Oh, l’amour.
There are those who are lucky: one look and it’s love at first sight, thanks to Cupid’s arrows.
However, Cupid is usually a lazy little god and we have to work hard to make love inflame our lonely hearts.
How and where can we make those burning flames of love approach us?
Why not starting from our kitchens?
Roberta and Sergio, both of them with Italian roots and a passion for cooking, are going to explain to us in what ways food can become a powerful weapon of seduction.
Talking with Roberta Troisi:
1) First date. Basic-level cooking. Which menu do you think would be the best for a woman who can’t cook, but wants to make an impression?
The first date is extremely important: you have to charm him but without unveiling too much. Anybody can make it with veal rolls with cured ham and plums. Red wine to drink.
2) The Icing on the cake – The perfect way to end the date and make her earn a second one with him.
A dark chocolate ganache with whipped cream, and strawberries, biscuits or chili peppers to dunk into it.
3) What if he is really good at cooking?
I think that to impress a man who is really good at cooking, relying on the beauty of how the meal is composed, is probably the best idea. I would say finger food: mono-portion courses that will please your sight and your palate!
4) Which dessert would you make to placate his worst tantrum?
I would suggest laying a table with all his favourite food and a chocolate cake, icing saying “I’m sorry”. Who wouldn’t melt looking at it?
5) The desperate woman in our question number 1 is enjoying cooking more and more. So, First Date. Advanced-level cooking.
I love making Parmesan cheese baskets. Once you’ve melted the cheese, you need to let it cool down in a couple of bowls, so that it hardens again bowl-shaped.
Parmesan cheese baskets can be stuffed with pasta, salad or different sauces.
Another idea could be champagne risotto.
6) The aphrodisiac menu for the woman who wants her night to turn hot.
Well, here alcohol might be a better ally than food! So, I would say a sparkling wine granita served with cheese and jam. If this shouldn’t be enough, passion fruit risotto and lots of white wine.
I’m sure he won’t even finish eating!
7 ) How can you succeed in seducing him and at the same time avoid spending a fortune?
By preparing noodles with cocoa and Gorgonzola cheese as a main course. Then, a crème brulée with orange and ginger.
8) She thought he was gorgeous. But she’s never been so wrong in her whole life. What’s the best menu to scare him away?
A real chef never really makes anything disgusting, even if he/she tries hard to! I would suggest leaving him hungry, by offering him only a vegetable velvet sauce and some chopped fruit.
After this meager dinner, the only thing he will think of will be some pasta cooked by his mom and he will flee for sure!
Talking with Sergio Radeglia:
1) First date. Basic-level cooking. Which menu do you think would be the best for a man who can’t cook, but wants to make an impression?
An inexperienced cook should opt for something attention-striking, but also fast and easy to make. Seasoned cheese served with fig jam or honey, canapés with basil and chili peppers sauce and a glass of red wine.
Then, risotto with Scamorza cheese, shrimps and chili pepper and, right before the dessert, lime-scented roasted shrimps.
2) The Icing on the cake – the perfect way to end the date and make him earn a second one with her.
I would go for a soft dessert: chili pepper chocolate cream with shredded coconut on top. Your lady friend won’t only accept a second date, but you’ll find her at your door from the following evening on!
3) What if she is really good at cooking?
I propose my forte: pork loin fillet with Berries Cumberland sauce, a heady mix for your libido.
4) Which dessert would you make to placate her worst tantrum or her crossness during her period?
There is only one kind of food which can soothe a woman in case of a tantrum or during her period : chocolate. I would make a soft-centred chocolate cake, served with panna cotta and strawberries on top.
5) The desperate man in our question number 1 is enjoying cooking more and more. So, first date. Advanced-level cooking.
First of all, a cocktail with ginger, passion fruit, brown sugar, lime, light rum and ice.
As a starter, potato croquettes with salmon and chives, accompanied by Aioli sauce. Then, Black Venere risotto with seafood, courgettes and parsley.
Squid stuffed with vegetable cous cous with curry and moving to the dessert, Fruit salad including pineapple, passion fruit, banana and brown sugar.
6) The aphrodisiac menu for the man who wants his night to turn hot.
Voronoff Fillet, a real pillar in seduction cooking. Have a look at the story of this dish, and you’ll know why.
7 ) How can you succeed in seducing her and at the same time avoid spending a fortune?
By making cous cous with curry, shrimps, asparagus and cherry tomatoes and a mixed salad with avocado and Vietnamese sauce.
8) He thought she was gorgeous. But he’s never been so wrong in his whole life. What’s the best menu to scare her away?
A dish which is typical of my region (Apulia, Southern Italy) that, normally, shocks 99% of women : the “Capuzzella”, a lamb head divided in two halves and served with roasted potatoes. Thanks to its rather revolting appearance, this dish would make even Juliet flee from the most romantic dinner date with Romeo!