Desert Island Dishes

My guest today is Mark Hix.

Renowned chef and restaurateur, Mark is widely recognised as the reviver of modern British cuisine and is famous for his focus on a straightforward interpretation of British cooking. He is without a doubt one of London’s most eminent restauranteurs.

Mark launched his first restaurant – Hix Oyster & Chop House in Farringdon, in 2008, after having spent 17 years as chef director at Caprice Holdings. He followed the opening of his first restaurant with Hix at Browns hotel, Hix Soho and the chicken and steak restaurants, Tramshed in Shoreditch and Hixter Bankside.

In February 2016, Mark teamed up with artist Damien Hirst to open Pharmacy 2 at the Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall.

Somehow amongst all of that Mark has written 10 cookbooks, he has a weekly food column and Mark hosts an annual food festival in Lyme Regis, Food Rocks to showcase the best producers and suppliers in Dorset and nearby.

It’s been said about Mark by none other than Tracey Emin, “What’s amazing about his success is how nice he is.’

This is an exciting episode with one of the most famous chefs and restauranteurs in London. We find out about the dishes that have shaped Mark’s life, his business highs and even some lows. We discover he has an usual love of ceramic jugs and we find out which restaurant in the world he likes so much he wishes it were his.

I hope you’ve had a great week, and over indulged suitably. Hope fully this episode can bridge the gap if you are need of a bit of alone time away from the family and you can sneak off or just put your headphones in your ears there and then.

If you have a spare moment do subscribe, leave a 5 * rating and a review as it really does give the show a little boost and helps me to keep bringing it to you each week.

My guest today is Tommy Clarke,

Tommy is a world renowned photographer specialising in stunning aerial shots taken all over the world.

Tommy grew up on the south coast of England in Dorset and spent nearly every childhood holiday by the beach. This led to, in his own words, a deep interest of the interaction between water and land and how people connect with that location.

However it was when he was living in Australia that he first took to the skies and shot aerial photographs of Bondi Beach with stunning results. Since then Tommy has travelled the world as a photographer shooting everywhere from Iceland, to St Tropez and Mexico.

This year was a big one for Tommy with Sell-out exhibitions, his own gallery opening in London and a swimwear collection for M&S.

I just love hearing how these amazing people got to where they are today – and I think its really inspiring and encouraging to hear that there isn’t just one way. The road is often winding – there are ups and downs, but if you love what you do and work hard – you find what you are meant to do and it works out in the end.

In a little corrections corner just before you hear todays episode – I should point out a super soaker is a water pistol – and far from a Christmas sandwich. Having watched friends about 9 hundred million times and declaring to my boyfriend just the other day it would possibly be my Mastermind topic – I am hanging my head in SHAME that I couldn’t think of the moist maker. Such a good episode of friends – Ross gets sacked when he goes into a complete fury when someone steals his Christmas sandwich from the fridge….but I mean who wouldn’t get cross about that?

I love that the Christmas sandwich is Tommy’s favourite sandwich. So apt for this time of year and not remotely on purpose, although perhaps I should pretend it was! I love that roast chicken plays another starring role in someone’s childhood growing up – and I love the tradition his family had of coming together over Sunday lunch to catch up on the week and find out what everyone had been up to.

The best meal he’s ever had sounds impossibly dreamy. Staying in a beach hut down near Christ Church – he went fishing with his dad, wading off shore with the sea up to their knees and beers in their pockets. They caught sea bass and then went back to the beach to barbecue them. The setting sounds perfect, as the Sun was going down and music was playing. He describes it as perfection. And it sounds gorgeous. And a far flung cry from cold and frosty London!

Sounds like we all need to be hankering for an invite to a dinner party round at Tommy’s as he says he whips up a great beef Wellington. Although don’t hold out for pudding as he will probably be too exhausted by the effort of the beef to muster up much strength to provide a pudding. Although I’ve never heard anyone complain about a Gu chocolate pudding.

Desert Island Dish:

Surf and Turf – specifically steak and lobster*luxury: fishing rod *

Check out www.desertislanddishes.co for the recipe inspired by Tommy’s choice of Desert Island Dishes.

Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving a review!

See you next week!

Margie x

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Tommy Clarke,

Tommy is a world renowned photographer specialising in stunning aerial shots taken all over the world.

Tommy grew up on the south coast of England in Dorset and spent nearly every childhood holiday by the beach. This led to, in his own words, a deep interest of the interaction between water and land and how people connect with that location.

However it was when he was living in Australia that he first took to the skies and shot aerial photographs of Bondi Beach with stunning results. Since then Tommy has travelled the world as a photographer shooting everywhere from Iceland, to St Tropez and Mexico.

This year was a big one for Tommy with Sell-out exhibitions, his own gallery opening in London and a swimwear collection for M&S.

I just love hearing how these amazing people got to where they are today – and I think its really inspiring and encouraging to hear that there isn’t just one way. The road is often winding – there are ups and downs, but if you love what you do and work hard – you find what you are meant to do and it works out in the end.

In a little corrections corner just before you hear todays episode – I should point out a super soaker is a water pistol – and far from a Christmas sandwich. Having watched friends about 9 hundred million times and declaring to my boyfriend just the other day it would possibly be my Mastermind topic – I am hanging my head in SHAME that I couldn’t think of the moist maker. Such a good episode of friends – Ross gets sacked when he goes into a complete fury when someone steals his Christmas sandwich from the fridge….but I mean who wouldn’t get cross about that?

I love that the Christmas sandwich is Tommy’s favourite sandwich. So apt for this time of year and not remotely on purpose, although perhaps I should pretend it was! I love that roast chicken plays another starring role in someone’s childhood growing up – and I love the tradition his family had of coming together over Sunday lunch to catch up on the week and find out what everyone had been up to.

The best meal he’s ever had sounds impossibly dreamy. Staying in a beach hut down near Christ Church – he went fishing with his dad, wading off shore with the sea up to their knees and beers in their pockets. They caught sea bass and then went back to the beach to barbecue them. The setting sounds perfect, as the Sun was going down and music was playing. He describes it as perfection. And it sounds gorgeous. And a far flung cry from cold and frosty London!

Sounds like we all need to be hankering for an invite to a dinner party round at Tommy’s as he says he whips up a great beef Wellington. Although don’t hold out for pudding as he will probably be too exhausted by the effort of the beef to muster up much strength to provide a pudding. Although I’ve never heard anyone complain about a Gu chocolate pudding.

Desert Island Dish:

Surf and Turf – specifically steak and lobster

Check out www.desertislanddishes.co for the recipe inspired by Tommy’s choice of Desert Island Dishes.

Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving a review!

See you next week!

Margie x

My guest today is Tessa Cook

Tessa is the co founder of Olio the free food sharing app.

Olio was launched back in February 2015 by Tessa and her co founder Sasha Celestial-One. The two founders met at business school in California. They launched the app just a few months after having the idea and gave themselves a year to make it work agreeing that if it hadn’t taken off by then they would go back to their day jobs.

Tessa is a farmer’s daughter and grew up on farm where she learnt the value of food from a very young age and became passionate about food waste. Before launching Olio, Tessa worked in various managing director roles across retail, media and the financial services.

The idea for Olio came to her in a moment of inspiration and was a genuine lightbulb moment. One of those moments most people only dream of, where the idea seems so obvious you cant believe it hasn’t been done before.

After teaming up with her business partner Saasha, the two wasted very little time and launched the app just 4 months later. Fast forward 2 ½ years and they now have 330,000 people using their app and over 15,000 volunteers helping them with their mission.

I think this is a really inspiring listen and you cant fail to learn something from Tessa’s story. She recommend the book, “The Lean StartUp” by Eric Ries which I can recommend too and there are some great podcast recommendations in there for entrepreneurs, including one of my favbourites, “How I Built This” with Guy Raz.

I love the Tessa talked of bubble and squeak, which is no where near as popular as it should be, and such a good dish when you are doing a fridge raid but still want something warming and delicious. Her triple choice of sandwiches was right up my street. A chip buttie, a bacon butie and a boiled egg sandwich…it doesn’t get more British than that!

I love that Tessa cooked for all the guests at her wedding. Such a lovely thing to do - I wonder if I should attempt that too?? She made a delicious veggie filled lasagne and a really great sounding lime and ginger cheesecake which sounded easy and delicious: a winning combination.

I think it is Nigella Lawson’s mother who celebrated a second Christmas on Midsummer’s Eve and I think it’s the most lovely idea and one that I might actually adopt too. How fun would that be? Tessa seemed enamoured with the idea anyway as her final desert island dish was an easy one for her to make as she loves a traditional Christmas lunch. Very apt for this time of year, and we didn’t even plan that.

What wasn’t quite so traditional was Tessa’s way of having Christmas pudding. She has it with brandy butter. So far, so traditional. Then she adds golden syrup which is unusual but I can definitely get on board with. Then! She tops that with a generous drizzle of white sauce. A white sauce made with butter and flour and milk….very unusual!

I loved her idea of freezing the smoothies into lollies for the children (and for the adults) and adding greek yoghurt to the smoothies is a great shout. I am being honest when I say I don’t think I’ve met a bad smoothie which does make them rather fun to make as you know you can bung things in, use up left overs and it will taste great!

Desert Island Dish: Full Christmas lunch – with all the trimmings

Homemade Christmas pudding with brandy butter, golden syrup and then white sauce (!)

Luxury item: Collection of Encyclopedias

Have you seen the recipe inspired by Tessa’s desert island dishes? Head to www.desertislanddishes.co for a full collection of delicious recipes.

Thank you for listening, and subscribing. Don’t forget to leave a review as it gives me a little boost and I will see you same time next week for another episode of Desert Island Dishes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Tessa Cook

Tessa is the co founder of Olio the free food sharing app.

Olio was launched back in February 2015 by Tessa and her co founder Sasha Celestial-One. The two founders met at business school in California. They launched the app just a few months after having the idea and gave themselves a year to make it work agreeing that if it hadn’t taken off by then they would go back to their day jobs.

Tessa is a farmer’s daughter and grew up on farm where she learnt the value of food from a very young age and became passionate about food waste. Before launching Olio, Tessa worked in various managing director roles across retail, media and the financial services.

The idea for Olio came to her in a moment of inspiration and was a genuine lightbulb moment. One of those moments most people only dream of, where the idea seems so obvious you cant believe it hasn’t been done before.

After teaming up with her business partner Saasha, the two wasted very little time and launched the app just 4 months later. Fast forward 2 ½ years and they now have 330,000 people using their app and over 15,000 volunteers helping them with their mission.

I think this is a really inspiring listen and you cant fail to learn something from Tessa’s story. She recommend the book, “The Lean StartUp” by Eric Ries which I can recommend too and there are some great podcast recommendations in there for entrepreneurs, including one of my favbourites, “How I Built This” with Guy Raz.

I love the Tessa talked of bubble and squeak, which is no where near as popular as it should be, and such a good dish when you are doing a fridge raid but still want something warming and delicious. Her triple choice of sandwiches was right up my street. A chip buttie, a bacon butie and a boiled egg sandwich…it doesn’t get more British than that!

I love that Tessa cooked for all the guests at her wedding. Such a lovely thing to do - I wonder if I should attempt that too?? She made a delicious veggie filled lasagne and a really great sounding lime and ginger cheesecake which sounded easy and delicious: a winning combination.

I think it is Nigella Lawson’s mother who celebrated a second Christmas on Midsummer’s Eve and I think it’s the most lovely idea and one that I might actually adopt too. How fun would that be? Tessa seemed enamoured with the idea anyway as her final desert island dish was an easy one for her to make as she loves a traditional Christmas lunch. Very apt for this time of year, and we didn’t even plan that.

What wasn’t quite so traditional was Tessa’s way of having Christmas pudding. She has it with brandy butter. So far, so traditional. Then she adds golden syrup which is unusual but I can definitely get on board with. Then! She tops that with a generous drizzle of white sauce. A white sauce made with butter and flour and milk….very unusual!

I loved her idea of freezing the smoothies into lollies for the children (and for the adults) and adding greek yoghurt to the smoothies is a great shout. I am being honest when I say I don’t think I’ve met a bad smoothie which does make them rather fun to make as you know you can bung things in, use up left overs and it will taste great!

Desert Island Dish: Full Christmas lunch – with all the trimmings

Homemade Christmas pudding with brandy butter, golden syrup and then white sauce (!)

Luxury item: Collection of Encyclopedias

Have you seen the recipe inspired by Tessa’s desert island dishes? Head to www.desertislanddishes.co for a full collection of delicious recipes.

Thank you for listening, and subscribing. Don’t forget to leave a review as it gives me a little boost and I will see you same time next week for another episode of Desert Island Dishes.

My guest this week is Nadine Levy Redzepi.

Nadine has just published her first cookbook called Downtime: Deliciousness At Home. Nadine knows a thing or two about amazing food, as she is married to Rene Redzepi, co founder and chef at Noma. Noma is thought by many to be the world's best restaurant and Rene is commonly referred to as the King of Food.

She has lived in Portugal, France and England as a child before moving to Denmark with her mother which made me excited to hear her childhood food memories. She now lives with Rene and their three daughters in Copenhagen.

Nadine has been inspired by a life long love of food and has created a very personal collection of recipes to inspire the every day. This is a book for everyone and through Nadine's reassuring and friendly way of writing she ensures that even the most timid cooks will be able to create sensational dishes without getting stressed.

This is a genuinely lovely book written in such a friendly and reassuring way. The recipes are delicious but not daunting and it's full of great tips and tricks to get you feeling more confident in the kitchen. Poaching eggs can be one of those things people get a bit afraid of, and Nadine has a great tip in there for how to poach them perfectly each time....genius. She even gives us the perfect technique for porridge which I need to try. Nadine says to simply make the porridge by bringing the oats and milk to the boil, and then to remove them from the heat immediately and allowing to sit for 10 minutes. She swears this is perfect porridge everytime and do you know what? I believe her. I mean it would be foolish not to.

Since meeting Nadine I am now hooked on her favourite sandwich! Mortadella is one of my favourites and I think it's underrated. The simple combination with the rye bread, cream cheese and tomatoes is just perfect. I like it with lots salt and pepper and a small drizzle of olive oil, just as Nadine says.

Nadine has cooked for some of the biggest names in food, from world-renowned chefs, to top restaurant critics and everything in between. I can't imagine her every getting into a flap in the kitchen. As she points out, to her these people are just her friends, so she feels more relaxed then perhaps you or I would if we were asked to cook for them. But still. Because of this you feel very reassured when reading her book and her recipes that you are in safe hands.

We find out what Nadine cooked for Rene the first time she cooked for the King of Food, which didn't go according to plan in her mind but luckily he loved it, and we discover what the seal the deal pasta he cooked for her consisted of.

Desert Island Dish:

Nadine would go to Noma for a feast - in particular the scallop fudge

Follow by chocolate brownies, pound cake, or do-it-all cake

Luxury item: Espresso machine with Elon Musk solar panels

Nadine is so lovely and down to Earth, hope you enjoy having a listen.

Huge thank you for listening, subscribing. Please do leave a review and rating as it really does help to give me a little boost which is very nice.

Come and have a look at the recipe inspired by Nadine's Desert Island Dishes over here at www.desertislanddishes.co

Margie x@madebymargie

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is Nadine Levy Redzepi.

Nadine has just published her first cookbook called Downtime: Deliciousness At Home. Nadine knows a thing or two about amazing food, as she is married to Rene Redzepi, co founder and chef at Noma. Noma is thought by many to be the world's best restaurant and Rene is commonly referred to as the King of Food.

She has lived in Portugal, France and England as a child before moving to Denmark with her mother which made me excited to hear her childhood food memories. She now lives with Rene and their three daughters in Copenhagen.

Nadine has been inspired by a life long love of food and has created a very personal collection of recipes to inspire the every day. This is a book for everyone and through Nadine's reassuring and friendly way of writing she ensures that even the most timid cooks will be able to create sensational dishes without getting stressed.

This is a genuinely lovely book written in such a friendly and reassuring way. The recipes are delicious but not daunting and it's full of great tips and tricks to get you feeling more confident in the kitchen. Poaching eggs can be one of those things people get a bit afraid of, and Nadine has a great tip in there for how to poach them perfectly each time....genius. She even gives us the perfect technique for porridge which I need to try. Nadine says to simply make the porridge by bringing the oats and milk to the boil, and then to remove them from the heat immediately and allowing to sit for 10 minutes. She swears this is perfect porridge everytime and do you know what? I believe her. I mean it would be foolish not to.

Since meeting Nadine I am now hooked on her favourite sandwich! Mortadella is one of my favourites and I think it's underrated. The simple combination with the rye bread, cream cheese and tomatoes is just perfect. I like it with lots salt and pepper and a small drizzle of olive oil, just as Nadine says.

Nadine has cooked for some of the biggest names in food, from world-renowned chefs, to top restaurant critics and everything in between. I can't imagine her every getting into a flap in the kitchen. As she points out, to her these people are just her friends, so she feels more relaxed then perhaps you or I would if we were asked to cook for them. But still. Because of this you feel very reassured when reading her book and her recipes that you are in safe hands.

We find out what Nadine cooked for Rene the first time she cooked for the King of Food, which didn't go according to plan in her mind but luckily he loved it, and we discover what the seal the deal pasta he cooked for her consisted of.

Desert Island Dish:

Nadine would go to Noma for a feast - in particular the scallop fudge

Follow by chocolate brownies, pound cake, or do-it-all cake

Luxury item: Espresso machine with Elon Musk solar panels

Nadine is so lovely and down to Earth, hope you enjoy having a listen.

Huge thank you for listening, subscribing. Please do leave a review and rating as it really does help to give me a little boost which is very nice.

Come and have a look at the recipe inspired by Nadine's Desert Island Dishes over here at www.desertislanddishes.co

Margie x

Margie’s castaway this week is Levi Roots.

Levi was born Keith Valentine Graham in Jamaica. After his parents moved to the UK when he was 4, he was brought up by his grandparents until he eventually moved to Britain at the age of 11.

He shot to fame in 2007 by appearing on Dragon’s Den with his famous Reggae Reggae sauce. He wowed the dragon’s and managed to secure a £50,000 investment from Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh.

Within 4 weeks his Reggae Reggae sauces were outselling Heinze tomato ketchup in Sainsbury’s and since then his business has gone from strength to strength. He now has so many products ranging from sauces, to snacks, to seasonings and ready meals. He’s written 7 books, released 4 albums and opened a successful restaurant. He does a lot of work with the Prince’s Trust and is a key figure in the Brixton community.

We recorded this at Levi’s restaurant in Westfield Stratford so you can hear a little of the hustle and bustle of the restaurant in the background which I kind of like.

Levi has a whole host of delicious Desert Island Dishes in his selection and oh my goodness – Levi’s final desert island dish sounds like complete heaven. I love the sound of the porridge his grandmother used to make, and his choice of sandwich was not what I was expecting at all. I think Levi’s story is really inspiring, and he talks so eloquently about his time in prison and how to worked to turn his life around with huge success.

I just thought there were so many interesting and inspiring nuggets in there.

Hope you enjoyed listening to Levi.

Desert Island Dish:

Jerk chicken, rice and peas with coleslaw and plantain

Luxury item: guitar

Don’t forget to check out the website www.desertislanddishes.co to see which recipe has been inspired by Levi’s desert island dishes and I will see you next time for another exciting episode

In the meantime come and say hello on Instagram, you can find me @madebymargie.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Margie’s castaway this week is Levi Roots.

Levi was born Keith Valentine Graham in Jamaica. After his parents moved to the UK when he was 4, he was brought up by his grandparents until he eventually moved to Britain at the age of 11.

He shot to fame in 2007 by appearing on Dragon’s Den with his famous Reggae Reggae sauce. He wowed the dragon’s and managed to secure a £50,000 investment from Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh.

Within 4 weeks his Reggae Reggae sauces were outselling Heinze tomato ketchup in Sainsbury’s and since then his business has gone from strength to strength. He now has so many products ranging from sauces, to snacks, to seasonings and ready meals. He’s written 7 books, released 4 albums and opened a successful restaurant. He does a lot of work with the Prince’s Trust and is a key figure in the Brixton community.

We recorded this at Levi’s restaurant in Westfield Stratford so you can hear a little of the hustle and bustle of the restaurant in the background which I kind of like.

Levi has a whole host of delicious Desert Island Dishes in his selection and oh my goodness – Levi’s final desert island dish sounds like complete heaven. I love the sound of the porridge his grandmother used to make, and his choice of sandwich was not what I was expecting at all. I think Levi’s story is really inspiring, and he talks so eloquently about his time in prison and how to worked to turn his life around with huge success.

I just thought there were so many interesting and inspiring nuggets in there.

Hope you enjoyed listening to Levi.

Desert Island Dish:

Jerk chicken, rice and peas with coleslaw and plantain

Luxury item: guitar

Don’t forget to check out the website www.desertislanddishes.co to see which recipe has been inspired by Levi’s desert island dishes and I will see you next time for another exciting episode

In the meantime come and say hello on Instagram, you can find me @madebymargie.

Margie’s castaway this week is Candice Brown.

Before we go any further this is a very friendly, gentle nudge to say that if you haven’t already do remember to subscribe to this podcast and while you’re at it you may as well rate it and leave a review… hopefully a nice one. It’s honestly so helpful and helps other people to find the podcast, which is great!

This is a lovely episode, chatting to the wonderful and impossibly glamorous Great British Bake Off winner Candice. It was yet another opportunity for me to obsess over all things Bake Off. Candice was the winner of The Great British Bake Off 2016.

Born in North London, Candice grew up in the pub that her parents ran – the very pub that she sculpted out of gingerbread for her famous showstopper on the show.

Taught to bake by her grandmother, Candice makes the kind of food you really want to eat. With her degree in Sport, PE and Community Studies, Candice was a secondary school teacher when she applied for GBBO and managed to juggle the two even during filming. Candice has now taken a break from teaching, has realeased her first cook book called Comfort and is currently starring on Dancing on Ice.

It has been said of Candice, “if you are what you eat, no wonder Candice brown is so sweet”!

We discover that both Candice and I have quite a severe mac and cheese obsession. She has lots of delicious dishes in her selection today including a first time appearance for her choice of sandwich. Let me tell you that recording this in the afternoon on a Friday was a mistake. Big mistake. Huge. I’m surprised you couldn’t hear my tummy rumbling on the recording.

I thought it was really interesting to hear how you go from winning the GBBO to turning it into your career and what that process looks like. Candice’s luxury item makes me laugh! I just love the thought of Candace sort of masquerading as a coconut on the island – covered in her coconut lotion.

I’ve made a delicious mac and cheese recipe for www.desertislanddishes.co as an ode to Candice this week. It’s a goodie, so make sure you check it out, plus loads of other gorgeous, if I do say so myself, recipes there for you to have a look at.

Desert Island Dish:Dim sum feastLuxury item: coconut body lotion

Thank you all for listening, don’t forget to come and say hello over on Instagram @madebymargie if you fancy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.