What would YOU choose for your last meal?

For Nigella, it’s clam linguine. For Kevin Dundon, it’s roast chicken. As top chefs share their dishes to die for...

NIGELLA LAWSON claims it’s the question everyone asks her: as a famous foodlover and cookery writer, what would she choose to eat if it were her last meal on Earth?

And last week, she finally revealed the menu. ‘Avocado with something, anything, to start things off, then linguine with clams in white wine sauce with chilli and garlic... lemony roast chicken with loads of gorgeous vegetables like kale, peas, spinach,’ she said.

Then there were the potatoes — in all forms because, as Nigella pointed out, ‘there’s no need to worry about carbs if I’m about to die.’

To follow would be a steak — with more chips, naturally — and a fennel salad. For dessert it’s ‘blackberries with heavy cream, some cookies on the side, a giant wedge of stinking gorgonzola so ripe it walks off the table, and toffees, lots of toffees.’ It’s a mouth-watering feast — and KATHRYN KNIGHT finds out if other chefs can match it . . .

HUGH FEARNLEYWHITTINGSTALL is a food writer and TV presenter who founded the River Cottage brand 20 years ago. MY LAST meal would have to take place with my family and a few friends in West Dorset, by a friend’s pond that we love to swim in.

We would start with some raw veg from the garden — ideally baby peas, broad beans and carrots — then a few spears of asparagus with home-made mayonnaise, spiked with garlic and anchovies, to dip them in.

To follow, we would barbecue mackerel (with luck we’ve caught it ourselves) with handfuls of bay leaves thrown on the hot charcoal, and yet more veg from the garden —slices of courgettes, fennel, spring onions, char-striped on the barbie.

Potatoes would be boiled on a camping stove, then tossed in melted butter, with mint and chives.

Pudding would be honey and almond cake with fresh home-grown raspberries and vanilla ice cream.

We would mostly be drinking cider, although we might have a nip of whisky with our hot coffee when we get out of the pond. There’s no music, just birdsong and laughter.

RAYMOND BLANC is a world-famous chef and proprietor of the renowned Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. I WOULD have to start with a cheese souffle as this represents the true flavours of my Franche-Comtehomeland. You cannot beat a truly meltin-the-mouth, light-as-air Comte cheese souffle.

In Provence, one of my favourite food markets is at Sanary-sur-Mer, where there are stalls selling beautiful slow-cooked squid, bouillabaisse, bourride [a garlicky fish stew] and country bread. Simple, relaxed and informal, this is somewhere I would enjoy chatting with family and friends while eating the freshest food.

Right now, my favourite main course would be a sumptuous bouillabaisse.

A favourite dessert is difficult, but I have to opt for tarte tatin, with its dark and sticky caramel, sweet apples and crisp pastry. Perfection!

I would wash it down with a pinot noir, my favourite grape, whether simple or expensive. I like a rich Bordeaux or a 1999 Chateau Montus. To round off would be a glass of vin jaune, which has so much character from barrel-ageing that it makes it the perfect pairing for that final slice of Comte cheese.

JAMES MARTIN is a popular chef, TV presenter and food writer who presents a show on Saturdays. His latest book is James Martin’s Great British Adventure. I WOULD have to meddle a bit with the space-time continuum and embark on a gastronomic tour of some of my favourite restaurants in the UK.

To start, I would head for Paul Ainsworth’s restaurant in Cornwall where I would order his wonderful scallops served with kimchi.

Then I would zoom to the Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire, to partake of their famed lobster dish which comes with a white port sauce and ginger-flavoured vegetable julienne — so divine it has never been off their menu. Then I would dash up to Sat Bains in Nottingham to indulge in the baked-potato dish, served with caviar.

If I could also sneak in a visit to Gareth Ward at Ynyshir in Wales for his amazing wagyu beef, dry-aged for up to 300 days, then my main course palate would be sated.

For dessert I would turn to Claude Bosi at Bibendum — a genius who could serve me anything he wished.

To drink? Foragers gin to kick off followed by a crisp white Burgundy and then a bottle of Italian Gaja red wine.

I’d end the day on a simpler note at my mother’s home in Yorkshire drinking a bottle of the lager she always buys for me on one of her biannual shopping trips to Harrods in central London — and insists on serving on a tray. Bliss!

JEANCHRISTOPHE NOVELLI is an award-winning French chef who runs the Novelli Academy. A FEW years back I took part in a survival documentary on the top of the Andes based on the film Alive. The weather conditions were extreme and we ended up without food for three long days.

But in the pocket of my snowsuit I found a peanut.

I rationed it by breaking it down into eight very tiny pieces and eating one every few hours.

Was it the best appetizer I have ever eaten? Of course not — but it was certainly the most memorable and desired. So if I could I would start by replicating that feeling.

Oddly, as a chef, when I think of my last meal, I think less of the food than the people I love most: my family.

We would return to the old place I grew up in until the age of five and where three of us lived in a single room.

Despite my prowess in the kitchen, my mother would be cooking one of her amazing dishes, including her signature tomato pasta sauce.

Alongside it we would drink a merlot from Stellenbosch called Spiced Route.

For dessert, I would hark back again to the olden days. When I was 14 and working as an excited young baker in a patisserie, I fell in love with religieuse a la creme, a delicious cake of choux pastry and succulent vanilla cream. It was so good I still remember licking the paper wrapping for hours.

KEVIN DUNDON is one of Ireland’s best-loved chefs, and can usually be found busy at work in his Dunbrody House kitchens and cookery school in Co Wexford. FOR my last meal I would have to keep it traditional. I would go for something hearty and the ultimate comfort food — roast chicken.

It would be a beautifully-basted bird all the trimmings — homemade sage and onion stuffing, a delicious gravy and my mum’s famous roast potatoes.

I would serve mashed turnips and carrots alongside, washed down with a bottle of Barolo.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. I’d have to have the starter of champions too, and that for me is chargrilled lobster with a lemon garlic sauce. I would pair that with a crisp, chilled Albarino. Perfection.

For dessert, it would have to be my favourite creme caramel, a perfect specimen with not a bubble in sight and a lovely wobble to it. I would have to have a nice Irish cream liqueur with it, West Cork’s amazing Five Farms Single Batch Irish Cream would do the job.

Location-wise, it would have to take place in my home, surrounded by my family, ideally nice and cosy, in the winter.

I wouldn’t tell them it was my last meal, as I’d want them to enjoy it! I’d like to go as soon as possible after it, as I’d want my lasting memory on earth to be that meal.

CHEF CATHERINE FULVIO is a Daytime Emmy nominee, TV presenter, author and owner of Ballyknocken Farmhouse & Cookery School in Co. Wicklow. IT would have to be a starter of Lobster Ravioli, and as a lamb farmer’s daughter, I would choose Wicklow Lamb with fig tapenade for mains. I’m a supporter of using fresh and local produce and an advocate of the Stop Food Waste programme so I make sure my recipes use seasonal, easily sourced, Irish quality ingredients.

As my ethos is ‘farm to table’ wherever possible, everything in my final dinner would be locally sourced, including a lovely dessert of Yoghurt Panna Cotta and a compote made

with ginger and fresh rhubarb from my garden.

To drink, I would have some prosecco and of course the location would have be here at home in Ballyknocken House.

My dinner guests, apart from my family of course, would be fellow daytime Emmy nominee, Giada De Laurentiis as, with her Italian background we’d have lots to talk about. I’d invite Judge Judy because I think she is hilarious and tells it as it is and the comedian, Michael McIntyre — if it’s my last meal I want to have a bit of craic and I love his spice rack sketch.

DERRY CLARKE runs l’Ecrivain, a Michelin star restaurant in Dublin’s Baggot Street with his wife Sallyanne. He is also makes regular appearances on TV and is part of RTE’s Lords and Ladles trio. FOR me, it would have to be some fresh mackerel, grilled with lemon juice and cracked black pepper.

I love mackerel, especially when I catch it myself. There’s nothing more satisfying than being able to cook up something delicious with a fish you’ve just caught.

There are some dishes that are just traditionally Irish and my main course has been a favourite of mine since childhood. I would have to have some honey glazed bacon with buttered cabbage and some big, floury potatoes. I love nothing better!

For dessert I would make a delicious rhubarb crumble with custard and cream. It’s rhubarb season at the minute and to my mind there’s nothing more delicious.

I would be doing the cooking because it’s what I love, and we’d all dine at home with Sallyanne my wife and our daughter Sarah May.

To drink, we’d have a cream sherry as an aperitif, a nice Sancerre that would go with both the starter and the main course. We’d finish off with a nice Bailey’s coffee. But I hope I don’t have my last meal any time soon.

NEVEN MAGUIRE runs the awardwinning MacNean House in Blacklion, Co. Cavan. He has published 12 cookbooks and is currently working on his eighth TV series. MY last meal ? I hope that doesn’t come around for a while!

I found two answers coming into my mind immediately. One would be a tasting menu with matching wines in Gordon Ramsay’s 3 star restaurant on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. I could die happy, and full.

But really the most special eating is with family. Ideally, Amelda and I will be about 103 and by then the twins will be past retirement age in most jobs.

I have no idea if they will follow me into the business. But even if they don’t they will be good cooks as they show interest already.

So I would like them to get MacNean to ourselves on a day off and they could cook for their parents.

I would like to start with seafood — some scallops, huge grilled prawns and some John Dory accompanied by a crisp cool white wine.

Then a fine Irish ribeye steak with french fries, a salad, and a full-bodied red wine.

This would be followed by one of my all time favourite desserts, crème brulée. And why not a good dessert wine? To finish some Irish artisan cheeses with a 40 year old tawny port.

After all that, I would wake up with a sore head. That is if I am allowed to wake up. And frankly, I much prefer that to the alternative.

SABRINA GHAYOUR hosts the cult supper club Sabrina’s Kitchen. Her latest book, Bazaar, is out now. FOR my last meal, I imagine myself somewhere warm, the sun on my face and the ocean lapping at my feet, sipping on a lime, honey and ginger margarita. Nina Simone is singing softly in the background.

As I’m Persian, I couldn’t possibly have a single dish to kick off my feast so I’d indulge myself with lots of little taster bites: a selection of warm breads with cheese and olives, aubergine dips, yoghurt, feta cheese and fresh herbs.

For the main course, I would barbecue fresh fish and shellfish brushed with flavoured butters, a myriad sweet, spicy, sour and salty sauces on the side. I would also rustle up a range of salads, including tomato and onion with herbs, and grilled corn with feta and chilli crusted to it.

It’s hard to imagine room for dessert, but it would be criminal not to have a raspberry and pistachio pavlova with vanilla cream and raspberry sauce.

To round things off it would have to be a 1988 Dom Perignon, a perfect vintage I’d be happy to savour as the very last thing I ever tasted. In fact, I’d drink it through the meal.

LISA GOODWINALLEN is the Michelin-starred executive chef at Northcote Restaurant. She also appeared on The Great British Menu FOR my last meal I would take over a restaurant called The Roundhouse in Cape Town, South Africa — for me the most beautiful part of the world with its amazing scenery, stunning weather and fabulous food — and also the place I married my husband.

I’d have an eclectic guest list with my family and a smattering of celebrities, from the singer Pink — I like her philosophical take on life — to the late Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna, a nod to my childhood surrounded by motors and fast cars.

The liquid backdrop would consist of a constant flow of vintage Ruinart Blanc de Blanc champagne, with gin and tonics for those who prefer.

I love cooking, so I’d have no problem producing my own feast.

To start would be my favourite French onion soup, albeit made with English onions — an underrated ingredient that deserves to be honoured. My main course would be steak and chips, but taken to the next level — chargrilled, aged, rare-breed beef, decadent smoked marrowbone; triple-cooked, crunchy yet fluffy chips and a silky bearnaise sauce.

And what better than apple pie to round it off?

Traditional it may be, but it’s my favourite for a reason.

I’d also serve a pick-and-mix of chocolate bars by way of petit fours, from peppermint crisps and Aero to Crunchies.