What's your desert island dish? ? My Custard Pie

Desert 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 expos?s 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).

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 ? 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

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

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 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.

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

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.

Entr?e: 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 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.

For 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 ros? 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.

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.

Source: http://mycustardpie.com/2013/01/01/whats-your-desert-island-dish/

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