Olia Hercules: ‘Ukrainian food is excellent, local produce grown with love and is seamlessly seasonal’

Inspired by the summer kitchens back home, the chef’s latest cookbook tells a story of vibrant flavours. Emma Henderson speaks to her about why the country’s cuisine isn’t just cabbages and potatoes

After the 2008 crash, Hercules quit her job as a journalist and instead enrolled on a Leiths cooking course (Joe Woodhouse)

Your latest cookbook, Summer Kitchens, is your third book, but how does it differ from the books before it?

The first one was a love letter to my family, the majority of the 100 recipes were the ones I grew up with. The second book Kaukasis was a travelogue based mainly in Georgia and Azerbaijan, while Summer Kitchens looks at Ukrainian cuisine’s diversity through the prism of a summer kitchen.

What are the summer kitchens the book refers to in the title and are they still prevalent in Ukraine?

They are separate, humble one-room houses that are situated in people’s yards a few steps away from the main house. It is almost like a miniature version.

Like the main house they are made either out of brick, clay or wood, have windows and a porch and a roof, but inside – it’s a kitchen. In the hot months from May to October, people do all their cooking and preserving for winter there. Essentially they are kitchen workshops!

What kind of food did you eat in the summer when you were growing up in Ukraine?

Lots of fresh, home-grown produce. Bowls of small but fragrant strawberries, massive cherries, apricots and peaches is something that childhood-me rates the highest.

There was also a fantastic salad of chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, dill and spring onions in a creme fraiche dressing.

We took lots of picnics by the river bank where my dad would fish, and we would then make a simple fish broth cooked over a fire. And of course dumplings were ever present – including ones stuffed with strawberries and sour cherries!

Are there any summer foods you had in Ukraine in summer that you can’t get in the UK?

You can find really excellent produce in the UK now, but tomatoes that we grow in the scorching Ukrainian sun are a different kind of beast.

The fresh and sweet cucumber smell after a long winter with no fresh vegetables was so enticing

My mum had a 700g tomato last year that we cut like a steak and ate with just a little sprinkling of salt. Also, I cannot find sour cherries anywhere, not even frozen ones...

Who taught you to cook?

My mum, who is an outstanding cook, tried when I was a teenager, but to no use, I just wasn’t interested. I taught myself a bit in my early twenties, and became obsessed with cooking. After I completed a Leiths diploma with flying colours, I worked in a couple of restaurants, but I am still learning of course. A lot from my mum these days – so it has come a full circle.

What’s your earliest food memory?

Probably mum holding a cucumber and a knife in her hands, chopping the cucumber into a bowl. The fresh and sweet cucumber smell after a long winter with no fresh vegetables was so enticing. I don’t know why women in Ukraine refuse to use chopping boards when they cut vegetables for a salad! To save on washing up perhaps.

How would you describe Ukrainian food in a nutshell?

It is actually pretty diverse and regional. But there isn’t a lot of spicing going on, and wherever you are it’s mainly about excellent, local produce grown with care and love and seamlessly seasonal.

The cooking techniques range from ingeniously simple to intricate – they naturally eschews waste.

Herbs are the powerhouses of the flavour world and are still my favourite way to add some panache to a dish

When it comes to flavours, they range from earthy like porcini mushroom wrapped in kefir dough (in the north), to fresh and sour like fermented aubergines with herbs in the south.

What’s your ultimate comfort food?

Varenyky dumplings filled with salty curd cheese, swimming in excellent home-made butter in a massive bowl, served with thick sour cream. It’s dairy central! This is such a cliche Ukrainian dish, but I am not ashamed.

Do you cook seasonally now and if so, how do you find it?

I do, yes. I find it great. There are so many British farms that grow top notch produce and I am growing a few things in my garden too.

What’s the worst misconception people have of Ukrainian food?

That it’s bland and only features boiled cabbages and potatoes. We do have many excellent cabbage and potato dishes, but they are not bland and there is definitely a huge array of ingredients and techniques that sound like they came out of Noma.

In the south of Ukraine, for example, people ferment watermelons – whole, in barrels.

When you first moved to London, was there anywhere to eat out where you could find food that reminded you of home?

Oh, I could not afford to eat in restaurants at that time. But to be honest with you, there are now lots of restaurants that are not Ukrainian that remind me of home. I have eaten dishes at Duck Soup, Leroy and 40 Maltby Street that reminded me so much of my mum’s cooking.

To research your second book, you travelled around Georgia following in the footsteps of a family trip you took – how did you research Summer Kitchens?

The research starts with my own summer kitchen when I was a little kid. Then six years ago I started interviewing people in my home town and my grandmother’s village.

Then when it transpired the project was to become a book, we drove about 10,000km all over Ukraine, going into people’s homes and summer kitchens, collecting stories and recipes.

As we’re in summer now. What are your favourite summery foods to cook?

Vegetable cooking is my favourite in the summer. I love courgettes. I am growing some in my garden right now.

There is a great recipe by my friend Katrya in Summer Kitchens where you bash together fresh marjoram or oregano, thyme leaves, garlic and salt and then add vinegar, then you pour it over sliced, grilled courgettes.

The summer kitchens are used from May to October (Elena Heatherwick)

It is so unbelievably good! Also just a light gentle braise of butter beans, and fresh young vegetables, a little bit of salt and even less of pepper and I’m in heaven.

After studying Italian and politics at university in England, what made you do the Leiths cooking course?

There was a strange and turbulent period after the 2008 financial crash. I had a job as a junior reporter, but I was obsessed with cooking. I felt that I wouldn’t be able to continue dodging redundancy. I decided to do something drastic with my life, so I quit my job and retrained at Leiths.

What was the most important thing you learned while working at Ottolenghi’s as a chef-de-partie?

Restaurant work is really tough, so it made me grow a thicker skin. I also learned how to season big batches of food well (it’s a real skill!), I honed my knife skills and learned how to cook under intense pressure during breakfast service.

Working there also made me appreciate fresh herbs. They are powerhouses of the flavour world and still my favourite way to add some panache to a dish.

Your first cookbook Mamushka won the Fortnum & Mason debut food award in 2016 and you won the Observer’s Rising Star award the previous year – what did that do for you?

I think it definitely added to recognition within the industry. I had a very low profile so to speak when I got signed to do Mamushka, so winning these accolades this early on in my career must have earned me some respect from fellow writers and chefs, and my readers.

How do you think the restaurant industry will cope after the pandemic?

I am in a perpetual state of worry over this. A lot of friends of mine are owners of excellent, small, independent restaurants. But I hope they will learn to adapt and survive. Selfishly, I really hope that their excellent recipe kits and take away service remain!

What’s next for you?

I am already working on another project. I hope to keep writing and highlighting less known cuisines and cultures, I am here for the long haul.

‘Summer Kitchens’ by Olia Hercules is out on 25 June (Bloomsbury, £26)