He looks like any other 12-year-old boy, with his cheeky smile and a boisterous family that keeps things constantly on edge.
But unlike many Fortnite-obsessed or Euro-crazy teenagers, Buddy Oliver has 133,000 subscribers to his YouTube show, Cooking Buddies, where he teaches kids how to cook simple meals.
And he has a very famous father, TV chef Jamie.
Buddy, who lives in Essex with his family, says: “Cooking is one of my favourite things to do – it’s really enjoyable and a great skill worth learning. Once you learn the basics you can try most recipes or even make them yourself.”
“It doesn’t always go according to plan, but that’s okay. I like to cook for my brothers and sisters, but I also cook for friends.”
His dad Jamie, 49, said: “Being able to cook is an incredible thing – it’s almost like a superpower.”
“The key to learning is to be curious and have the confidence to try.” Buddy is about to publish his first cookbook, with more than 60 recipes aimed at young people and novice cooks.
But how easy are the recipes to make for the average Cooking Buddies fan?
I asked my 10-year-old daughter, Lexie (pictured left), to taste four of them at home in Bude, Cornwall, and rate them on a 5-star scale.
- Extracted from Let’s Cook by Buddy Oliver (Michael Joseph). £20, on sale 4th July.
Delicious breakfast muffins
12 servings
Things necessary:
- 80g cheddar or parmesan cheese
- 125g baby spinach
- Optional: 1 red chilli pepper
- 2 spring onions
- 200ml milk
- 50ml olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 350g whole wheat flour
- 50g feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons mixed seeds such as sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, and poppy
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a muffin tin with 12 paper muffin cases.
2. Grate the cheddar or parmesan cheese into a bowl. Finely chop half the spinach and coarsely chop the rest and add to the bowl.
3. Remove the seeds from the chilli pepper (if using) and finely chop. spring Add onion to bowl.
4. Pour in the milk and olives oil Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and mix well. Add the flour, a pinch of sea salt, and all the other ingredients and mix.
5. Spoon half the mixture into 12 paper cases, crumble the feta between the cases and spoon the remaining mixture over the top. Sprinkle with your choice of seeds and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
6. Allow to cool slightly in the tin before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Serve hot or cold.
Lexie says
This was pretty easy to make, but I did miss putting spinach in the muffins, I thought they were a bit bland and my least favorite recipe, but my mom loved them.
3/5
Easy and quick pizza
Serves 4
Things necessary:
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Olive oil
- 1 can of 400g plum tomatoes
- 400g flour, plus a little for dusting
- 80g mozzarella cheese
- Optional: 4 chipolata sausages
- 4 handfuls of your favorite vegetables, such as bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, sweet corn, broccoli, onions, and black olives
Method:
1. Peel and finely chop the garlic and fry in a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat until golden brown.
2. Mash the tomatoes (or break them up with a spoon as you add them) and simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, then season with sea salt and black pepper. Remove from heat.
3. Preheat the oven to 220°C and coat the inside of a 25cm x 35cm baking tray with olive oil.
4. Place the flour in a mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt and make a well in the middle. Pour in 250ml of water and stir with a fork, incorporating the flour from the outside to form a dough. When the dough starts to come together, dust your hands with flour and pat them into a ball.
5. Knead on a floured surface for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll them into 20cm circles or ovals.
6. Spread a generous amount of tomato sauce onto each pizza crust, top with shredded mozzarella cheese, squeeze the sausage meat (if using) out of the skins and shred onto the pizza crusts, then sprinkle on top with your desired prepared veggie toppings.
7. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and bake on the top rack of the oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown and puffed. Serve with a crunchy green salad.
Lexie says
This was a lot of fun to make, I especially liked the crust, it tasted great and looked amazing. I’m not a big fan of mozzarella so I substituted grated cheddar for it.
5/5
Buddy’s Bolognese
Serves 6
Things necessary:
- 2 pork sausages
- Olive oil
- 500g lean beef mince
- 2 onions
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 large carrot
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 zucchini
- 2 tablespoons rich balsamic vinegar
- Canned plum tomatoes 400g x 2
- 1 teaspoon tomato puree
- 450g dried pasta of your choice
- Parmesan cheese (for garnish)
Method:
1. Heat a large casserole pan over medium-high heat.
2. Squeeze the sausage meat out of the skins. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a frying pan, add the minced beef and sausage meat and cook, stirring regularly, breaking everything up with a spoon for 5 minutes.
3. Peel the onion and garlic, cut the skin off the carrot, celery and zucchini, coarsely grate all the vegetables and finely grate the garlic. Stir into the skillet, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until soft and sweet.
4. Add the balsamic vinegar and crush the tomatoes (or gently fold them in and break them up with a spoon). Fill each can halfway with water, stir to pick up any remaining tomatoes, and pour into the pan.
5. Add the tomato puree and a pinch of black pepper, stir and mash everything up with a spoon, then reduce the heat and simmer for an hour or until slightly thickened.
6. About 15 minutes before serving, cook the pasta according to packet instructions in a large pot of boiling salted water, then drain, reserving 1 mug of the starchy cooking water.
7. Carefully add the pasta to the sauce and heat through, stirring often and adding a little pasta water to loosen if necessary. bowlFinally, finish off with a generous gration of Parmesan.
Lexie says
The bolognese is really tasty, but I found it quite difficult to grate the vegetables, and I’ve never used that method before. But I’d like to make it again, and my brother liked it too.
4/5
Rocky Road
Serves 16
Things necessary:
- Olive oil (for greasing)
- Dark chocolate (70%) 100g
- 100g high quality milk chocolate
- 125g unsalted butter
- 75g golden syrup
- Marshmallows 50g
- Digestive Biscuits 150g
- 75g unsalted nuts, such as pistachios or toasted hazelnuts
- Chocolate coated honeycomb 75g
- 75g grass cherries or dried fruit
- 50g good quality white chocolate
Method:
1. Lightly oil a 25cm x 30cm roasting tray and line with damp greaseproof paper.
2. Place a heat-resistant bowl in a pot over lightly boiling water. snap Add the butter and golden syrup to the dark and milk chocolate, stirring occasionally until melted.
3. Cut the marshmallows in half, fold the biscuits, coarsely chop or pound the nuts, pound the honeycomb, cut the cherries or dried fruit (if desired) in half and stir into the chocolate mixture.
4. Pour onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before carefully removing from the fridge.
5. Place the white chocolate in a clean heat-proof bowl and melt as directed in step 2 (sometimes using the microwave is easier). Pour the chocolate over the Rocky Road, harden in the refrigerator, slice and enjoy.
Lexie says
It took a while to set, but it was fun to make. It tastes good, but it’s very sweet, so it’s best not to eat too much at once.
4/5
Buddy’s tips for confidence in the kitchen
Start small and base your recipes on what you choose – the more I learn, the more I want to explore, and maybe you will too.
The first thing I made was scrambled eggs, which were absolutely delicious and actually very easy once you know how to make them.
After helping my mom and dad with chores in the kitchen, I started picking up new skills like how to chop salads and make simple pizza and bread dough, and it went from there.
Cooking is unpredictable and doesn’t always go according to plan, but that’s okay – you might make something even better than you planned, or it might give you a hint as to what not to do next time – it’s all part of the journey.
Cooking your own food allows you to tweak and adjust the food to suit your tastes, so you’ll always want to eat it. Plus, it’s nice not to have to rely on an adult to make it for you when you’re hungry.
Roll up your sleeves, work hard, and most importantly…have fun.
Lexi’s Verdict
This book has so many delicious recipes and Buddy has so many different ways of making them that it was fun to try them out and I can’t wait to try the other recipes too.