
Food writer Anastasia Miari has collected recipes from grandmothers across the Med for new her cookbook Mediterranea, here she shares Soula’s recipe for risotto.
“It’s spring in Greece and wildflowers are in bloom over a lush blanket of grass when I arrive in the Peloponnese to cook with Yiayia Soula. We head past neatly preened olive groves to the local laiki (market) to grab the ingredients for our spanakorizo and I can tell right away that Soula is a force to be reckoned with. She has no issue being photographed in the village, posing for the camera as locals gawp at the sight of me and Marco the photographer, snapping away while Soula comically surveys the veggies in a performative fashion worthy of an Oscar. When people inevitably ask what we’re doing, she’s the first to explain that she’s being featured in a new cookbook,” says Miari.