MY LIFE ON A PLATE

Family recipes from Bake Off’s Mel Giedroyc

Actress, presenter and comedian Mel Giedroyc has worked alongside Sue Perkins since they met at Cambridge University. They have presented Bake Off since it began in 2010. Mel is married to Ben Morris, who works in television. They live in London with their daughters, Florence and Vita.

The recipe I grew up with

My Polish granny – Babunia – lived with us throughout the Seventies. She cooked a lot of Polish food and passed on this tradition to my English mum.

The bedrock of any Polish kitchen is buckwheat – kasza – with a delicious mushroom sauce. It’s almost like risotto and very comforting. We eat it with buraczki, which is cooked beetroot that my mum grates and mixes with crème fraîche or soured cream and a bit of horseradish. You have to wear rubber gloves when you grate the beetroot unless you want to end up with pink hands for days!

Polish food has significance for us because of what my dad went through in the Second World War. When he was 11, he was deported to Siberia with his mum and sisters. His dad was taken by the Russians. The family had very little, and virtually starved for two years.

They arrived in London in 1947. Many Polish airmen had flown from Raf-northolt to help in the Battle of Britain, so there was a community of Poles there. Dad got into university and made a life for himself. So, eating Polish food has always been tinged with pride, but also melancholy.

My granny died in 1976. I remember her clearly. Her hair went white in Siberia almost overnight, and she kept it waist-length. Babunia didn’t have a lot of English so we communicated through hugs, mime and laughter.