The last supper: Hit Point star Nick Blood tells us what he’d eat for his last meal on earth
Hit Point star Nick Blood tells us what he’d eat for his last meal on earth, from his mum’s Sunday roast to his favourite taco restaurant
I was a very fussy kid. If I saw an onion in a dish, I’d be picking that out. There’s a bit of carrot, there’s a bit of celery: get those out. My mum did most of the cooking – all the standard stuff: spag bol, lasagne, roast dinners. I loved a good roast dinner on a Sunday, it was my favourite meal of the week. My grandma and mum were brilliant at it – it was a big family occasion and the leftovers, which are the best part, went on for days.
It’s important to get the condiments right: pork and apple sauce or turkey and cranberry – and it has to have roast potatoes. Oh, and Yorkshire puddings – I’m from down south but my grandma was from Lancashire and my dad was from Liverpool, so there was a lot of northern influence in our house. I’m married to an American now and she always wants mashed potatoes but it’s got to be roast for me.
I’m not really a fussy eater now. I got to that age where you start having to cook for yourself and something switched. I was a terrible cook when I first lived alone, of course. One of my specialities was to boil pasta, grate cheese on it and then cover it in brown sauce. But once you reach adulthood, you quickly realise that’s just not acceptable.
My mum gave me a few basic recipes and now cooking is something I actually really enjoy. I’ve got a slow cooker and I make a nice ragu with slow-cooked beef brisket. I make a decent stir fry too. I was vegetarian for 12 years so I make a lot of veggie dishes. My ex-girlfriend and I decided to give up meat for Lent one year – we watched one of those documentaries on how animals are treated and we ended up cutting it out permanently.
I didn’t even miss it, really. I was living out in LA, so there were a lot of options for non-meat eaters. But years later I was filming in Budapest and there weren’t many good vegetarian options, so I started eating fish – then eventually I was back on the meat.
I like things quite casual when I’m eating away from home – I’m not one for fine dining with loads of courses. My favourite place in London is Homies on Donkeys, this great taco place in Leytonstone. My wife misses the great Mexican food you can get back in America and Homies on Donkeys scratches that itch.
For my last supper, I’m going to start with some summer rolls. In Vietnam this was my favourite thing to get from the street food stalls. They bring it over and you build it yourself from the chopped up vegetables and slices of mango and grilled fish or pork. So I’ll take those along with a Vietnamese beer. And sticking to the street food theme, I’ll get some tacos sent over from this little truck at the end of York Avenue in Los Angeles. It’s this little mom and pop place and it’s amazing.
I’m going to order two main courses: first some Vietnamese Cha ca, this turmeric-marinated fish cooked with dill and spring onions. I was over there with my wife for a kind of second honeymoon and we were right beside the ocean – we had the time of our lives and this will remind me of that great trip.
That’s quite light so hopefully there will be plenty of room for a good chicken dhansak. This is my go-to whenever I visit an Indian curry house. It doesn’t matter which one you order it from. You could throw in some of those lamb chops from Tayyabs in Whitechapel too. Pile it up. And I’ll wash that down with a pint of Cobra.
For dessert, it’s got to be my mum’s pavlova. I’m lactose intolerant so this will be a real guilty pleasure: pavlova with lots of strawberries and blueberries and blackberries. And you can make me a negroni to finish it off.
• Nick stars as Leo in Hit Point – all episodes available on U & Dave/4oD