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What’s your desert island dish?

January 1, 2013

Desert Island dish on www.mycustardpieDesert Island Discs.  If that phrase does not immediately conjure up whimsical music backed by the sound of breaking waves and seagulls, let me explain…  The eponymous series on BBC Radio 4 has been running for 70 years in 2012.  Guests are interviewed and asked to choose the eight ‘discs’ that they would take with them if stranded on a desert island.

The selection of music and sounds that mean most to the guests is revealing and seems to act as a launch pad for many probing questions and exposés of character.  A recent episode with the sprinter Michael Johnson showed a strength of character and focus of almost super-human proportions; I was close to tears listening to Emma Thompson recount the emotional struggle of getting through her divorce, describing her Father in such tender words and playing a piece that had been composed specially for their house in Scotland.  The programme does not just focus on traditional ‘celebrities’ either.  From scientists, to charity activists, playwrights, entrepreneurs to politicians – there is rarely a disappointing interview.

The atrocious circumstances of the flight from Nazi Germany gave a clue to the dark nature of Jan Pienowski‘s illustrations, while Dawn French went from tears (reminiscing about her Mother’s death) to laughter (her choice of Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman’s Kinky Boots).  Names associated with food and drink range from Nico Landenis, to Clement Freud, Fay Maschler and Anna del Conte. The latter spoke of serving up horse meat to unsuspecting house guests during the war.  In line with her belief that her countrymen eschew novelty, ‘Italians want the same food made only better and better’, her desert island dish would be pasta with a good tomato sauce. Clarissa Dickson-Wright had no doubt that she would eat well on her island as she would hunt wild pig for making into wontons and forage for wild raspberries.

Over the last year and a bit I have asked some interesting people in the food world, including food bloggers, writers, authors and chefs, the following: “If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one three course meal (plus a bottle of something if desired), what would it be? ”  It would be a sort of last meal on earth before a diet of coconuts and fish for ever more (or until you were rescued).

Desert Island Dishes on www.mycustardpie.com

In no particular order, here are the replies:

Caroline Mili Artiss – successful video food blogger and TV chef (she also says she’s a custard fanatic too).

For my starters it would have to be scallops.. any which way really.  I just LOVE scallops, I could eat ten in one go.  Pan seared and wrapped in prosciutto.

Main course – A Chinese meal that I couldn’t bear to live without.  It consists of three different types of meat (this is possibly the reason I chose it) and it is something that you can order from any good Chinese restaurant,  the ones with the rows of duck and other meats hanging in the windows.  This dish is almost like a staple Chinese meal and one that I have grown up on.  It’s simplicity is what I love most about it as it let’s the flavors speak for themselves.  It’s a plate with a big heap of plain steamed rice, topped with a few slices of roast duck, Char sui pork which is slowly cooked with a sweet marinade normally using five spice and honey, and siu youk pork.  Siu Youk uses the belly of pork and it’s roasted until it is very crispy on the top with plenty of salt.  There is also some plain steamed green vegetables like kai lan, a crunchy chinese broccoli and all this is topped with a drizzle of sweet soy sauce.

Dessert has to be a lemon meringue pie.  To die for.  Must be my ultimate favorite sweet treat.  The tangy lemons with sweet meringues and crumbly pastry crust, who could resist?

I think from my selection you can tell I’m East meets West not only in the kitchen but in my DNA too.

Vanessa Kimbell – who runs a cookery school in Northampton, author of the cook book Prepped who describes herself as a food loving, sour dough adoring, baking mad foodie.

Starters Chinese Duck Canapes, Pork balls with caraway and Cardamon and basil ice-cream for pudding

Desert Island Dishes on www.mycustardpie.com

Chinese Duck Canapes, Pork balls with caraway and Cardamon and basil ice-cream – image by Vanessa Kimbell

Jeanne Horak-Druiff – award-winning  food, wine & travel blogger of Cook Sister

A starter of either seared foie gras and apple chutney; or MOUNDS of Jamon Iberico de Bellota; a main of a giant Caesar salad topped with the best quality salmon fillet available, very lightly seared; and for dessert, cherries Jubilee.  To wash it all down?  A bottle of pink Champagne like Graham Beck Brut Rose

Antonio Carluccio – Italian cookery writer and chef

Deeba Rajpal  – Passionate About Baking food blogger is an understatement; she also write an online baking blog for the Times of India, one of India’s largest newspapers

My choice of desert island dishes would be:

Indian Chicken Mince Kebabs & Ricotta & Cream Cheese Chili Poppers

Chicken & Roasted Bell Pepper Juliennes {pot pies}, Sauteed French Beans, Potato-Mushroom Crouquttes  … served with a cold pasta salad

Stone Fruit Crumbles with unsweetened low fat cream …. plus a bottle of Chardonnay { or maybe chilled beer}

Stone fruit crumbles from Passionate about Baking

Stone fruit crumbles from Passionate about Baking

Helen Graves – of Food Stories who blogs mainly about food and drink in Peckham, London (and a lot of pork recipes), sent me an email full of laughter, literally….

I think for my starter I would have an absolutely MASSIVE plate of Jamon Iberico, the best money can buy and a glass of Manzanilla. No a bottle actually. Then I think I might have pulled pork with Boston baked beans as that’s my favourite meal in recent memory. I am tempted to say a MASSIVE bowl of pasta though because I do love it. I would have anchovy, chilli, brocolli and garlic pasta with plenty of white wine and parsley. Breadcrumbs for the top please, fried in the oil from the anchovy jar.

For dessert…it would have to be ice cream as I’m a serious addict. Salted caramel perhaps. Can I have some cheese too? I want some cheese. A trolley of cheese actually and some bread and crackers to go with it. And some grapes.

Then I would like a double fernet branca.

I think that’s it. I better stop before I change my mind!

P.S. Actually no forget the pasta. I want the pulled pork and baked beans! Ha ha ha ha.

Porridge Lady - Desert Island Dishes on www.mycustardpie.com

Porridge lady eating a pear

Anna Louise Batchelor aka Porridge Lady – Food Writer, blogger for the Soil Association, sustainable food advisor, radio reporter & presenter, cook and freestyle Porridge Maker who has been an award winner at the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Awards.

Whilst away I have been thinking on this and below is my ‘Desert Island Dish’. It is a very autumnal menu but I guess my fave dishes are real hearty comfort foods. After the harvest the foods in the South East of England are bountiful and delicious and it’s a great time to be hungry!

Starters; I don’t tend to eat a lot of starters but I would choose a little wholemeal sour dough bread lightly toasted with walnuts from my neighbour’s garden. Served with slices of with apples and pears from my local orchard  – Cross Lanes Fruit Farm.

Main course – Toad in the hole with peas and home-made ketchup. I make my own sausages from meats reared on a local biodynamic farm and recently the lamb has been superb making very tasty sausages.

Pudding – Oatmeal spotted dick with home-made custard. This is the dish that I won the speciality section of the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championships with and so it’s a dish close to my heart.

To drink – I drink very little alcohol but when I do I love perry which I buy from Olivers Cider and Perry company one of the few real Perry makers left in the country.

Porridge Lady - Desert Island Dishes on www.mycustardpie.com

Oatmeal Spotted Dick – image by Porridge Lady

Claire Sutton – Who makes me homesick and hungry at the same time on Things We Make where she and her husband Ed blog and photograph (beautifully) the…things they make. Lots of common ground between her choices and mine.

Griddled Chicken Skewers with peanut satay sauce

Local Roast Rib of beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, horseradish sauce, proper gravy and fresh perfectly cooked vegetables

Raspberry Pavlova with extra thick cream

A bottle of Fleurie (I don’t know much about wine, but I know I have had this and it was nice!)

Claire's Desert Island Dinner - image copyright Things We Make

Claire’s Desert Island Dinner – image copyright Things We Make

Joan Nova –  of Foodalogue who is a food blogger, recipe developer, cooking challenge enthusiast, wine imbiber, casual communicator, social media dabbler, photography enthusiast, tireless traveller.

Soooo hard to choose. I wanted to honor comfort foods from my Spanish-Italian heritage plus what I’ve learned from my travels and my penchant for things Latin American and Asian…not to mention recent discoveries as a blogger which have taught me to appreciate farm-to-table, clean, unprocessed, uncomplicated food preparations.

It was very hard to leave a seafood salad (Italian or ceviche) or some other fish dish behind. Wish it was 4 courses!!

The only thing I was totally sure about was the wine!!

First Course: Caponata Pasta (anchovy-based with eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, herbs, nuts, raisins, garlic, nuts and chili flakes) tossed with pasta and fresh boccocini.

Entrée: Grilled chorizo, broccoli rabe (rapini) and toasted ciabatta bread with a savory white bean spread.

Dessert: I don’t have a particularly sweet tooth, so I’d opt for twice-baked Italian biscotti with nuts and fruit. I find them irresistible. Maybe I’d take a scoop of deep chocolate gelato or Italian lemon ice or a Vin Santo to dunk that cookie!

Wine: Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina. No question.

asparagus and goats' cheese

asparagus and goats’ cheese pasta from Ren Behan of Fabulicious Food

Ren Behan – freelance writer and blogger behind Fabulicious Food who likes to cook using fresh, seasonal ingredients, enjoys baking and is often influenced by the hearty, Eastern European food of her childhood.

For a starter I would go for Baked Aubergine/Eggplant ‘Iman Bayaldi’ topped with yoghurt, fresh herbs and diced, grilled halloumi cheese. A Turkish recipe I believe, where the eggplant is baked and with onion, garlic and tomatoes. I haven’t made it yet but once ate it at my favourite restaurant so I can’t wait to give it a go.

For a main course I would have to go with home made pasta, kept really simple. I love seasonal food and local produce so my recipe with asparagus and goats’ cheese would do nicely!

For dessert it would have to be a hot chocolate fondant pudding with a gooey centre and a scoop of Cornish clotted cream.

Wine – my favourite is the Viognier grape.

Diana Henry – award-winning food writer, author, cook and presenter

…and if you listened to the end of the recording, the answer was ‘bread and cheese’.

Clovis Taittinger – fourth-generation scion of the Taittinger dynasty and export director for the Champagne house.

Clovis_TaittingerFor this meal I would come back to my roots. First a Camembert to remember good times when I was young; then a simple plate of pasta to give me more energy to face destiny, one with butter and ham; then traditional apple pie with vanilla ice cream. I’d have a last cigarette, if my pack was not wet, with an espresso …with Champagne.

Samantha Wood aka Foodiva – who writes impartial, intelligent restaurant reviews and foodie features about the U.A.E. and other countries.

OK here are mine. Must admit I struggled with the starter, there are so many for me. Yours is a great one too, I can eat pretty much anything with a runny egg, and I do love asparagus.

Starter; Pan-fried foie gras served with toasted brioche

Main course; Fillet steak cooked rare topped with Cafe De Paris butter, mustard mash potato and green beans with garlic

Dessert; Tarte Tatin served straight out of the pan (has to be the original dish with apple) with vanilla or clotted cream ice-cream – followed by a cheese platter with most definitely Stilton included!

Tipple; Dom Perignon rosé for all courses

Giorgio Locatelli – Award-winning Italian chef with restaurants in London and Dubai

Sheila Dillon from the BBC Food Programme mentioned taking watercress sandwiches which made me wish for a stream on the island where I could harvest some wild watercress.

And what would I choose?

I’d start with local asparagus, in season, from the Vale of Evesham with a poached egg on top (maybe Hollandaise too) and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Roast organic free-range pork would be my main course, with crispy roast potatoes, roast parsnips, Savoy cabbage, runner beans, apple sauce, gravy and lots of crackling. I’d be on my own on the desert island so no-one could complain about the crunching. Pudding would be blackberry and apple pie (the blackberries picked from the hedgerows) with home-made custard. Not the best food match, but I’d sip and savour a bottle of 1996 Chateau Palmer bringing back memories of friends who I drank this with.

Desert Island Dish on www.mycustardpie.com

Thank you to everyone who has participated. There are so many people left to include so I love to hear your choices in the comments section. This could be part one….who would you like to ask about their desert island dish?

As to why it’s taken me so long to write up, this post is something I’m printing out as my New Year’s resolution! Strike a chord? Happy New Year everyone – and a massive thanks to everyone who stopped by in 2012.

45 Comments
  1. January 1, 2013 9:17 pm

    Giggle…that’s really funny as I was reading this with interest when I saw my own name in the list. I almost don’t remember writing my desert island dishes for you (it must have been earlier last year), but I must agree with myself that it sounds like a fine (yet simple) meal! Fab post!

    • January 2, 2013 10:12 am

      Yes you’ll know how long since I asked you •blushes*. So glad you liked it – and I’d be very happy with your desert island dish if I couldn’t have mine.

  2. January 1, 2013 9:31 pm

    A very difficult question! I would not know what to choose as I love so many things… I’d probably choose something English, Swiss and Middle Eastern/Asian/Mexican.

    Best wishes for 2013.

    • January 2, 2013 10:17 am

      How eclectic Rosa – Happy New Year to you too.

  3. January 1, 2013 10:59 pm

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. I had fun choosing my discs in a recent exercise – this is a great variation on the theme…

    • January 2, 2013 6:34 pm

      I’ve chosen my discs too – a great exercise

  4. January 1, 2013 11:18 pm

    Great post – I’m a huge desert island discs fan too. Love these choices. I suspect mine would have to be pear, walnut and beetroot salad to start followed by chicken roasted with lemon and garlic with a glass of sweet wine to finish. Happy 2013 to you. Hope that the coming you brings you all you wish for and more.

    • January 2, 2013 10:18 am

      Fantastic choices. Glad to meet another fan. We’ve hosted two desert island dinners recently – very revealing about your friends!

  5. January 1, 2013 11:43 pm

    What a brilliant post! Although I do listen to Radio 4, I often can’t ‘stick’ Desert Island Discs, for whatever reason. But your culinary take I read with a smile, some nods of approval and not a little pang of hunger. Sally, I love your intrepid approach to food blogging and communicating with your readers. Always fascinating and inspiring. I wish you a sparkling and delicious 2013.

    • January 2, 2013 10:24 am

      No! Kellie, I must convert you… So flattered by the description of intrepid. Great start to 2013. Wishing you a fantastic year with your beautiful blog.

  6. January 2, 2013 12:22 am

    Fabulous post… it’s made me thinking. Have never thought that I’ll have the luxury of choosing a 3 course-meal if stranded on a desert island! I’ll order a fresh salad with some avacado dressing and lots of lime; for Main Course – I’ll go for a fragrant long-grained Basmati Rice – the kind which looks rinsed pure white and looks fluffy yet non-sticky. A home-cooked Chicken Curry with very mild Indian spices (specially Bay leaves & Cardamom) with small round potatoes dunking in the thick gravy and popping up with a roasted smell of slight Ghee; for Desserts – white Bengali soft Rasgullas with probably some Vanilla Icecream sprinkled with Rosewater & cardamom.

    And I’ll be drinking some chilled German Eiswein… no connection with the food but just want to pamper my sweet tooth!

    • January 2, 2013 10:39 am

      Thanks so much for sharing your choices dear Ishita. And thanks for being the most frequent commenter on my blog in 2012…it always makes my day. Have a fabulous 2013

      • January 2, 2013 10:40 am

        Hmmm… thanks for being the same on my blog (acc to WP)!!! Look forward to meeting you soon in the New Year:)

  7. January 2, 2013 12:24 am

    Wouldn’t one normally do this for their birthday or even any holiday? 🙂

    • January 2, 2013 10:45 am

      Maybe….but the meal of things you might never get to eat again? I think it’s like the music choice….it’s not always your favourite music that gets picked but the most poignant. Thanks for commenting.

  8. January 2, 2013 6:34 am

    I’ve been waiting for this post. Not surprised to see some pasta and tomato dishes in there. I’d have to have some in mine too – but I’d go for some spaghettini aglio e olio with some spicy fresh red chilli and super bitey Pecorino.

    Then… I’m with you, roast pork, but I’d like it done Italian style with fennel seeds and lots of salt and pepper, and served with gravy and criss crossed crunchy crackling of course, an apple and aragula salad with nuts and dried moscato grapes. And roast parsnip mmm.

    Dessert would have to be pav. I adore meringue, but let’s skip Italy here and go Aussie style, with heaps of whipped Gippsland cream, some Queensland mangoes and passionfruit pulp (don’t hate me here, but it has to be from a tin or a gourmet jar, because I love it in the sweet syrup).

    And to drink… Montrachet, not too old, but with a couple of years at least. 2 bottles.

    Ahh, bugger that. I think I might cook this tonight. Might have to downgrade to a Puligny Montrachet with the post-christmas budget though…

    • January 2, 2013 10:41 am

      Thank you for reviving my Champagne addled brain cells – you will notice that I’ve edited this post! Your Australian pavs are fantastic…I’ve never had passion fruit pulp from a jar but now want to try it. If you say it’s good, it must be.

  9. January 2, 2013 5:30 pm

    What a wonderful post! Such fun!!

    I have to add that since I wrote that I’m now favoring different wines: white-Verdejo from Rueda and red-Nero d’avola from Sicily.

    Here’s to a great 2013!

    • January 2, 2013 6:35 pm

      Oh I’m with you on those wine choices. Have been drinking the latter a lot recently

  10. January 2, 2013 5:30 pm

    Lovely post Sally… with a lot of humour in it, especaily from the Hedonista:)

    Reading all the stuff that people eat… I am realising how much I miss out on amazing things that I have not eaten like foi gras, pork crackling…and moscato grapes….

    The one thing I would love to have for my main is a gnocchi … I have to say the Gnocchi I had at Ronda Locatelli here in Dubai was excellent… Goats cheese salad for starter and some amazing ice cream for desert. Any good french red will do:)

    • January 2, 2013 6:38 pm

      I’ve not had the gnocchi there but would love to try it. Pork crackling is a love or hate thing – you know which side of the fence I’m on 🙂

  11. angelamroberts permalink
    January 2, 2013 6:21 pm

    Fun post. Champagne and ice cream are a given. Champagne. Crusty grilled Italian butter, spread with chicken livers and onion jam. Farm burger with grass fed beef, and a runny egg. Gelato, on top of thin slice of dark chocolate no frosting cake, drizzled with 25 year aged balsamic vinegar. Depending on another day you ask me, I might change out the farm burger.

    • January 2, 2013 6:41 pm

      I love your choices Angela – in fact they are making me very hungry. Not an ice cream fan but that crusty bread with butter….and the runny egg on top of a really good burger….

  12. January 2, 2013 8:19 pm

    Struck a chord? YES it did! Got a feeling of dejavu as I read your post. Thank you for having me over, and I LOVE the resolution. Way to go Sally. One year on and I have so much more food for the island. Have a most wonderful 2013. xoxo

  13. akismet-45fb99dccb0a4a11336526e56fe3117c permalink
    January 2, 2013 8:39 pm

    Happy New year! For me Spaghetti with clam, pizza and Apple tart with vanilla ice cream and Champagne Rosé… Kisses Marica

  14. January 2, 2013 8:54 pm

    Hi Sally – love this post and all the comments. For me it would be firstly a Lupe Velez Orange Flower Appetizer because I love greengages and they seem so hard to find they are always special. For my main course Vincent Price’s Chicken in Pineapple because as a singleton I find this the most ridiculous and extravagant thing to prepare and eat all alone and for desert Ida Lupino’s Lemon Mousse. Ooooooo I can eat TUBS of that.

    Wishing you all the best in 2013 – it was lovely to meet you earlier this year – hope you are having fun with your Vitamix!

    Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers xx

  15. January 3, 2013 9:16 am

    I would have crayfish to start, fresh out of the sea and grilled with garlic butter, main would be roast chicken with all the trimmings and dessert would be creme brullee. All washed down with a bottle of Vergenoegd Little Flower. All the best for 2013 🙂

  16. January 3, 2013 9:55 am

    Hi Sally! it was such fun reading your post..it left me salivating for so many exciting dishes. I have a massive sweet tooth, so for me, it will have to be desserts all the way.. Baked brie topped with a slice of caramelized green apple and pecans is what I fancy:) Wishing you a very delicious New Year!

  17. January 3, 2013 10:56 am

    I’ve been longing for this post…thanks for including me. A year or so down the line am I allowed to change my mind?! If so, I’d change my steak to grass-fed Argentine sirloin (Gaucho’s is sublime) or on the opposite side of the spectrum, Blackmore Wagyu. I did giggle hearing Giorgio would start drinking again 😉

  18. January 3, 2013 12:35 pm

    a plateau de fruits de mer
    sole meuniere with steamed potatoes and spinach
    seriously overburdened cheeseboard with – at least – roquefort, st marcelin, beaufort, farmhouse cheddar, brie de meaux, ricotta, cantal, vacherin mont d’or, boulete d’avernes, petit basque and maroilles washed in marc de champagne, with a suitable assortment of breads, pickles, quince jam, fruits and a large glass of armagnac.
    to drink? several bottles of chilled st veran.
    plus, maybe, some rennies…

    • January 4, 2013 8:52 am

      You had me on the cheese board – I’m adding it to my DID! Rennies….ha ha

  19. January 4, 2013 1:40 am

    A lovely post and so much inspiration. Here’s mine (note – subject to change!)
    Canapes – Anything by Blue Strawberry as savoured at my first ever dinner event at Vinopolis
    Starter – Chilli Crab as eaten at Mahesh Lunch Home in Mumbai’s Juhu Beach
    Palate Cleanser – Mojito Sorbet as devoured at The Wild Boar in the Lake District
    Main – The simple grilled Lobster with lemon at Crab and Winkle
    Palate cleanser – Avocado juice from Bali’s Aromas
    Dessert – Nigella’s rice pudding made by hubby when I got home from closing on the last day of our flower shop
    Digestif – Vin santo with the riccarelli biscuits I made this christmas

    • January 4, 2013 8:51 am

      Oh Urvashi – I can picture you sitting at a white starched table cloth being served this on a desert island by a robotic waiter! So glad you shared your choices…there really does have to be a part two at this rate.

      • January 4, 2013 7:15 pm

        The thing for me is that dishes hold memories too. Like the rice pudding. If I had not been so exhausted from the Christmas shift and three days of little sleep, would the rice pudding have tasted so good and been so memorable? If we hadn’t spent 2 hours in a crappy rickshaw in the rain seeking out Mahesh Lunch Home, would the crab have stood out? So hard to choose

  20. January 4, 2013 1:52 am

    This is so interesting to me, Sally, because my brain just doesn’t work like that. Someone asked me a version of this question recently (“what would be your last meal?”) and I just couldn’t come up with an answer. I have trouble figuring out what to serve at a dinner party, let alone choosing a final meal. Maybe I’m just not that good with so much choice! 🙂

    • January 4, 2013 8:48 am

      Love your honesty Celia! I guess you are used to creating dishes with what you have on hand (from the garden etc). Happy New Year

  21. January 4, 2013 8:32 am

    Really enjoyed reading what everyone would eat as a last meal! I must say all the options have made me hungry, and it’s hardly 8 30 am!!!
    Sooo hard to choose! I dont even think I can choose! But if I must I would go for Fattet Beitinjan (eggplant layered with pita, tomato sauce and yogurt) to start, Wara Enab o Kusa (Stuffed vine leaves/the main course version) and I make a to die for Pecan Pie that I will take with me on any trip in case of last meal situation, it should give me 12 portions looooool :))

    • January 4, 2013 8:47 am

      So glad you shared this. I realise I didn’t ask anyone from this region so these choices redress the balance. Your meal is making ME hungry. Stuffed vine leaves and layered aubergines are both some of my favourite things to eat.

  22. January 5, 2013 8:17 am

    Ah, my meal is more simple– a superb, and superbly large, Caesar salad (sans anchovies, and with the original Romano, shaved, instead of Parmesan), baguette with sweet butter and coarse salt, and a bottle or two of Penfolds Chardonnay. Dessert? A nice Shiraz would do.

  23. January 5, 2013 2:18 pm

    Absolutely fabulous post Sally!!!

  24. January 5, 2013 3:04 pm

    Not an easy one… but I think i know. For starters, fresh Cornish sardines and mackerel on a bed with British watercress with good bread and clotted cream butter… to drink a Breaky Bottom English sparkling wine… as a main: pizza straight from a woodfired oven topped with red leicester, pulled salted beef and again watercress on top… to drink an English red chapel down wine… for dessert: a British cheese board with damson preserve, a pickle, English mustard and an oatcake… to drink, I’m thorn between a British stout or a chapel down IPA… but if it’s my last pint it will most definitely be a stout I think…
    Now I’m hungry 🙂
    x

  25. January 5, 2013 6:52 pm

    Oh my, now this is a post to seriously whet your appetite. Would love everyone’s “desert island” meal… but if it came down to final choices, it would have to be Billecart Saumon Rose with Raspberry point oysters on the half shell to start me off, then a plate full of fresh Louisiana “crawfish” boiled in a spicy broth with smoked andouille and fresh artichokes, main would be falling-off-the-bone slow-roasted duck with golden chantarelles and creamy topinambour puree, then a generous cheese platter with thin slices of fresh baked fig and walnut bread, and dessert another New Orleans favorite: steaming hot New Orleans style bread pudding souffle with warm bourbon custard… but can I have a curry laksa for lunch?

  26. January 6, 2013 2:44 pm

    What inspiring dishes and what an inspiring post. With Francine’s reply my mind and knees have turned to mush… must say that I would like to be invited to Francine’s desert Island dish.
    If it was me however, it would be perfectly cooked foie gras with the right amount of stiff to poofy ratio served langoustines and a dollop of fig and date puree.
    My main would be scallops prepared 3 ways: Beautifully cut Sashimi slices with nothing but a gentle drizzle of lime; Baked in its shell, topped with a small drizzle of miso broth and garnished with deep fried scallions, zests of orange and lemon; and lastly just simply grilled with chilli, garlic and lime.
    And my dessert would be this truffle cheesecake that I recently made, with a poached pear, cointreau and truffle honey sauce.

    This meal would assure me that I wont die of starvation for atleast a month 😉

  27. January 11, 2013 10:57 pm

    Last one to the party here – but I love this post! My list has changed and would probably change a bit every time you asked me. I love the sound of Claire Tweet’s list from Things We Make, love those chicken skewers, off to hunt for those and it was lovely to listen to Diana Henry and read all of these lovely comments. Thank you for including me.

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