Three Sisters Around the Greek Table

A few months ago, I was wandering around downtown Montreal when I came across the biggest Chapters/Indigo store I had ever seen. So, of course I went in. And then things kind of got surreal, the clerks were moving about the store with trays handing out small bowls of the best Greek salad I had ever tasted (and I know my Greek salad!) Finally someone pointed me to the book signing at the front of the store and I bought myself a signed copy of 'Three Sisters Around the Greek Table: A Cookbook' by (you'll never guess) three Greek sisters: Betty, Eleni and Samantha Bakopoulos.

Greek food is a huge weakness of mine but I have never been able to satisfactorily cook much of anything Greek. Believe it or not, just throwing lemon on some meat does not a good Greek dish make. Well, the first recipe I made from my new favorite cookbook was that Greek salad. And mine turned out just as good as the samples in the store! I will never use store bought Greek salad dressing again!! It was so easy and so amazingly delish.

We all know one good recipe does not a great cookbook make. So I tried more ... and more ... and got rave reviews from my family and friends. I'll admit I haven't tried every recipe in the book (I just can't make myself cook rabbit, no matter how good the recipe may be) but I have tried many of them. Guess what? With this book in hand, I can cook Greek!! Everything I have made has turned out very, very well. The recipes are simple and I almost always have the ingredients on hand. In case you are new to having ingredients on hand, there is a section on stocking your pantry the Greek way.

There are also menu ideas organized by season and occasion - including a couple of vegetarian menus. The centre section of the book is a gallery of gorgeous photos of the author's families enjoying each other and eating. In fact all of the photos, both in the gallery and of the food you can create, are astounding. Very professional - even though I was told by the authors that they cooked up each recipe and then took the food out to the backyard to photograph it for the book. Someone could make a living as a professional photographer!

Each recipe is titled in both English and Greek and includes a personal anecdote, substitution information and detailed instructions, including which parts of the recipe can be made ahead. Preparation time, cooking time and number of servings are also prominently stated.

Do I have anything negative to say? Yes! The entire book is only 277 pages long. I want more!

You can check out the authors' web site at www.3greeksisters.com.