When it comes to her passion for cooking, Laura Sharrad owes it to her nonnas, who taught her everything she knows.
Ever since then, cooking has become a love language for the MasterChef Australia star, especially when she gets to share her family recipes with others.
So naturally, she sought to preserve all of her most treasured family dishes in her cookbook, At My Nonna’s Table.
“It was more so I had the recipes and that my daughter has the recipes, and down the line, family members from there on kind of a thing,” she exclusively shares with New Idea.
“So it started this heritage and an ode to them and I guess also like my cooking started because of them.”
With many recipes to choose from, it has also brought Laura closer to her mother, who has preserved recipes and helped the MasterChef star fill in the gaps.
Given that her mother became a nonna after Laura’s daughter in April 2024, it has meant another generation of her family has become involved.
Even though I spoke with Laura in the earlier stages of her cookbook, when she was undecided on a name, her vision was clear – helping others recreate the experiences she had going to her nonnas’ homes.
Like many nonnas’ (I can personally attest to this with mine), hers never wrote their recipes down, so instead they became second-nature to make, with no measuring.
With this, she felt like creating the book was an “impossible challenge”, but she refused to give up.
“I just wanted to create something very homely and very special, and something a bit different,” she explains.
“I feel like we are looking more than ever for fast, quick meals, and don’t get me wrong, I’m looking for that Monday to Friday myself. But I wanted to include something in this book that was like to spend a whole Sunday afternoon cooking, and I think that’s what you get when it’s like nonna cooking.”
“I think it’s just the typical Sunday lunch dishes that you would go to your nonna’s house for.”
Preferring to be in the kitchen preparing the recipes rather than being confined to a laptop, the recipes have been tasted plenty of times, by her family and loved ones.
“I would get friends to come over like I’d be like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna do six dishes today’. And I’m just going to smash them all out and then I’m going to invite everyone over and everyone’s just going to eat and it just brings back those memories of you as a kid at your nonna’s table,” she explained to us.
So, what’s been brought from nonna’s table, to her cookbook’s pages?
Think braised lamb shanks with polenta and white wine sauce, lasagne, ravioli, the celebration cakes her nonna made for all of her grandchildren.
Not only that, but there are also recipes from her husband, Max’s family, and other dishes she’d make throughout the week.
However, the recipes are designed to meet home cooks where they’re at, so if you can’t make handmade pasta, you don’t have to.
“It may not take 20 minutes, you may need to spend sometimes 45 minutes to make it, but you can say prep it in advance or put it in the freezer and store it accordingly,” the chef and restauranteur shared.
“To make your weeks a bit easier, so you still feel like you’re not missing out on like a really homely meal. It’s just basically what I grow up with, what I like to cook for my family during the week.”
