A Recipe for Success

The Cooking Club Detectives by Ewa Jozefkowicz

(Zephyr, 2021)

Food is one of the great pleasures of life. As a teacher, I've found that the act of making something that ultimately will be eaten and enjoyed by its maker (or their friends or family) is one of the most immediately satisfying creative things that children can do. So many children can't wait to get into the kitchen with huge amounts of confidence to 'have a go'; there's excitement in the air every time cooking is on the timetable. 

So it was with great pleasure that I turned to Ewa Jozefkowicz's latest novel, The Cooking Club Detectives. Here was a book that combined two of my personal - as well as professional - passions: reading and cookery. I'm not only dedicated to ensuring that every child considers themselves a reader by the time they head to secondary school, but that they feel confident to make themselves good things to eat and moreover want to do so. These are personal aims that I hope will turn into life-long habits for the children. In becoming so, good physical, mental and emotional health is more likely assured. 

Jozefkowicz's new book is full of the same warmth and joy as her others. She always writes convincingly about the relationships between children and adults and this book is no exception. Erin and her mum are  trying to find their way in a new town having just moved there. Mum struggles to make her dream of making cookery a professional reality and during the story finds it difficult to overcome the online trolling and professional setbacks. But her daughter is there to help her through these challenges, making it her mission to find out who it is behind the nasty comments and the identity of whoever it is trying to close down the local community centre. She is joined by her good friends, Tanya, Frixos and Sam, not forgetting her charming dog, Sausage! 

The story unfolds bit-by-bit and I think children will particularly love the layering of mystery on mystery. They (like me!) will also very much enjoy the interwoven recipes, cheap and easy to make, perfect for young people from about Year 4 up to make in the kitchen, with a little help where necessary. They also draw attention to how food connects us all: the dishes are all favourites learned from friends and family and the ultimate one being the simple, no-frills comfort of banana bread that tasty staple of family teatime. There's nothing complicated or fancy here, just straightforward things that can be made to show that love between the maker and their friends and family. These recipes will be made, shared, consumed, enjoyed...and remembered. 

I very much hope this latest from Jozefkowicz reaches the widest audience possible. Not only will the story and characters enchant, but the passion that sings from its pages of the joy of cooking, the confidence it engenders, and life-changing impact it can have on all of us from the earliest age will come across loud and clear. The Cooking Club Detectives truly is a recipe for success.  

***

PS Now, wouldn't it be remiss of me not to share one of those dishes that appear in The Cooking Club Detectives? So to give you a 'taster' of the book, here is....

Frixos’s Feast

Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 stock cube
• 500g paella rice
• 1 head of broccoli
• 1 bag of fresh peas
• 1 tablespoon saffron powder
• 1 bag of frozen seafood

Method
1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the chopped onion and stir until softened (about 5 minutes).
2. Prepare a large measuring jug of boiling water from the kettle (500ml) and stir in the stock cube until dissolved. Then tip the 500g of paella rice into the pan and immediately add about 100ml of the water, so that it covers the rice completely. Keep adding the water bit by bit and stirring, until the rice soaks it up.
3. Meanwhile, chop the broccoli into florets and put them in a separate pan with another 500ml of kettle-boiled water. Place on a low heat and cook for twelve minutes, adding in your peas five minutes before the end. When cooked, drain in a colander.
4. Finally, stir in a tablespoon of saffron powder, then put the seafood mix into the pan and cover it with a lid. Simmer for 5 minutes until it is cooked through. Then add the vegetables and stir these in gently.

With thanks to Fritha Linqvist for supplying photos and encouragement - and Ewa's recipe! - in the writing of this blog-review.