Prue Leith CBE, GBBO judge, restaurateur, caterer, journalist, cookery writer, novelist
The cookbook that has most influenced your cooking
Elizabeth David’s Mediterranean Cooking.
The food of love… What would you cook to impress a potential date
A Pancake Pie. As homely as bolognaise but less messy to eat than spaghetti
Your top five dinner guests, dead or alive
Catherine the Great; Gandhi, Nelson Mandela; John Lennon and Joanna Lumley
Fast food – your top snack tip
Mozzarella in Carozza (an Italian deep fried cheese sarnie)
Most memorable meal in film/literature/painting
The Fake Orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally
Your worst kitchen disaster
Christmas Lunch Slow-Cooked Shoulder of Pork when my nephew turned the oven off at 9am by mistake
What do you eat when you get home from the pub [or similar]
Cake! Or failing that yogurt with honey and almonds on top
What would you like your final meal to be?
Oysters followed by Treacle Tart, which is what I had for lunch just before my wedding last month
What is your secret talent [in or out of the kitchen]?
Leftovers. I’m brilliant at creative scrimping and saving
What did you eat for breakfast today?
Nothing. I’m getting so fat I’m try not to eat unless hungry and I’m never hungry first thing
Most over-rated/ under-rated food/seasoning/gadget
Spiralizer. At least the one I was given. Exhausting to use and hell to wash up
Your inheritance recipes – the one you inherited [and from whom] and the one you’d like to pass on to your children
My mother was a hopeless cook but she made a great crème caramel. My grandchildren hate baked custard in any form, but I have hopes
Prue Leith is the author of The Food of Love trilogy, the latest of which, The Prodigal Daughter, is out now (Quercus, £8.99)
