Desert Island Dishes

Surprise! I'm back with a special bonus episode with the one and only Gennaro Contaldo.   The legendary Gennaro almost doesn’t need an introduction. He’s one of the UK’s most loved chefs, he’s widely known as the man who taught Jamie Oliver all he knows about Italian cooking. He spent time entertaining us with the late, great Antonio Carluccio on ‘Two Greedy Italians’, and Channel 4’s Jamie’s Ital...

For the season finale my guest is James Martin.   James has been a mainstay on our tv screens since the mid 1990’s. It’s safe to say that Saturday mornings wouldn’t be the same without him with his hugely popular shows on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and now Saturday Mornings with James Martin on ITV.   He appeared on the Big Breakfast but it was arguably his role on Ready Steady Cook – a show that...

My guest today this week is Julius Roberts.   Julius is a first generation millennial farmer and rising star of the food scene.   In 2016 he gave up working at the acclaimed restaurant Noble Rot in London - and Swapped the rat race for an idyllic life of pigs, goats and chickens instead. His first foray into farming was a small-holding in rural Suffolk and then last year he moved with his family t...

My guests today are Emily and Amy Chung – aka The Rangoon Sisters   These two sisters are junior doctors by day, cooks by night as they host sell-out supper clubs as part of their mission to put Burmese food on the culinary map. The sisters started their supperclub in 2013 after visiting Burma for the first time in 2012 and have since gone on to raise £10,000 for charities since then   Their numbe...

My guest today is Tom Aikens.   Tom has been hailed as one of the best chefs of his generation, being the youngest British chef to hold two Michelin stars which he achieved by the tender age of just 26. His remarkable career has taken him to David Cavalier’s in Battersea, Pierre Koffman’s La Tante Claire, Pied-à-Terre and Joel Robuchon in Paris to name a few. Raised in Norfolk with a respect for f...

My guest today is Ben Lebus.   Ben is the founder of the online cooking and content platform – Mob Kitchen whose mission it is to help students and young professionals prepare restaurant-quality meals on a budget. Through everything from recipe videos to cook-alongs and competitions, MOB encourages a laid back and 'get stuck in' attitude in the kitchen.   After noticing that none of his student fr...

Wow! Can't believe we have reached the 100th episode! A very exciting milestone - thank you for all your support and for listening each week. My guest today is Jo Malone CBE. I’m sure most of you listening will be familiar with her name. Your mind is probably instantly transported to a world of delicious scents and candles – two things synonymous with Jo. Jo Malone CBE is responsible for creating...

My guest today is Rachel Ama. Rachel is the rising star of the London vegan scene, her passion for vibrant, colourful food has seen her amass an army of followers online after she went vegan 7 years ago. She started her Youtube channel to show how just easy and delicious it was to cook vegan food and Since then she has gone from strength to strength . She won the  Observer   Food   Monthly  Rising...

We are back! My guest today is Michel Roux. Michel is a legendary figure in the world of food – he’s a chef and restaurateur - he’s the Michelin starred owner of London’s iconic Le Gavroche, founded by his father and uncle in the 1960’s. Celebrating over 50 years in business the Roux’s have built a gastronomic dynasty. His grandparents and their parents before them were charcutiers so food has alw...

My guest today is Rukmini Iyer Rukmini is a former lawyer turned bestselling author of the Roasting Tin series which have now sold over half a million copies. Amongst her army of followers – who call themselves the TinLads. She counts Nigella Lawson as a fan as well as other famous names from Jay Rayner to Judy Murray. The concept of the Roasting Tin books is deceptively simple, Mini’s recipes lur...

My guest today is Romy Gill MBE Romy is an award winning self-taught British-Indian chef and food writer and broadcaster. She has written for publications including the guardian, the telegraph and the evening standard. She’s a regular on TV with her appearances as guest judge on Celebrity Masterchef. She is a judge on the BBC’s food and farming awards and in 2016 she was awarded an MBE in the Quee...

My guest today is Angela Scanlon.  Angela is a TV presenter,  Radio host and most recently a podcaster. Originally from Ireland, she moved to London  in 2014 and her career has gone from strength to strength.  She first made her name as a stylist and fashion journalist before becoming a fixture on Irish television, appearing on the likes of Xposé and Off the Rails, as well as Channel 4’s Sunday Br...

My guest today is Ryan Riley Ryan is a food writer, stylist and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Life Kitchen which offers free cookery classes across the UK to people living with cancer.  Life Kitchen devises recipes for those on chemotherapy and teaches them to cook, despite loss of taste.  Last year he opened his own phycial cookery school in Sunderland. Ryan has a contacts book that most cul...

My guest today is Vicky Bennison. Vicky is the mastermind behind the viral sensation Pasta Grannies. Pasta Grannies is the most gorgeous concept of Italian nonnas sharing their pasta recipes and it started life as a Youtube channel 5 years ago and now has over 400,000 hugely engaged subscribers, 431,000 Instagram followers and a myriad of celebrity fans. Vicky has travelled all over Italy filming...

We are back! I'm so happy to be back recording and what a guest to kick off the new season with! My guest today is Dawn O’Porter.   Dawn is an author, broadcaster, writer, podcaster and journalist. Having trained at drama school, Dawn become a TV presenter, rising to fame with her critically acclaimed BBC documentary Super Slim Me. Many more TV shows followed and in 2013 began a new passion for Da...

My guest today is Alison Roman Alison is a cook, writer and author. Her first book - Dining In – a best selling cookbook of recipes she calls “highly cookable”. Now there’s a much anticipated second cookbook: called Nothing Fancy. Alison is a contributor to Bon Appetit magazine and has a regular column in the New York Times. Described as the New York Nigella, with well over 200,000 followers on in...

we are back! And my guest today is Nadiya Hussain. Nadiya won the Great British Bake Off in 2015 and won not only the competition but our hearts in the process, securing her the position of National Treasure. She has gone on to write a whole host of cookbooks both for adults and children, she’s turned her hand to writing novels and has presented multiple series for the BBC. She says: I don’t know...

My guest today is Jacqueline Gold Jacqueline is one of the UK’s most successful business women as CEO of Anne Summers. Starting at the company at the age of just 19 on an internship she spotted a gap in the market and worked to reinvent the brand and turn Ann Summers into the business it is today. Ann Summers now has 125 stores and over 4000 parties held each week along with a multi million pound...

My guest today is Marcus Wareing Marcus is one of the most respected and acclaimed chefs working in Britain today. His contribution to British food and his passion for nurturing the next generation of cookery talent has earned him both respect and accolades. His career began at the age of 18 and he now has a restaurant empire to his name, 2 Michelin stars, seven cookbooks and a successful televisi...

My guest today is Alice Liveing Alice started her career on the stage as a dancer, singer and actress touring the country in the musical Annie. She is now a 3 x best selling author, she’s a personal trainer, and Women’s Health columnist, a magazine for which she has graced the cover twice and is also behind their number one app. Alice is on a mission is to change the way women feel about exercise...

My guest today is Dr Rupy Aujila You may know him as the Doctors Kitchen, he is a medical doctor working as a GP in the NHS. In 2011 he helped himself overcome a pretty serious medial condition by overhauling his lifestyle and the food he ate. This was a lightbulb moment as he realised that a lot of patients would benefit from a holistic approach to both the body and the mind. The Doctors Kitchen...

My guest today is Rozanna Purcell Roz is a best selling cookery author, presenter and entrepreneur. She grew up on a farm in Tipperary and has travelled the world as a model and as a beauty queen winning Miss Universe Ireland in 2010. Having developed an unhealthy relationship with food during her modelling years - her blog Natural Born Feeder and her subsequent cookbooks were born out of a change...

My guest today is Adam Byatt. Adam is a chef, restaurateur, food writer, TV presenter, judge and mentor. He has been described as one of London’s most exciting chef-restaurateurs. He owned his first restaurant at the tender age of 26 and now has 3 award winning restaurants in London’s Clapham including a coveted Michelin star. When asked about his motto for life he said it’s got to be “ the harder...

My guest today is Monica Galetti. Monica is a chef, a restaurant owner, Masterchef The Professionals Judge, and TV presenter for which she travels the world along with food critic Giles Coren for the program Amazing Hotels. She has recently opened her first restaurant Mere with her husband David. Before that she was senior sous chef at two Michelin starred restaurant Le Gavroche with Michel Roux J...

My guest today is Stanley Tucci. Stanley is a multi award winning actor, director, writer and producer. You may know him from films such as Big Night, Julie and Julia, Lucky Number Slevin, Conspiracy, Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones or The Hunger Games to really just name a few. His other great love in life is food and it has even been said of Stanley that he is a food connoisseur who also hap...