This book explores who we were, who we are, and where we’re going - all through the food we eat and the people we meet along the way. Put the Earl Grey tea bags, clementine peel, thyme, sugar, and salt in a pot that is large enough to hold your chicken. Give the mixture a stir to combine, then pour into a blender and blitz briefly to a rough consistency. The great thing about becoming famous in your 50s, she says, is that it doesn’t drive you mad: you can enjoy the work, but you see it for what it is: “If this had happened to me when I was younger, I’d be dead by now.

Mix together the diced mango and remaining lime zest and serve a little spoon of this alongside slices of cheesecake, or pile it on top of the cheesecake as well. Join the award-winning chef and broadcaster for a celebratory night out filled with storytelling, music and incredible flavours, as she introduces her long-awaited first cookbook The Pepperpot Diaries: Stories From My Caribbean Table. When the flour and butter are fully combined, keep stirring for around 4 minutes, then gradually add the milk and cream mixture, bit by bit, beating it in each time to keep the sauce smooth. This dish really came into being because mMy father-in-law, Lloyd, keeps asking me for rum and raisin everything, so this is for Lloyd.Form the dough into a ball with your hands, wrap it in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 2 hours. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and leave the dough to rest at room temperature for 2-3 hours – 3 hours is preferable if you have time. Remove the pastry from the fridge, unwrap and place on a lightly floured work surface or between 2 pieces of baking parchment. Once the liquid is cool, add the spring onions, coriander stalks, and most of the diced cucumber, reserving about 2 tablespoon.

Put all the biscuits in a sealable food bag and bash them up to fine crumbs using a rolling pin or similar. Toss the flakes in the maple syrup and half of the lime zest on a baking tray, then toast in the preheated oven for around 10 minutes until crisp. There’s not much culinary paraphernalia on display in her kitchen but her house is full of people, and The Real Housewives of Potomac is paused on the telly. In the morning (or after 4 hours), blitz together all the ingredients for the seasoning paste in a food processor to make a thick paste. Then there’s her favourite breakfast, salt fish buljol: “Loads of lime squeezed over the top, with grated peppers and onions, and loads of fresh herbs with a sticky boiled egg.Oliver shares her favourite recipes, guaranteed to bring the delicious flavours of Caribbean food to your table, plus plenty of tales from her colourful career in food, music and TV. The story of food captured in this book will take readers on a journey around the melting pot of cultural influences, history, and heritage that has uniquely shaped traditional and contemporary Caribbean cuisine. She asks so many questions, puzzling over ways to stop the mayonnaise separating in a cheese toastie, on the Channel 4 show Food Unwrapped. Food became a scary thing, and it kind of broke my heart – this thing that had been beauty and artistry and love.

Her first paid cheffing job was at a speakeasy in Ladbroke Grove where she cooked till 5am, making bananas fried in butter, flambéed with rum and whipped vanilla cream: “Can you imagine getting that when you’re stoned? Here is her daughter Miquita, the TV presenter, with whom she’s made several shows; her Antiguan mother, now in her mid-80s, who lives upstairs, pictured with her father over the years: “Can you see she’s looking progressively more pissed off in each photo? If you are worried the dough is too wet to work with, dust with a little extra flour to bring it back to the perfect consistency. This is also one of those many moments when you’ll be glad you took my advice to keep a big jar of green seasoning in the fridge. She got help when a doctor took her on at a private clinic for free: unlike with other addictions, she points out, you can’t just go cold turkey.

If you come back and unpack and start cooking at 3pm, of course you’ll be pissed off, of course you’ll hate cooking.