Home Food: Recipes from the founder of #CookForUkraine

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For hard-boiled eggs with a soft yolk, put the eggs in a pan of cold water and put on a medium-high heat. Watch them, for as soon as the water comes to a rolling boil, you must turn the heat down to low and set a timer for four minutes. When the time is up, drain the eggs and submerge them in cold water. In addition to writing three critically acclaimed cookbooks, Hercules is also credited with the launch of the #CookForUkraine movement. In this deeply personal cookbook, she pulls inspiration from her childhood in Ukraine, as well her years spent in Cyprus, Italy, and England.” We really hope that by using food as our means of raising funds and raising awareness, we are giving people a chance to bring that conflict closer in a way that they can relate to, not just in an abstract, news headlines kind of way, but actually in a very tangible, very intimate way through food.

Olia Hercules Books – Olia Hercules

In her most personal book yet, Olia Hercules distils a lifetime of kitchen curiosity into her 100 most-loved recipes. She draws on her broad influences: her childhood in Ukraine; her years in Cyprus and Italy; and her simple, veg-centric family meals at home in London. Olia lives in London with her sons Sasha and Wilf, and husband – fellow food writer and photographer Joe Woodhouse, writing, cooking and feeding her unceasing curiosity by researching food culture and culinary traditions of countries less explored. Hercules, Olia (4 June 2015). Info. Octopus Publishing. ISBN 9781784720384 . Retrieved 14 December 2016. Divide the dough into four equal pieces and knead each one into a ball on a well-floured surface. Roll each ball into a long sausage, then put it on a barely floured surface and roll from the centre to the edges, stretching it out to 45cm or so. Put the dough sausages parallel to each other, perpendicular to you. Squish and stretch the top ends with your fingers, so they become a little thinner, then pinch together. Now, working from right to left, take the sausage on the right, feed it over its neighbour to the left, under the next sausage, and then over the final sausage. Again starting with the sausage on the right, feed it over, under and over again, and keep going until you have plaited the full lengths of the four dough sausages, then pinch together the bottom ends. The middle will look a bit bulkier, so stretch the whole thing delicately to even it up. But I know exactly what they will taste when they open that jar. So to me that was just like even talking about it now just gives me goosebumps and like, it's just so powerful."Hercules began working as a film journalist but amidst the 2008 economic crisis decided to change careers. Olia Hercules began working as a chef after completing a course at Leith's School of Food and Wine in 2010. [5] [6] She was then a food stylist for various publications, [7] after which she went on to work at London restaurant Ottolenghi's as a chef-de-partie (line cook). [8] [9]

Olia Hercules: ‘Let’s not forget that Ukraine is not Olia Hercules: ‘Let’s not forget that Ukraine is not

Cut the tomatoes into chunks over a serving bowl, to catch the juices, then mix with the aubergines, remaining olive oil, the sesame oil, the onions and their juices, herbs and feta, and serve. Potatoes of my childhood Mamushka came out of a big jumble of things that were happening to me in 2014. I lost my job, I was a single mum, my son Sasha was nearly two years old. I was alone in the UK with no job and no prospects. Parallel to that, the Maidan [uprising] happens and the war starts in the Crimea. So it began, actually, as me writing down names of recipes in my notebook as a way of just doing something, and not sitting around and plunging myself into depression. Then I ended up getting this book deal, miraculously, everything came together. I never looked for an agent or to publish, it was just for me. When I was giving birth to my son, Sasha, my first child, the midwives were like, “Are you OK?” And I was like, “I’m a chef! I’ve done 18-hour shifts at Ottolenghi, I can do this!” And I did. It was a really fast, efficient birth. Working in a busy restaurant kitchen definitely gives you insane stamina, for sure. You learn and your body learns it as well.

Home Food takes readers on a culinary journey through the places Hercules has lived and the influences this has had on the food she enjoys cooking and eating at home. She grew up in Ukraine, moved as a child to Cyprus and as a student to the UK where she studied Italian and International Relations. Her language studies took her on to Italy for a year abroad. Later she trained as a chef and began to write. Put the butter and 150g caster sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk until fairly fluffy. Break the egg yolks with a fork and gradually add them to the mix, whisking them in well as you go, then whisk in the vanilla extract and cheese. Transfer the mixture to another bowl, then fold in the semolina or polenta (if you use the latter, you’ll will get a cake with more texture). Hercules’ very honest, very human confessions and personal stories are endearing, and they engender trust in her recipes and with her as a person. Even if you don’t cook any of the 100 dishes offered in Home Food: 100 Recipes to Comfort and Connect, the book is worth owning for its profound insights into small things that have great meaning in life. Hercules’ beautiful, affirming tales celebrate our humanity, while her mostly easy recipes open the door to a new palette of cooking flavors and techniques.” Centering comfort and connection, acclaimed Ukranian chef Olia Hercules weaves influence from her childhood in Eastern Europe and years in Cyprus, Italy, and London into 100 recipes. Dishes like radish and pomegranate salad, roasted potatoes topped with feta, yogurt, dill, and chopped carrots, and baked apples stuffed with creamy tvorog or ricotta get woven together with stories that make her fourth cookbook her most personal yet.” Style Department Represents Olia Hercules, Food Stylist". Style Department . Retrieved 15 December 2016.