Eating in front of people? Not his thing. Eating on a podcast? Not too bad after all! It’s Paapa Essiedu! Fresh from his Olivier Award win for All My Sons, the remarkable British-Ghanaian actor joins Nick and Angela at the Dish table this week. Known for his work across stage and screen, Paapa chats about his latest projects: Falling, the Channel 4 love story from Jack Thorne opposite former Dish guest Keeley Hawes, and BBC drama Babies. We also chat about Paapa’s early theatre days, from a voice-vanishing moment during King Lear to the surreal experience of later sharing the stage with childhood screen icon, Bryan Cranston (and the very important role of a white chocolate matcha latte while doing it). As Paapa is a lover of spice, the Dish kitchen turns up the heat from the off with vibrant green big-batch spicy margaritas, before Angela serves Ixta Belfrage’s spicy prawn tacos with rhubarb & scotch bonnet salsa. Sweet, smoky, sharp and properly fiery, it’s exactly the sort of bold flavours Paapa loves. The tacos are paired with Tohu Sauvignon Blanc Awatere Valley, whose bright citrus notes cut through the chilli perfectly while lifting the rhubarb too. Elsewhere, we uncover what’s currently hot in Paapa’s world: fresh tomatoes and olives. And what’s not: splitting the bill, rogue scotch bonnet wellness shots, and, in perhaps the boldest statement ever made at the Dish table, cheese and pasta. As shocking as it seems, we can confirm that no Angela Hartnett’s were harmed in the face of this last statement. Find all Dish episodes here: https://pod.link/1626354833 All recipes from this podcast can be found at https://www.waitrose.com/dishrecipes A transcript for this episode can be found at https://www.waitrose.com/dish Follow Dish: https://www.instagram.com/dish_podcast/ https://www.tiktok.com/@dishpodcast Follow Waitrose: https://www.instagram.com/waitrose/ https://www.tiktok.com/@waitrose Follow Nick: https://www.instagram.com/nicholasgrimshaw/ https://www.tiktok.com/@nickgrimshaw Follow Angela: https://www.instagram.com/angelacooking/ Follow Cold Glass Productions: https://www.instagram.com/coldglassproductions/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/cold-glass-productions We can’t all have a Michelin star chef in the kitchen, but you can ask Angela for help. Send your dilemmas to dish@waitrose.co.uk and she’ll try to answer in a future episode. Dish is a Cold Glass Production for Waitrose ------------------------------------ Timestamps: 00:00 - Coming up on Dish 00:30 - Welcome! 00:54 - What's in season? 02:17 - Paapa Essiedu is here! 03:59 - It's time for spicy margaritas! 04:38 - How spicy is too spicy? 05:00 - Olivier Award wins & theatre life 08:29 - Food likes & spice 10:21 - Olive epiphany! 13:20 - Matcha era & superstitions 15:14 - One dislike for Paapa 16:43 - How cheffy are you? 19:59 - Food is served! 22:33 - Wine pairing 22:58 - Watch Angela cook it! 23:10 - Still to come... 23:26 - To split or not to split? 24:53 - Angela's inter railing trip! 26:37 - Paapa's appearance in Falling 31:25 - Paapa's appearance in Babies 33:36 - Fast food quiz 35:35 - End of the show question