Judi Dench’s life has been nothing if not adventurous. But, as the blurb to her new book jokes: ‘Just don’t ask her to cook you a meal.’ The actress is many things, but chef is not one of them, as her autobiography, Is It Too Late To Make A Run For It?, explains.
In a Q&A with co-author Brendan O’Hea, Dench recounts how Mary Berry once invited her on to the TV show Mary Makes It Easy. She politely declined, however: ‘ I thought, I can’t inflict that on her – otherwise she’ll have to make a follow-up programme called “Mary’s Feeling Queasy”,’ she shares.
The book does, however, contain a few choice culinary tips…
Judi’s bread and butter pudding
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‘I make a very nice bread and butter pudding,’ Judi says. The secret? Panettone in place of bread.
It’s a strategy that GH absolutely endorses! ‘This comforting winter dessert only takes 15min to prep and is ready in three easy steps,’ says the GH food team. Our recipe adds dark chocolate and orange zest for added sumptuousness. ‘For a fruity twist, scatter over a handful of blackberries before baking,’ the team suggests. ‘Serve with cream or ice cream.’
Read the GH recipe here.
Judi’s favourite comfort food
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It’s ‘mashed potato and some really good onion gravy’, apparently. Yet again, GH is absolutely in agreement.
‘When you need a bit of comfort food, the soft, carb-y embrace of mash is as good as it gets,’ says GHI homes writer Jasmine Horley. ‘Not so fun, however, is the prospect of going at those potatoes with a masher until your arm aches.’ Luckily, Jasmine has found a potato ricer that makes ‘the easiest (and smoothest) mashed potatoes ever.
Read the GHI review here.
Judi’s favourite childhood snack
After an even easier treat? ‘During my first year, I was also caught secretly eating condensed milk out of the tin,’ Judi shares in a separate chapter.
We can comment on her choice of cutlery, however. The young Dench, it turns out, ate it ‘with my ruler’…
Dining and Cooking