Monday Morning Cooking Club - the food, the stories, the sisterhood

Monday Morning Cooking Club

Twitter is a great source of information. A few months ago, a tasty tweet caught my attention and, after clicking a few links, I found out about the Monday Morning Cooking Club. The Club formed in 2006, when a group of six Jewish women from Sydney met up to cook and chat over coffee every Monday morning. Their aim was to publish a cookbook to raise money for charity. The project was such a success that Merelyn, Natanya, Lauren, Lisa, Paula and Jacqui, 'the sisterhood' decided to take it one step further and source the best recipes from the best cooks among Sydney’s Jewish Community. 'Who is the best cook you know?', they asked of their friends and the Jewish community.

The resulting book, Monday Morning Cooking Club, has become one of my favourites and is like a good chicken soup, filled with with an assortment of deliciously good things! Another gem from publisher, Hardie Grant!

The recipes are from great grandmothers, grandmothers and mothers, and all have been tried and tested. Several bring back memories of my own mother's cooking; such as bean soup with csipetke (p 13), poppyseed and walnut beigli (p 250), palacsinta (p 245), and almond kifli (p 150). There are plenty of dishes I would love to make and I have already flagged numerous pages, including a nourishing Israeli couscous soup (p 112), Moroccan fish (p 224), and chicken Persian pilau (p 203). With such an eclectic mix of recipes and cook's tales, there's something here for every food enthusiast, I'm sure.

Accompanying the recipes is the beautiful work of photographer, Alan Benson; and all the monies raised go to supported charities. What's not to love about this book!?

Monday Morning Cooking Club by Merelyn Frank Chalmers, Natanya Eskin, Lauren Fink, Lisa Goldberg, Paula Horwiyz and Jacqui Israel (Hardie Grant $59.95).