Tastes of the Aegean (by Dora Parisi)

Cooking is an art demanding a lot of imagination and affection. A great deal of affection. It must not be done as a chore. A few good ingredients and much less time than the one we would spend to buy something already cooked, is all we need to prepare a deliciously simple home-made dish”.

This is how Dora Parisi invites us to give a try to the recipes for all dishes and desserts mentioned in her book. Recipes coming from the island of Lesvos but also from the whole North-Aegean region- since they have their roots in Minor Asia, from where they were subsequently transferred to the islands by the immigrants to be enriched by local flavors: Kiskiek, lamb with yogurt, beef with quinces, stuffed lamb from Lesvos, Greek pasta simmered with milk, stuffed red mullet, accompanied broad beans, lobster with onions, hymaglia (almonds flavored with rosewater), retseli (a dessert with must), gkiouslemedes, melomakarona soaked in alcohol (Christmas cookies) are some of these traditional recipes. However, you can also find recipes known in the rest of the country, but presented here in a characteristic local (Lesvos) way.

All recipes are described with details so that even amateurs may use them fast and easy given that, according to Dora Parisi, “cooking is the pleasure of creation and not a burden”.

However, apart from these tastes of several dishes, this book offers us some “visual” tastes of Lesvos, which happens to be both the authoress’ and her publisher’s, Mr. Dimitris Talianis homeland. In this way, recipes are illustrated by several rare interior photos-frescoes of Lesvos’ manors, traditional pottery, embroidery, Theophilos’ paintings as well as landscapes of the island and food preparation becomes a very interesting journey…

Bon Appetit!

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