Food and memory are inextricable for me. I feel nostalgic about so many things. Almost all of my favourite memories involve food and people, so I would choose a dish that’s celebratory, something I only eat occasionally and always with others.
For that reason, I would like to cook my very last meal myself, in a big open kitchen with all my friends and family around me. I like the idea of sitting at a long table, laid outside, under the shade of a tree on beautiful summer’s evening. That would make me very happy.
Who knows what I’d really crave in that moment? A bouillabaisse would be a safe bet though – it reminds me of warmth, the seaside and a very happy evening I spent with my parents a long time ago.
I first ate this beautiful, elegant and very simple dish at Claude’s restaurant in Sydney when I was 17. It was my birthday. Every Friday evening, this little French restaurant served only bouillabaisse – first the unctuous broth in which the fish was cooked, bound with rich, velvety yet fiery rouille, followed by the fish itself.
I think that was the night I began to fall in love with food. I loved the idea and confidence of serving just one perfect meal, and still do.
To make a good bouillabaisse, you definitely need to take a trip to a good fish market – preferably somewhere beside the sea with a warm climate such as the south of France. Other ingredients include ripe tomatoes, fennel, saffron and water. It is a dish that relies on ingredients that are at their very best.
To drink? I think the crisp elegance of a Bandol rosé pairs beautifully with the fish. And dessert would be extremely simple; nothing more than a perfectly chilled peach over ice.
Skye Gyngell’s restaurant, Spring, opens on 14 October 2014 at Somerset House in London
