The Unexpected Kitchen

Fresh Ingredients. Easy Recipes. And, delicious is an understatement.

From the LIVE Cooking Show at The Unexpected Kitchen, with thousands of viewers around the globe each week, Sara Ciliberto from Calabria, Italia, brings you nearly 100 of her most requested recipes once & for all.

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A Note from Sara

My debut cookbook, The Unexpected Kitchen: Italian Cuisine & Other Delicious Recipes is a collection of traditional Italian Cuisine, from beautiful contorni to homemade pasta & focaccia, as well as my own spontaneously unexpected kitchen creations. I love using fresh ingredients, herbs from my own garden, & especially my dried spices & infused olive oils. If you like cooking fresh & if you also have a delicious appetite for Italian Cuisine, but want some ideas on where to start, then welcome to The Unexpected Kitchen.

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Hello, my friends! My name is Sara Ciliberto, born in a very small town in beautiful Calabria, Italia named Vena Superiore. The same day that the Ciliberto Bridge collapsed in November 1951 would be the same day that my life would change forever. Let's just say that for the past 72 years, I have been the queen of my kitchen.

What am I going to feed my family today? I'm nine years old, I don't know how to cook! With little to no money, with an iron trivet, a fire, & a frying pan, with none other than some potatoes, onions, & some olive oil, and the need to feed my family, life forced my hands at figuring it out.

What's for dinner tonight, Sara? Fast forward to my life with John Ciliberto, my husband of 55 years, whose delicious appetite for my food was endless. I thank God for giving me a husband who had passion and love for Italian Cuisine, who appreciated every ingredient, every creation, and every meal that I was blessed to make for him, so much so that he just couldn't stop smiling! But once he passed...

What are you going to cook tonight, Sara? And for who? Thank you to my son, my grandchildren, some very special friends, visitors, & online viewers, who have since become the #1 key ingredients in my kitchen.