Olia Hercules

Olia Hercules · Summer Kitchens

My friend Jan once drunkenly asked me to cook for his dad Anton’s seventieth birthday, which I enthusiastically agreed to (also tipsy). Anton, aka Papa Florek or P Flo, grew up in Derby – his Polish father, Alfredo, had settled there after the war, when he was demobbed from the Carpathian Lancers. Sernyk, a traditional cheesecake eaten across Poland and Ukraine, was one of Anton’s childhood favourites, something that connected him to his Polish heritage, so I decided that’s what I would make. Struggling to find good-quality cottage cheese the day before, I panicked and bought ricotta, adapting my mum’s original recipe to suit the moister texture of ricotta. Happily, it was a huge success, and this cake is now also one of my son’s favourites. I hope someone will make it for him when he is seventy.

Olia Hercules · Kaukasis

This is an extremely simple dish, taught to me by an Armenian friend, and one of the best ways to turn chicken leftovers into something mind-blowing, although it would be totally worth poaching a whole chicken just to make this. Herbs, seasoned yogurt, barberries, toasted sunflower seeds, chicken, crispy top – I can’t think of anything better to eat on a Monday night. If you live alone, or like me with a small child, you can make a mini version using a smaller baking tray.

Olia Hercules · Home Food: Recipes to Comfort and Connect

This is inspired by my friend Marianna Dushar’s grandmother’s cake recipe... with the addition of cardamom, which another friend Katrya Kaluzhna uses in her plum tart. The original recipe uses plums, but you can use most fruit here. I suddenly became allergic to stone fruit after my pregnancy with my first son, but after I had my second son nine years later, the allergy was gone... isn’t that the strangest thing? So I now go to town and make up for the lost time. Whenever I can, I use all the stone fruit that I can get hold of, because I just love them all — apricots, plums, peaches, cherries — but you can pick any, or a mixture.

Olia Hercules · Mamushka: Recipes From Ukraine & Beyond

The word pampushka can be used to describe a gorgeous plump woman and is one of my favourite words. Pam-poo-shka! These pampushky are traditionally served with red borshch. In Ukraine, we would use regular garlic, so if you can’t find wet (new) garlic don’t worry – it will still be delicious.