Cooking for My Love : 10 Easy Greek Recipes to Cast Your Spell on the One You Love (COOKNESS)

This is a collection of 10 quick and easy recipes of traditional Greek dishes to cook for the person you Love :)

In general, don’t cook anything at all unless your heart is filled with love for those who will eat your dish.

To me, cooking is about love and powerful emotions for people in your life. It doesn’t matter if it is a humble omelet or a two-hours gourmet dish. Using fresh materials, nice colors and matching flavors, you prepare food that nourishes the body and gladdens the heart.

They say “the route to a man’s heart passes through his stomach”.

I believe it stands true for both men and women. This book is based on my experiences but it can easily fit to a man’s agenda should he decide to treat his lady with a special dish.
Apart from the old or the new social stereotypes, inviting your sweetheart for dinner at home, where you have enjoyed cooking for him delicious dishes, is perceived as a valuable gift from the heart and will strengthen the bonds between the two of you regardless how successful you’ve been with the task per se. Take my word on it.

Although I’m very fond of cuisines like the Lebanese, the Portuguese, the Italian, the French, the Thai and the Japanese, I will dedicate the whole Series of COOKNESS Books to my mother-country’s cuisine, not only because of its fundamental Mediterranean principles of healthy living and longevity, but also because Greek Cuisine is integral part of Greek Culture that captures the hearts of millions of our friends allover the world and keeps them coming back again and again to taste our Greek Salad with the Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the feta cheese and the delicious olives. And when circumstances don’t let them visit soon, it’s their nostalgia for those delicate tastes that pushes them to seek Greek Restaurants in their vicinity.

Most of the Dishes that will be presented from the series of COOKNESS Books, are the same Dishes you’d taste as part of the Greek Hospitality experience. You’ll find yourself sleeping in the family’s biggest bedroom , where they’ll most probably have made the bed using their laced, embroidered or crocheted handcrafted covers, you’ll wake up sharing a breakfast where Greek honey and feta cheese, olives and barley rusks will probably be on the table, you’ll be surrounded by smiling faces and warm-hearted people who will be delighted to have you there. It’s not a coincidence, that almighty Zeus, the God of Gods in the ancient Greek Pantheon, was the protector of Hospitality. And traditional dishes, make for a great part of it.

Cooking and eating is an essential ritual in our life and what distinguishes us from animals, is that we have elevated this ritual to the sphere of pleasing all senses and bonding with each other in the process. Culinary art is about perfecting this ritual and should be every person’s quest.

I kept my promise throughout the Book to present to you Unique Dishes in a very easy to prepare manner. And I made a very careful selection out of hundreds of recipes that also are true temptations to the palate. For some ingredients that you may not find easily in your country, I tried to give you alternatives so you can reach a similar result.
This Book’s Recipes are dedicated to Lovers. Some of them are actually special traditional dishes to be offered from the bride-to-be to her husband-to-be on their engagement event, such as “Soutzoukakia Smyrneika”.
Haven’t gone in depth as to if their ingredients lend them these “magical” seductive properties, or it’s the chemistry of their combination that does the job. To some, you’ll see garlic among the ingredients. Don’t be surprised. All you have to do is cook them one by one, taste them and start adding them to your “seduction arsenal”.