The Sopranos Italian Recipes to Make at Home

As a self-imposed quarantine project, I binge-watched all 86 episodes of HBO's The Sopranos. My mission: focus on the scene-stealing food featured at the New Jersey mob family's Italian table. While there are a few books dedicated to the show's cuisine, like The Sopranos Cookbook Compiled by Artie Bucco, here is La Cucina Italiana's version of some classic dishes cooked up during its six seasons. These tasty recipes are guaranteed to satisfy every one of your macaroni with gravy cravings and more.   

Big Sunday dinners are a weekly ritual at the Sopranos home, much like it is for many Italian-American families. "This family stuff, these Sunday dinners, they're important," Tony once said to his sister Janice. Guests included extended family and close friends.

Meals were mostly prepared by Carmela, Tony's wife. Bread and a green salad were staples, along with a rotating menu of pasta featuring macaroni with marinara or Bolognese sauce, lasagna, manicotti, or eggplant. Meat dishes like roast chicken or veal pizzaiola and a vegetable as simple as green beans or something fancier like stuffed artichokes completed the main meal. Desserts, not exclusive to Sundays, were often cannolis, tiramisu, and sfogliatella (lobster tail pastry filled with sweetened whipped cream and ricotta) and occasionally pastries from Little Italy's iconic Ferrara Bakery. 

But the most influential sweet treat in the show was the ricotta pie with pineapples; a flavorful Neapolitan dessert often served at Easter. Baked by Carmela then delivered as a threat to a neighbor's sister so she would write daughter Meadow a recommendation to Georgetown— Tony's heavy hand in her back pocket didn't hurt—turned out to be an effective bribery strategy.  

As the matriarch, Carmela was the link connecting food, family, and love, and everyone was crazy about her cooking. Even her parish priest randomly appeared on her doorstep one evening during a severe thunderstorm. The reason: "I have a confession to make," said Father Phil, "I have a jones for your baked ziti."  

Regardless of Father Phil's true intentions—you'll have to tune in to find out—he wasn't the only one raving about Carm's ziti with sweet sausages. It was a family favorite and for a good reason. There are a variety of baked pasta options to satisfy everyone's taste, among them is Palermo-style with fried eggplant and boiled eggs.  

While the show was heavy on the red sauce, spaghetti with clams and plates with mussels were also in the mix. When the Jersey boys went to Naples to import a new crew member, unfamiliar preparations of some dishes were served at a dinner meeting with their Italian counterparts. Paulie Walnuts, one of Tony's chief henchmen, picked at his mussels with black pasta then asked for macaroni with gravy. The Italians sitting next to him were horrified, "and you thought the Germans were classless," said one.   

This notion that Italian-Americans are still considered "pizza makers and Mamma Leonie's" was a topic of discussion at an Italian pride ladies luncheon that Carmela and a few of the mob wives attended. One piece of advice offered to debunk the stereotype: "If they say spaghetti and meatballs, you tell them orecchiette with broccoli rabe."

But the recipes shared by Italian immigrants of previous generations are a part of their heritage the Sopranos celebrated. They served Zuppa Maritata  (wedding soup), made by combining meat and vegetables, every Thanksgiving. Originating in Naples, this meatball and "shcarole" (escarole) soup was served after the antipasti course but before the baked manicotti and "the bird."  

Meat factored heavily into the Sopranos diet. Italian cold cuts like prosciutto and "gabagool" (capicola) were well-stocked items in the fridge. Grilling steaks and sausages on the barbeque from Satriale's Pork Store, one of Tony's legitimate business fronts and a frequent hangout, was a favorite activity.

The crew often gathered at Satriale's, sipping espresso and Pellegrino at the outdoor tables or for a team meal and sometimes, for off-hours criminal business. A dish they all loved was braciole, Sicilian style meat rolls made with beef and filled with cheese. Because of its irresistible flavor, Tony suggested to a depressed crew member, "If you want to commit suicide, tie your shoes, and have a bite of braciole."    

Italian food and The Sopranos are slices of perfection. If you are hungry for more, The Many Saints of Newark, the series prequel film, will be released in 2021.