With the release of my first cookbook, many of you have asked what my cookbook The Gypsy Kitchen Cookbook about? And many thought it was a cookbook devoted to cooking with wine & cheese since I own a very popular gourmet wine and cheese shop. But this is not the case. I was recently asked by the press what my style of cooking was and I had to ponder for the answer. I decided to get back to them in a few days, as I needed a time to think about my cooking style.
I was asked did I cook Italian and French because of my heritage? Was it Americana? Canadian? Southern, Southwestern? Caribbean, South American? Mexican?As I have lived and visited many of these places? Could my cooking style be more Indian, Vietnamese, Thai or Asian, Greek or Mediterranean? Yet, no one cuisine came to mind. I am self taught and have learned to cook many cuisines from these country’s while relishing their spices and seasonings from these marvelous lands. Could I be more Spanish or Portuguese influenced? It eventually came to me… that my style and love of food and cooking should be categorized as World Fusion. It may be a music term, but I am claiming it to be my own style of cooking. So that is what my cookbook The Gypsy Kitchen is about!
I adore appetizers, small plates, tapas,BBQ, salads and soups, fantastic olive oils and vinegar and spices from afar. I incorporating unusual and common everyday ingredients into my repertoire and some times heat. I love texture, crunchy, creamy, crisp and full flavor foods. I love my butter and cream, sea salt , sea food, legumes and grains. I believe: That variety is the spice of life. I guess I am one of those gourmand’s who lives to eat but I am one who is respectful of calories at the same time.
My book is about my passionate love for foods whether they be in vegetable, meat, pasta, or appetizer, sauce, seafood or in condiment form! I love food and want to share my passion with the world. My recipes demonstrate how easy and simple cooking real food can be. In addition to my love of cooking and desiring more from the one dimensional main stream hot sauces offered in the market, I developed my own unique hot sauce Gypsy Juice. My recipe was in such demand at store level I could no longer produce it in small batches, I needed to go into manufacturing. When producing this hot sauce I choose intense flavors, quality ingredients, depth and complexity in the finish. You could say I created a monster, a hot sauce almost like a fine wine but in sauce form. A hot sauce that was not too hot, but would compliment most foods. I am excited, patiently waiting to hear the ooh’s and ah’s and until the whole world tries Gypsy Juice and the recipes!
My goal is to awaken your pallets, encourage you to try new and different foods and flavors…. To introduce you to a world of excitement thru food so you will never ever ever be bored on your plate again!
Happy Cooking!
Happy Eating!
Lisa Lamme’
Recipes From The Gypsy Kitchen 