In our new series, we’re stepping inside the kitchens of home cooks and bakers around the country, hearing about the dishes they love sharing with family and friends.
This time around, we hear from Olivia Nash, a digital marketing executive who loves making new and classic recipes for family and friends.
“I’ve been baking for as long as I can remember,” says Olivia Nash. The 24-year-old lives with her boyfriend, who’s the lucky taster of most of her recipes, although the fact that he “doesn’t have a serious sweet tooth like me” means Olivia’s family and colleagues are often next in line.
“I get a real buzz from making food for others and knowing it makes them happy,” she says. “Plus I hate food waste so I’ll be sure to bake when I know there’ll be someone there to help eat it. I like to think carefully before starting into a recipe.”
Cooking and baking are a creative outlet for Olivia, who finds inspiration on Pinterest and social media:
I tend to find a recipe I love and then keep altering it and changing it with different ingredients.
During the week, Olivia turns to staples like baked breakfast oats, lasagne and shepherd’s pie, but on weekends she and her boyfriend will give a little extra time to their meals. “Like everyone else I got into sourdough during the Covid lockdowns, and my starter is still going strong. We make sourdough pizza most weekends… but I have yet to perfect my sourdough bread!”
Read on for three dishes Olivia has served up lately – either for herself, or to share with lucky family and friends…
Weekday Baked Oats
The best part of this breakfast, according to Olivia, is the toppings, which allow it to be as wholesome or indulgent as you like. “Sometimes I’ll have caramel and chocolate spread, but other times times it’ll be just berries. I’ll have some version of this two or three times a week. It’s like cake for breakfast!”
To make her baked oats, Olivia puts oats, some banana, honey, baking powder and a little bit of milk into a blender, before pouring it into a small ovenproof dish and baking it for 15 minutes. Once it’s ready, it’s time for toppings. To save time, blend your mix the night before and leave it in the dish in the fridge overnight.
Made-From-Scratch Cacio e Pepe
While locked down during the pandemic, Olivia and her boyfriend killed time by “planning recipes that took ages to make.” That’s when their love for homemade pasta started – although the process is much speedier now that Olivia has invested in her own pasta maker.
“I assumed making fresh pasta would be really complicated but I saw loads of people doing it on TikTok and realised that it’s just flour and eggs,” she says. Her current favourite is cacio e pepe, a classic Italian spaghetti dish with nothing but some melted butter, grated parmesan and ground black pepper. If you’re not feeling ready to commit to making your own spaghetti just yet, this will work just fine with any shop-bought variety.
Bad Day Chocolate Chip Cookies
These chewy, chocolatey cookies are a tried-and-tested recipe for Olivia, who first started making them aged 16. “It’s taken me this long to perfect the recipe,” she says. “My boyfriend asks for these cookies if he’s having a bad day.”
Browning the butter – a technique that involves cooking butter past its melting point until it turns golden brown and releases a nutty aroma – is a key step in Olivia’s cookies. As is using an ice-cream scoop to place balls of the prepared cookie mixture onto a baking tray, a technique that “means every cookie is the same size.”
Allowing the cookies to rest and cool before they come out of they oven is important too, to ensure the butter and sugar have time to fully set. You have to be strict about this one, she says: “I’ll usually end up saying ‘Go away! They’re not ready yet,’ to my boyfriend…”
Check out a delicious recipe for chocolate chip and vanilla bean cookies from Kerrygold here.
Meet the Kerrygold Insiders: a secret ingredient for every kitchen moment. Whether you’re baking up a storm, cooking a dinner for friends and family or prepping a quick and tasty lunch, there’s a Kerrygold butter for you. See the full Kerrygold range here.
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