with some wonderful family stories. This recipe book is perfect for fans of the author and anyone who enjoys family cooking.

Anyone familiar with Rossella’s series, Cooking With Nonna, will be intrigued to read this cookbook. It is a bit more than a book about Italian recipes, it is a story about the author’s family as well. These anecdotal stories are lovely and add a lot of backstory to many of the dishes.

❀ LOTS OF RECIPES INCLUDED

There are quite a few recipes included in the book and they are organized by different courses. As well, there is a section for basics, such as sauces , and even quite a few drink recipes. If you have ever considered making fresh pasta, this book has you covered.

❀ CONTENTS: COOKING WITH NONNA: SUNDAY DINNERS WITH LA FAMIGLIA

Back to Basics
Antipasto
Soup and Salad
On the Side
Pasta al Forno, Lasagne, and Primi
Secondi and Parms
From the Oven with Amore
La Dolce Vita: Sweets
That’s the Way the Biscotti Crumbles
Who Needs a Drink?

❀ STUNNING IMAGES

The images in the book are stunning and there is a large focus on Rossella and Nonna as well. However not every recipe has an accompanying picture, so those who are looking for visuals for each dish might be disappointed. That being said, the instructions are easy to follow, so it is easy to create many of the dishes without the aid of an image.

❀ SIMPLE RECIPES

Cooking With Nonna: Sunday Dinners With La Famiglia by Rossella Rago is perfect if you enjoy Italian American cuisine and are looking for some new recipes to try, this book will definitely set you up for success. While it is a book that will resonate with the author’s fan base, the stories are sweet and the recipes are simple. I am looking forward to creating a few of them myself.

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Very much enjoyed COOKING WITH NONNA. Some of the recipes had my stomach growling! Rossella Rago has a winner with this one.

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Absolutely adored this cookbook! Full of wonderful recipes and such a great look into the author’s life. I also enjoy the “story” behind cookbooks, and this one was fantastic.

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This is not just a cookbook but a look into the way Italian families gather to enjoy food and each other. So many memories of spending time in the kitchen with my Nona and learning our history. This book is full of so many helpful hints that I can’t wait to try in my own kitchen and the recipes are easy to follow as well. It would also make a wonderful gift., especially for those young chefs would would like to cook with and make your own memories.

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Full of great recipes and fun stories, Cooking with Nonna: Sunday Dinner with La Famiglia is a winner. Pastas, anti-pastas, drinks, and more will be filling your dinner tables in the near future. There are also numerous helpful tips that I can't wait to try in my kitchen.

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"Cooking with Nonna" is Rossella Rago's third cookbook, and she partners once again with her beloved Nonna Romana in order to create some very delicious meals to have with the family.

I have really liked this cooking book, partly because italian food is one of my favourites. I think it has the perfect mix of traditional and indispensable Italian meals and some very original recipes. I have written down a few of them that looked amazing and I cannot wait to try them.

I think this is overall a very good cookbook, and I don't really have many negative things to say, if any. The food in the pictures looks delicious, her Nonna looks so sweet, the formating of the book is clear and well explained. I have just missed the total cooking time of the recipe, but well, great book really! :)

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This is not "just" a cookbook. It is a look into family gatherings the Italian way and how much of your history can be found in the kitchen with your own mother or grandmother. Beautiful photography gave me so many ideas on presentation and the recipes themselves are easy to follow, almost chef level from the first try. Add this to your cookbook shelf or gift it to those young relatives you'd love to cook with.

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Charming and an excellent gift, Cooking with Nonna is a tribute to all the Nonnas out there who painstakingly acquired their cooking skills and aren't ready to give up control in the kitchen yet. Rago tells the story of her Nonna, who was widowed young and immigrated twice, interspersed with hearty Italian-American recipes good enough to wow a table full of relatives. As someone who learned to cook entirely from books and never had the benefit of a grandmother teaching me her secrets, this book was a delight. Rago evokes the experience of cooking with her Nonna - filled with love, advice, frustration, and exasperation in equal measures. The recipes are clear and helpful, but Rago's stories elevate the experience and make the book worth buying.

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Cooking with Nonna - Sunday Dinners with La Famiglia by Rossella Rago is a love letter of a cookbook, which captures so beautifully the love for family and the joy of food. Such a treasure trove of recipes and stories from the heart! The author’s love for her Nonna shines through, especially in the retelling of stories from Nonna’s youth.

Yet the recipes are the stars of the book and one of my favorite chapters is Back to Basics, which includes a tip to use semolina rimacinata and the recipe for Ricotta Pasta Dough. I know that I’ll be adding the Tagliatelle with Short Rib Ragu to my Sunday rotation and the Lemon Butter Garlic Shrimp to my weeknight plan. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.) This cookbook will definitely be well-thumbed and well-used in my kitchen.

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Love Italian food, love this book!
Perfect recipes and a great insight into the authors life too!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this title in exchange for my feedback.

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I LOVE COOKBOOKS, and cooking!! I'm just a big foodie all the way around!! I don’t have a good Italian cookbook, so I was excited to get my hands on this one! This will now be my go-to Italian cookbook....it’s that good!

If you can’t get to Italy for authentic Italian food, this is the next best thing!!

Here’s what I loved about it:

It isn’t just a cookbook! It also has stories behind the recipes. Sunday traditions the author shares with us about their family gatherings. Her stories about her Nonna truly touch your heart.

There is a section dedicated to making homemade pasta. I’ve tried making it in the past and failed, but the step-by-step instructions make it so easy to follow that my first attempt turned out great! Recommendations are also provided as to what sauce goes best with what pasta type.

I’ve always prided myself on being a stromboli connoisseur, but I tried the Broccoli and Mozzarella Stromboli recipe and it beat any stromboli I’ve made in the past! That’s saying something because I have tried many recipes.

There are gorgeous mouthwatering photos throughout!! A big plus for any cookbook lover!

The cookbook not only includes pasta dishes, but also those yummy Italian desserts. I made the Limoncello Knot Cookies and let's just say they didn’t last very long in my house.

A variety of sides, soups and bread recipes look equally as delish, but I haven’t had a chance to try any of those yet. I'm 100% positive I will be trying every recipe in this book!

Looking for a Christmas gift for the cook/foodie in your life, look no further!!

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Nice book of Italian family recipes. Chapters are: Back to Basics (pasta doughs and sauces); Antipasto; Soup and Salad; On the Side; Pasta al Forno, Lasagne, and Primi; Secondi and Parma; From the Oven with Amore (breads); La Dolce Vita: Sweets; That's the Way the Biscotti Crumbles (cookies); and Who Needs a Drink?.
There are family pictures and stories, and lots of Italian recipes and ingredients. I was disappointed that each recipe didn't have a photo.
This is a good modern book for cooking a traditional Italian feast.

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I always loved the Cooking with Nonna cookbook series . An Italian American reading the accompanying stories is like a visit with family members . The recipes are easy to follow and delicious. A great book for all . I highly recommend.

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