Ela! Ela! review
This book was sent to me at no cost by the publisher, Murdoch Books. It’s out now, RRP $39.99.
There are some excellent aspects to this cookbook, and there are some that I am not wild about.
The good: I adore a cookbook that is also part-memoir. Mittas is from Melbourne. She spent some time living and working in Turkey and Crete; each chapter of the book is about one of the places she lives – two in Turkey, then Crete, and then a section at home. Chapters start with a short narrative about Mittas’ experiences in those places, which seem to have largely been quite difficult – partly as a result of language barriers, and partly because often, what Mattis wanted wasn’t what the people she was working for could offer. These were intriguing insights, but they are more (to use a culinary metaphor) bite-sized chunks than anything like a meal.
The recipes fall into both good and not-wild-about categories. The ones I tried were mostly good! But I had some issues with the way they’re written.
- Slow-cooked lamb shoulder: very tasty; serving with tahini yoghurt, sumac onion, and yoghurt flatbread was excellent.
- Spanakopita: an excuse to make this at last! Excellent! Except… the rest of the title is “with Homemade Filo” – and, just, no. She does at least suggest using a pasta machine to roll it out – I have one, but many don’t. Why would you not have a “And if you can’t be bothered, this will use XX sheets of store-bought pastry”? Which is what I did and just made it up. The recipe also calls for “1/2 bunch silverbeet” which is… how much exactly??
- Gigantes with tomato and dill: fine. Tomato and dill is a combo I didn’t know I needed!
- Stuffed capsicum: again, fine, but some issues with the writing. It calls for 6 capsicums but says it serves 5 – ?? It also says to cover the capsicum with baking paper and foil, but that you should add more stock if required: how does one check on that?
- Galaktoboureko: not going to lie, having the excuse to finally make this Monarch Of All Desserts was worth getting the book. Kind of a cross between vanilla slice and baklava, it’s a truly glorious thing, and the recipe was fine.
So. Not my favourite cookbook of all time, but fine. Not one I’d recommend to a complete novice – there are definitely bits where there is assumed knowledge about how cooking works – but if you’re looking for an Australian-written, fairly eclectic take on Turkish and Greek food, this would work.
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Read via NetGalley. It’s out in August (sorry).
My experience of reading this went like this:
– Got the email that I was approved to read this.
– Thought, “oh, I’ll just download that so it’s ready to read.”
– Thought, “oh, I’ll just start it to see what it’s like.”
– A few hours later, thought, “oh. Now I’ve finished it and I no longer have a Kingfisher novel to look forward to.”
So that’s my tragedy. Of course, I DID get to read it in the first place, so it’s not MUCH of a tragedy.
This book is, unsurprisingly, fantastic. I adore Kingfisher’s work and this is another exemplar. Cordelia’s mother is able to literally control her body – she calls it ‘obedience’ – and as a result, even when she is in control of herself, Cordelia is always on her best behaviour. She has no other family, and no friends except for Falada, the horse, and the passing acquaintance of a neighbouring girl. She has no control over anything – doors are never to be closed in their house – and all she expects of the future is that she will marry a rich husband: so her mother has told her.
Things begin to change when her mother’s current ‘benefactor’ decides to stop seeing her, and providing for her. In order to remain in the style to which she is accustomed, Cordelia’s mother decides to find herself a rich husband, both so that she herself will be looked after and to aid in the effort to marry off Cordelia. This brings the pair into the orbit of Hester and her brother, a rich squire. Through the mother’s machinations, they come to stay at the squire’s house, and Cordelia’s mother sets about wooing the squire. Meanwhile, Hester gets to know Cordelia, and… well. As you might expect, there are ups and downs and revelations and terrible things happen and, eventually, most things turn out okay.
The writing is fast-paced and glorious. The characters are utterly believable. Apparently this is a spin on “The Goose Girl” but it’s not a tale I know very well, so I can’t tell you where Kingfisher is being particularly clever in that respect. But it makes no difference; this is a fabulous novel and Kingfisher just keeps bringing the awesome.
Randomly Yours, Alex 