After having her son, and filming for The Food Network, Olia began writing for Sainsbury's, The Recipe Kit, and The Guardian. Also, world famous pickles from Ukraine and its neighbour regions are well presented in this wonderful book. This is real cooking, written about with so much love' - Diana Henry'From stuffed cabbage leaves to garlicky poussins, Olia Hercules's recipes are redolent of long summers in her mother's Ukrainian garden; rich, nourishing and enhanced by her stint as an Ottolenghi chef' - Observer Food Monthly. Finally, I used the beef short ribs, but they were pretty fatty and wouldn't be my choice next time.

Despite my strong Ukrainian identity, I have always cherished and taken pride in the cultural diversity that we were so lucky to enjoy in Ukraine. After having her son, and filming for The Food Network, Olia has been writing for Sainsbury's, The Recipe Kit, and the Guardian. However, for people of my age (late 50s), it was too easy to think of all countries behind the Iron Curtain as some sort of amorphous block, all slurping on Borscht and drinking vodka. The resulting soup was simultaneously subtle and rich, light and filling, playing up the lushness of the duck with the lemony tartness of the fresh sorrel leaves.I’d probably sub halibut or sea bass next time, my catfish wasn’t great but I wanted to be authentic to the recipe and culture. Same sentiment here, absolutely love the combination of the beetroot with the prunes AND of the sour cream with the balsamic vinegar. From the Moldovan giant cheese twist and Ukrainian buns with potatoes and shallots to Garlicky Georgian poussins with spicy plum chutney and Armenian pickled wet garlic; to Napoleon cake, Wasp nest buns and Apricot and sour cherry pie. Knead the dough until it becomes firm and elastic without sticking, then cover with clingfilm and let it rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

I used regular garlic, but only half the suggested amount because I was concerned it would be too spicy for my son, who doesn't like raw garlic. In any case, Hercules produces a tasty honey cake with sour cream - that doesn't require days of refrigeration for the layers to soften. She kicked off her culinary career working at London's Union Market before landing her dream job as a chef-departie for Ottolenghi's. It is published on August 10th in the UK and Australia and in October 2017 in the US, Canada, Germany and Poland. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.Olia was born in Ukraine and lived in Cyprus before moving to the UK to study a BA in Italian, followed by an MA in Russian and English. Made this soup and the suggested Moldovan flatbread (made them twice--once for first meal and then, for leftover soup). This book is an ode to all those women (and men) that I was raised by and grew up with, and the food they lovingly prepared. It was made worse by the fact that Russia was also playing, and many of my cookbooks did not differentiate between Russian and Ukrainian food (or that of any other ex-Soviet country). Olia Hercules has a voice that is vibrant and original (without striving to be so) and it is impossible not to read these recipes, and her introductions to them, without itching to get into the kitchen and cook; the recipe I’ve selected below shows you just what I mean.

a joyful celebration of Eastern European cooking' - Observer'My present to myself: not to be played with until my own writing is done! If there is a lot of fat, skim some of it off, then add the water, season the meat well with salt and pepper and cook over the lowest heat possible, covered tightly, for 2 hours or until tender and you can easily pull the meat off the bones. I had a thought as I was making it, that perhaps, putting so much in , that I wouldn’t be able to taste the different components later.And I did start making sorrel soup after going to Poland and having soup there (although a vegetarian based broth with kasha/buckwheat groats used to enrich the soup). It is much more than ‘just’ Ukrainian recipes, it is a celebration of food eaten in Ukraine – from all over the ex-Soviet Union – each recipe stating which country the cuisine originates from, if not Ukraine. I saw this recipe, realized I had all the ingredients, and thought, "that sounds good - the prunes are in interesting addition, let's try it.

Nowadays, everyone is much more aware of Ukraine as an independent country, and I wanted to know more about its own culture and cuisine.

Tonight, I am having the second helping of the beautiful “Cold Beetroot Soup” – an amazing rich ruby red colour, which would be perfect to serve to visiting Vegans (or anyone else! After finishing school, she moved to the UK where she studied Italian language and International Relations at the University of Warwick. Mamushka is a celebration of the food and flavours of the "Wild East" - from the Black Sea to Baku and Armenia to Azerbaijan, with over 100 recipes for fresh, flavourful and unexpected dishes from across the region. It’s very easy to make, the marinade smells absolutely amazing — although I missed that the sliced onions should be added to the marinating meat, so added with the carrots — and the final addition of herbs brightens everything up. Most recipes I tried, I will add to my repertoire, but my favourites were the “Cold Beetroot Soup”, the “Armenian Soup with Lamb and Prune Meatballs”, the “Grilled Vegetable Caviar”, the Georgian Kidney Bean Salad”, “Chilli and Garlic Cucumber”, and the “Azerbaijani Rice and Fruity Lamb”.