Desert Island Dishes

My guest today is Matt Adlard Matt is a self taught baker, author and social media pastry sensation. You may have known him in the early days online as The Topless Baker and he’s known for hosting his own show on the Food Network as well as being a judge on various different baking shows including the BBC’s Platinum Pudding Competition.  Despite growing up above his fathers Michelin starred restaurant, Matt says he had little interest in pursuing a career in food and fell into baking as a hobby while studying at university. He is entirely self taught and now teaches his millions of followers how to to become a professional level baker through his videos and courses. He has an online cooking school called Bake it Better and published his first book last year with the same name.  Thank you so much to the brilliant Maldon Salt for sponsoring this season of Desert Island Dishes. I am a huge fan and long-time genuine customer so to be working with them is a dream come true. Don't forget to rate, review and su

Welcome to another episode of our side dish: The Dream Dinner Party. This is the mini episode where we invite a guest to tell us their dream dinner party. They are allowed to invite 4 guests – dead or alive because really I think personally 5 people is the optimum number for a great dinner party. And they are going to be talking us through their dream menu – what are they going to serve when there are no limits or practicalities to think about. These mini episodes are really fun to record – and I do feel like they give us another insight into the guest. Who you choose to invite, and why is really interesting and how you approach the whole question. Clare as you will know probably already but also because she was on Desert Island Dishes last week – is a 3 starred Michelin chef so as you can imagine her menu did not disappoint. I only have to hope it wouldn’t be me picking up the bill at the end. Thank you so much or listening.Thank you very much to our sponsor for this season: Maldon Salt. Maldon Salt are pa

My guest today is Ruby Wax Ruby really needs no introduction from me, she’s a household name. She’s a woman of so many talents - she’s a comedian, Actress, author, writer and mental health activist. Her life in show business began when she went to the RSC - she says of herself she doesn’t think she was a good actress but Alan Rickman saw in her a talent for comedy and that was what started her on her road to success. She went on to become a TV star interviewing some of the world’s most famous people from Donald Trump to Goldie Hawn, The Spice Girls and OG Simpson. Her second career has been as a mental health campaigner. She trained as a psychotherapist and got a Masters from Oxford in mindfulness based cognitive therapy. Her dissertation formed the basis for her first sell out stage show, she launched the Frazzled Cafe in 2017 and was also awarded an OBE in 2015. For tickets to Ruby's show find out more on her website here and follow her on instagram here. Thank you so much to the brilliant Maldon Salt f

Welcome to another episode of our side dish: The Dream Dinner Party. This is the mini episode where we invite a guest to tell us their dream dinner party. They are allowed to invite 4 guests – dead or alive because really I think personally 5 people is the optimum number for a great dinner party. And they are going to be talking us through their dream menu. We have a returning guest for you this week in the form of the brilliant Sunday times best selling author Dawn O'Porter. I was lucky enough to catch Dawn in the lead up to her brand new book being published. Honey Bee has been described as Funny, relatable and incredibly entertaining - much like Dawn herself! It's a gorgeous celebration of female friendship. Another brilliant novel from Dawn - she is a woman of many talents, and so much fun to talk to. Buy Honey Bee from all good bookshops or find it here.   I hope you enjoy today's episode if you do – it’s worth going back and listening to dawn’s main episode of desert island dishes as it’s a goodie. A f

My guest today is Clare Smyth (MBE). Clare is one of the world's most respected chefs. She is the first and only British female chef to be awarded three Michelin stars which she achieved for her restaurant Core by Clare Smyth in Notting Hill. Growing up on a farm in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, her passion for food began at a young age and even inspired some of her most famous dishes from her restaurant.  By the time she was 17 she had graduated from culinary school and moved to London to work with and learn from the world best chefs. She went on to train in some of the most celebrated kitchens in the world including with Alain Ducasse and Gordon Ramsay. She would go on to break new ground by becoming Chef Patron of three Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay before going on to open her own restaurant in 2017. It took less than 3 years for her to be awarded her own 3 Michelin stars. Clare has received numerous awards including the title of the World's Best Female Chef 2018 And in 2013 Clare was awar

My guest today is the founder of Hoppers - Karan Gokani. Combining his passion for cooking with his love of the country of Sri Lanka he has built a restaurant empire celebrating the food of Sri Lanka and Southern India. I went to Sri Lanka last year for the first time and completely fell in love with the food. I’ve been to Hoppers many times so I kind of knew what to expect but honestly it’s just the most amazing country and the most delicious food so it was brilliant to hear from Karan about his love for it it too. I know I told you that this was going to just be a little short season for the month of February but already we have come to the last episode of this mini season – it’s gone very quickly but fear not as we are already recording the next – so hopefully wont be too long to wait.  Another reminder to any one listening – if you haven’t yet subscribed to my newsletter Dinner Tonight, please do think about it. It’s one easy weeknight recipe, often one pan, mostly 30 minutes or less and I look forwards

This week we have Ravneet Gill on The Dream Dinner Party– she is an extraordinary pastry chef who just makes the most amazing cakes and puddings. She’s also a TV presenter and cook book author – her third – Baking for Pleasure is out now and it’s all about baking for the pure joy of it. She has been a guest on Desert Island Dishes – a few years ago but well worth a listen. I knew Rav loves to entertain so was great to hear more about that and how she envisages her Dream Dinner Party. Thank you to our sponsor for this month – the brilliant family run butcher HG Walter. www.hgwalter.com I do hope you enjoyed todays episode and make sure you’re subscribed to catch all episodes of The Dream Dinner Party and Desert Island Dishes. Thank you so much for listening bye! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Bee Wilson. In all honesty, Bee is one of the most interesting and thought provoking food writers and historians we’ve ever known. She is the author of 8 books about food and eating. Her books have won multiple awards, and she’s won 5 Guild of food writers awards for her journalism. After over 20 years of food writing, this year she released her first cookbook, The Secret of Cooking, something she says she’s dreamt of doing since the age of 8. She has been described by Yotam Ottolenghi as "the ultimate food scholar" and writes brilliantly about all aspects of our current food culture.She counts Nigella and Diana Henry as friends (and fans) and I so enjoyed getting to chat to her and hear her Desert Island Dishes. I hope you enjoy this one and thank you so much for listening. A huge thank you to our sponsor HG Walter for bringing the podcast to you this month - visit them at www.hgwalter.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have Zena Kamgaing on The Dream Dinner Party. I love bringing you Desert Island dishes but I also selfishly do love the dream dinner party – it’s a just a little bit of fun, I love how everyone of the guests have really embraced the theme and taken it seriously – in a very unserious way. Zena was no exception – I love the sound of her dream dinner party – there is a part in this where she gets me to play one of the games she likes to play but we cut out the actual game part as I would have given away the answers and potentially ruined your fun. Hope you enjoy listening to the dream dinner party as much as I enjoy bringing it to you and I always want to hear from you the listener about who you would be inviting and what you would be serving! Thank you to our sponsor for this month – the brilliant family run butcher HG Walter. www.hgwalter.com So there we have it Gennaro’s dream dinner party is over, the food has been eaten and the guests have gone home. I do hope you enjoyed todays episode and

My guest this week is the world famous photographer David Loftus. David is one of the most influential photographers of all time often fondly referred to as Lord Loftus. Award-winning and internationally acclaimed, David has done the photography for the books of Jamie Oliver, Rachel Khoo, Gennaro Contaldo, Elizabeth David and April Bloomfield. For over 20 years, David has photographed over 150 books including all but one of Jamie Oliver’s international best-sellers. His work with Jamie Oliver alone has resulted in book sales of over 30 million copies. You will have looked a David’s photographs even if you were unaware of it at the time.  Thank you so much to HG Walter for sponsoring this month of Desert Island Dishes. Head to www.hgwalter.com for nationwide delivery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi I’m Margie Nomura and welcome to another episode of our side side dish: The Dream Dinner Party. This is the mini episode where we invite a guest to tell us all about their dream dinner party. And this week we have the one and only Rick Stein – I know so many of you loved his episode of Desert Island Dishes so I’m thrilled he also joined us to share his Dream Dinner Party. I think Rick would be a popular choice on lots of people Dream Dinner Party guest list so it was so interesting to hear who he would pick. Love that Ricks dinner parties all include a lot of dancing and also some very good tips about the actual art of hosting in this one – ensuring you don’t run out of time and that you don’t want to be still cooking when people are there, which I very much agree with.  Thank you to our sponsor for this month – the brilliant family run butcher HG Walter. www.hgwalter.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are back! For a short mini series but back nonetheless! I missed you! And I'm very excited that today my guest today is Claudia Roden. Described as the food writer who never goes out of fashion. She began collecting recipes in 1956, while a student in London. The Suez crisis of that year turned many people from Egypt into refugees: preserving the food culture of the Jewish community was as much practical as it was emotional.  These recipes led to her debut masterpiece A Book of Middle Eastern Food which really cemented Claudia’s future as one of the greatest food writers we’ve ever known. Her book revolutionised Western attitudes to the cuisines of the Middle East. Her books have been loved by not only home cooks but also have laid the foundation for many of the most ambitious professional kitchens, and heavily influenced some of the most well known chefs working today, from the River Café, to Ottolenghi, Alistair Little and Moro to name just a few. Claudia’s talent for mixing up the scholarly with the

My guest today is Rick Stein. A highly requested guest, I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did recording it. Rick is, of course, a chef, restaurateur, cook book author and television presenter. He has written over 25 cookery books, a memoir and made over 30 television programmes. His latest cookbook, Simple Suppers is out now. It has been nearly 50 years since he first opened The Fish Restaurant in Padstow, an area of Cornwall he fell in love with at a young age and has made his home.  Despite his successes, Rick describes himself as an accidental restaurateur – who never planned on a career in food. And yet how lucky we are that his dreams of running a nightclub were quashed by the local authorities and led instead to the Stein restaurant empire we know today.  He is the man who could pretty much entirely be credited with bringing an appreciation of fish to the UK masses, something he says he didn’t set out to do intentionally, it just made sense at the time. Despite his obvious success, Rick has said,

This week we have Donna Hay on the mini episode The Dream Dinner Party. Donna is the much loved and respected queen of cooking in Australia – she’s got a new cookbook out Even More Basics to Brilliance – which is the follow up to her first of this series. I was honoured to host Donna's supperclub at Fortnum and Mason a few weeks ago where we talked about the new book and then were served the most delicious food all from the book. Donna is extremely fun and she did not disappoint with her Dream Dinner Party which i think I describe as amazing many times in this but I just couldn’t get over how – well amazing (!) sounded.  I do hope you enjoyed today’s episode and make sure you’re subscribed to catch all episodes of The Dream Dinner Party and Desert Island Dishes. Thank you so much for listening bye! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Zena Kamgaing. Zena describes herself as a passionate home-chef, recipe creator and food enthusiast. Before going full time as a freelance recipe creator, She worked for a charity and ran their anti human trafficking initiative, worked for a food media company as head of ops before working at Mob kitchen – the food media platform. Zena burst onto the food creator scene when she appeared on Jamie Oliver’s Cook Book Challenge and since then her career has gone from strength to strength. She has since appeared on Lorraine, has garnered a huge online following and this seems to be just the start. Thank you very much to our sponsor for today's episode, Nestlé Carnation. Head to their website for a whole load of recipe inspiration: https://www.carnation.co.uk Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter Dinner Tonight - you can sign up via the website www.DesertIslandDishes.co and find me on instagram @desertislanddishes.co And thank you to my brilliant producer Georgie for all your help as alwa

This week we have Clodagh McKenna on our mini episode: The Dream Dinner Party. Clodagh is so much fun. She makes the most delicious food but she also makes the setting and everything look so beautiful. You’ll have seen her cooking on ITVs this morning, as well as her brilliant instagram videos she did during lockdown that brought a lot of cheer to people. I think she is one of the only dream dinner party hosts where I have actually been to a dinner party she hosted and it was so much fun. A lot of dancing, mainly to Tina Turner and so I knew her dream dinner party would be very special. Clodagh has just announced that her Irish Tea Brack has launched - you can order it from her website www.clodaghmckenna.com and it will be delivered 24 hours after it comes out of the oven! Delicious!! Don't forget to leave a review if you havent already. And sign up for the newsletter at www.desertislanddishes.co - there are now over 12,000 of you on the newsletter which is so so exciting to me. THANK YOU! And a huge than

My guest today is Ed Gamble Ed is a comedian, an actor, host of the Off Menu podcast amongst others, and judge on the Great British Menu. He can now also add author to his bio of credentials as his debut book Glutton has just been published. His career in comedy began at Durham university performing with the Durham revue before heading to the Edinburgh fringe for the first time in 2011  His stand-up comedy is largely observational comedy, often aimed at himself, including discussion of his diabetes, which he was diagnosed with as a teenager. He says his humour was honed by a fixation with all things sitcoms and stand up.  Ed has been a regular panellist on the BBC panel show Mock the Week , has acted for shows on the BBC and hosted several radio shows. The Off Menu podcast which he hosts with James Acaster has been a phenomenal success which has seen him become somewhat of a household name.  When asked what made him get into comedy, Ed replied, The perfect mix of a terrifying ego and an astonishing lack

My guest today is Rachel Belle Rachel is an award winning journalist with over 20 years of experience. She lives in Seattle and is the creator & host of Your Last Meal, a James Beard Award finalist for Best Podcast,  Her food writing has been published in places like Lucky Peach, Eater and The Stranger, she has appeared on The Cooking Channel (as a taco expert!) Rachel says she loves traveling the world, hiking through wildflowers, campfire cooking, and trying as many dumplings and pizzas as possible. On her website Rachel says her relatives invented both the bagel dog and the tube top which are both equally intriguing! To find more of Rachel be sure to check out her podcast Your Last Meal wherever you get your podcasts. And find us at www.desertislanddishes.co and on Instagram @desertislanddishes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Russell Norman  Known as The Restaurant Man. He is a writer, broadcaster and award winning founder of celebrated restaurants with first THE POLPO restaurant group and now BRUTTO.  Hailed as “London’s coolest restaurateur” and having been described as the man who saved restaurants after the financial crash, Russell is a restaurateur with over 20 years experience in London restaurants – he worked his way up from bartender, to waiter, maître d, general manager and operations director at Caprice Holdings before opening his first restaurant Polpo.  Never one to follow trends, in fact he sets them…it was Russell that started our love affair with small plates, sharing platters and a move away from the fussiness of fine dining. It was also Russell that started the strict no reservation policy that spread like wild fire.  Russell has said, "A lot of people fantasise about opening their own restaurant, thinking it is going to be a bit like a dinner party but with a till, but it’s a fallacy” The re

Today’s guest on The Dream Dinner Party is Donal Skehan who is so much fun and who has been on Desert Island Dishes before – a few years ago but defiitrly worth having a listen to his main episode as it’s a goodie. I think he was in the very early days when I just turned up with basically a little Dictaphone recorder and hoped for the best. Donal has a new book out called Home Kitchen and honestly Donal’s books are really great – I don’t know how he does it, I tried to get him to give me all his secrets but instead I did persuade him to tell us all about his dream dinner party and this is a very fun one. I’m also going to be posting Donal’s Little Black Book on instagram which is a new little feature we are trying out and I thought might be fun so keep an eye out for that and show it some love if you like it. You are listening to our side dish: The Dream Dinner Party. This is the mini episode where we invite a guest to tell us all about their dream dinner party. This is a game I know a lot of people have pla