Muireann O’Connell

This broadcaster has survived hellish pasta bake, a fear of ducks and has gone on to create a postmodern, but vile, use for Easi Singles

“I love luncheon roll wrapped in an Easi Single. I may be the most disgusting person alive”

What did your mother make you? The best quiche Lorraine in the world. What is the meal you will always remember? My sister’s graduation dinner. It was in Roly’s in Ballsbridge in Dublin. I was about 12, and they had no burgers and chips on the menu, so I ate ice cream all night. I have a very refined palate. What was your defining food experience? Discovering my college housemate, Paddy Ryan, could cook. Being students, we had no money, but I’d beg for scraps from his pork chops and stir-fries, and I think he kept me alive in third year as a result. He now owns Firehouse Bakery, so I feel like I helped him on his path. The first dish you ever cooked? Myself and my best friend, Grace, destroyed her mother’s kitchen making caramel slices when we were 13. They were amazing. Grace did most of the work. What is your comfort food? Any sort of cheese. What is your hangover cure? Tea and toast with my mother’s marmalade. With a side of rock shandy. What do you drink? Sauvignon Blanc. Even if it’s dodgy piss, and it tastes like strychnine. You can only eat three things for the rest of your life, what are they? Quiche Lorraine; toast; carbonara. Most appetising smell in the world? Brie. The smellier, the better. How important is food to you? I live from one Hobnob to the next. I can’t cook, so snack food is my saviour. What’s your favourite restaurant in Ireland? Jacks’ Coastguard Restaurant in Cromane, Co Kerry. Worst Meal Ever? My brother Brian’s concoction of pasta, beans and tuna. And he thought it was Cordon Bleu! What’s your sweet treat? Yoghurt-covered peanuts. I always have a packet near me. What do you refuse to eat? Duck. They frighten the bejaysus out of me. What is your guilty pleasure? Luncheon roll wrapped in an Easi Single. I may be the most disgusting person alive. You can go anywhere and have anything to eat with any one person. Where, what and who? I’d go to NYC, eat the best pizza from some guy on the street with my mate, Grace Kavanagh. We’ve done it before, and it was the best. What’s always in your kitchen? Cheese! Are you careful about what you eat? Not really, but I have tried to cut out the processed foods in the past year. What’s your perfect family meal? Christmas dinner in my parents’ house. Mum makes the most amazing stuffing, and my sister, Niamh, does a baked Alaska that lasts about two minutes. Muireann O’Connell is a broadcaster and radio personality. She co-presents the ‘Six O’Clock Show’ on TV3. Follow her on Twitter: @MuireannO_C In conversation with Sophie White