Hey, I’m Margie… and welcome to Desert Island Dishes
I’ve been a professional chef for over 10 years but the food I am most passionate about is the food I cook at home. I know that the recipes we return to time and time again are easy, delicious and take minimal time and effort – that’s the cooking I love. The idea is that this website Desert Island Dishes will become your go-to place for all things food and cooking. This includes easy recipes, helpful inspiration, real tips and tricks to make you the best possible cook in your own kitchen.
Here, you can browse hundreds of simple, easy to make recipes to inspire you in the kitchen. Find easy recipes to cook at home along with tips to help you become the best home cook you can be.
More About Me
With over ten years of experience as a professional chef, I trained at Ireland’s world-renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School after graduating from Oxford University and I have since cooked all over the world in places as far-flung as Japan and South Africa where I spent several months teaching Zulu women how to cook. Having worked in professional kitchens, being around fresh, varied ingredients day in and day out, I really understand what makes a recipe work and I share that knowledge here to help you become the best possible cook too.
Having worked as a private chef for a long time, I now cook at home for my husband and two daughters. And even though I love to cook, it doesn’t always mean I want to spend hours in the kitchen. I want food that delivers maximum results with minimal effort. I try to bring all my experience from years of cooking into really simple and delicious recipes that anyone can cook.
What You’ll Find On Desert Island Dishes
- Tested, easy and reliable recipes. From breakfast to quick dinners, easy desserts to perfect bakes, you will find detailed recipes here.
- Helpful tips and step by step guides. Each recipe has specific tips and how-to guides on how to perfect each recipe so you can master it at home.
- Varied and adaptable recipes. I give swaps and variations for each recipe so you can make it suited to your tastes at home. Food and taste is personal, after all!
- A go-to destination for home cooks. You can easily navigate Desert Island Dishes to find everything you need in one helpful place, to make life a little easier and a little more delicious too.
Easy Baking Recipes
Moelleux au Chocolat (Melt in the Middle Chocolate Cake)
Breakfast & Brunch
Easy Pancake Recipe Without Baking Powder
Easy Pasta Recipes
Sausage Nduja Pasta (Pasta con Nduja)
Easy 30 Minute Meals
Duck Bao Buns
More about Margie and Desert Island Dishes
The majority of my recipes are all free to access. I do have a newsletter which is called Dinner Tonight (sign up by clicking the link). It focuses on easy and quick weeknight dishes that you can cook after a long day. If you choose to be a paid member, you are sent a recipe every single week plus access to the whole back catalogue of recipes. There are over 100 recipes now so it’s like an ever-evolving cookbook. If you are a free member, you receive one recipe a month and round-up emails too. It’s almost like a private members’ cooking club, where the recipes are all quite personal to me. I love that the newsletter takes the thought out of it for you so you just know one meal is planned and done, varied and not boring at all!
I love a recipe with a roasted chicken thigh, as I find it so quick and easy, and there are so many delicious things you can do. My Harissa Roasted Chicken with Labneh is really good and it’s a great family-style meal that you can serve in the middle of the table for everyone to dig in. I love an easy salad too and have been obsessed with my Beetroot Salad with Feta and Rocket for years. Pasta is an easy go-to and I make it often. My Sausage Nduja Pasta is so good but a quick one I make a lot is this Prawn and Cherry Tomato Linguine. When I was a private chef, I was never allowed to take these incredible White Chocolate Chunk Brownies off the menu. In fact, I always have to make them when I go to a friend’s house now – I’m not allowed to show up without them! Hopefully, they’ll become a favourite of yours too.
I feel very lucky to receive lots of messages asking if I have a cookbook, which is very kind, and I hope very much to write one one day. In the meantime, I have an incredible 100 Days of Recipes e-book you can buy that is full of 100 recipes and you can download it instantly. I also have my Dinner Tonight newsletter, which as I say, is an ever-evolving cookbook which you should check out.
My Work
My work has been featured in The Times, Sheerluxe, the Guardian, The Week, The Telegraph. I’ve worked with iconic brands and retailers such as Maldon Salt, Asda, Boursin and Symprove, to name a few. I love working with food and lifestyle brands. If you are interested in working with me, please get in touch!
Weekly Newsletter
If you want some easy dinner inspiration delivered straight to your inbox every Sunday morning, my newsletter Dinner Tonight gives you one simple, delicious dish you can easily cook for dinner tonight. 30 minutes or less, maximum flavour for minimal fuss.
The Desert Island Dishes Podcast
Desert Island Dishes is one of the top food podcasts in the UK. Every week I sit down with a different guest and talk about the seven Desert Island Dishes that have shaped their lives. Over the years I have interviewed chefs, actors, food writers, restauranteurs, entrepreneurs and everyone in between. You can listen to the podcast episodes here.
