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 subscribe if you enjoy today's episode and you can find me over on Instagram @Desertislanddishes or over on the website www.desertislanddishes.co. You can also sign up for my newsletter where I send you one easy and delicious weeknight recipe over at www.dinnertonight.substack.com

This episode was produced by Rutherford Productions.

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

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 passionate about the love of food and helping connect people in moments of pleasure from food and drink and so are the perfect match for Desert Island Dishes. Find out more here.

Thank you so much or listening to the dream dinner party, these really are fun to do so I hope they're fun to listen to.

This episode was produced by Rutherford Productions.

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

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 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 subscribe if you enjoy today's episode and you can find me over on Instagram @Desertislanddishes or over on the website www.desertislanddishes.co. You can also sign up for my newsletter where I send you one easy and delicious weeknight recipe over at www.dinnertonight.substack.com

This episode was produced by Rutherford Productions.

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

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 few years ago now but that’s the nice thing about these interviews, they are evergreen.

Thank you very much to our sponsor for this season: Maldon Salt. Maldon Salt are passionate about the love of food and helping connect people in moments of pleasure from food and drink and so are the perfect match for Desert Island Dishes. Find out more here.

Thank you so much or listening to the dream dinner party, these really are fun to do so I hope they're fun to listen to.

This episode was produced by Rutherford Productions.

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

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 awarded an MBE for services to the hospitality industry. 

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 subscribe if you enjoy today's episode and you can find me over on Instagram @Desertislanddishes or over on the website www.desertislanddishes.co. You can also sign up for my newsletter where I send you one easy and delicious weeknight recipe over at www.dinnertonight.substack.com

This episode was produced by Rutherford Productions.

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

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 to writing it every week and it’s honestly amazing that there are so many people reading it. Over 22,000 of you now which is amazing but there’s always room for more. https://dinnertonight.substack.com/

I do hope you enjoy todays episode and thank you for listening. If you don’t already, come and follow me on Instagram @desertislandishes and you can sign up for the newsletter and find a whole host of different recipes at www.desertislanddishes.co 

Thank you again to HG Walter our sponsor for this month of Desert Island Dishes, and thank you for listening!

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

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 make sure you’re subscribed to catch all episodes of The Dream Dinner Party and Desert lsland Dishes. Thank you so much for listening!

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

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.