The Monday Morning Cooking Club started in 2006 when six women from Sydney’s Jewish community came together to write a cookbook for charity. None could have foreseen what a huge success it has proved to be.
Founding members Lisa Goldberg, Merelyn Chalmers, and Natanya Eskin have built a loyal online community through their passion for food and Jewish tradition.
Four incredibly successful cookbooks followed. The first, Monday Morning Cooking Club, published in 2011, was praised by Nigella Lawson as “pure cosy joy”, while the late Bill Granger said, “Food from home is my ultimate, especially when it has been tried, tested and loved by the Monday Morning Cooking Club”.
That ‘pure cosy joy’ has since extended to a fifth book, A Year Of Jewish Cooking: Recipes We Can’t Live Without, published by Simon & Schuster.
Jewish traditions
A collection of recipes that lead the reader through Jewish traditions including every major Jewish festival, it’s a particularly luscious collection that has me salivating at every page. The recipes have been taken from all four earlier editions, many of them tweaked, changed or streamlined to suit busy folk.
From schnitzel to latkes, Chocolate Chiffon Cake to Chicken Soup and Matzo Balls, it’s clear how much the authors enjoy fressing (eating with abandon!)
The Sour Cherry Chocolate Brownies featured here are divine, but so too are Cinnamon Doughnuts, French-style Roast Chicken, Rosh Hashanah Brisket, Olive Oil Chocolate Mousse, and many more.
Drawing on the collective wisdom of generations who have come before them, the authors deliver wonderful home-cooked dishes that are at the heart of the Jewish community.
For those who are not Jewish, they offer a valuable insight into Jewish food culture and traditions: what is the significance of matzo? Why is honey eaten on Rosh Hashanah? What is Shabbat dinner all about?
In the book’s introduction, the authors say that in talking to cooks after the publication of their earlier books, it became abundantly clear that nurturing friends and family with food is the language of love. In these deeply troubled times, what could be more important than that?
The Monday Morning Cooking Club is a not-for-profit project, and 100% of all profits from book sales go to various community, medical and women’s charities including Two Good Co, WIZO, Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and OzHarvest (Sydney).
Sour Cherry Chocolate Brownies
Serves 12
115 g (4 oz) extra-dark chocolate (90%)
225 g (8 oz) dark chocolate (70%)
225 g (8 oz/2 sticks) unsalted butter
460 g (2 cups/1 lb) caster sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
75 g (½ cup/2¾ oz) plain flour
200 g (1 cup) dried sour red
cherries or dried cranberries
Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) conventional. Line a rectangular baking or slice tin (approx 32 x 23 x 3 cm/12 x 9 x 1¼ in), leaving some of the paper overhanging to help you easily lift the brownie out of the tin after baking.
Break the chocolate into pieces. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water then pour the melted mixture into a large bowl. Add the sugar and, using an electric mixer, beat until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and salt and beat well. Using a spatula, gently fold in the flour until just combined then fold in the dried sour cherries or cranberries.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 40 minutes or until the sides begin to pull away from the tin.
Allow to cool in the tin. Lift out using the overhanging paper, then cut into squares.
Note: Add a handful of walnuts for a different texture.
From: A Year Of Jewish Cooking: Recipes We Can’t Live Without, by Lisa Goldberg, Merelyn Chalmers, and Natanya Eskin. Published by Simon & Schuster; photography by Alan Benson.
Buy your copy of A Year of Jewish Cooking from Amazon.
**Enjoy many more delicious recipes from our Food Wine Travel files here.**
