On the Island

I'm surrounded by food all the time at my Ediburgh deli, Valvona and Crolla, so it would be one of my treats not to cook on the island. The problem is that I would still want to eat well. I was taught to cook by my mother, grandmother and mother-in-law. My family is from a mountain village in southern Italy which was inaccessible until about 100 years ago, about the time when my family moved to Britain. The village was so remote that the tradition of cooking goes back, unadulterated by outside influences, for thousands of years. They used very simple ingredients and cooked them very simply. I recreate those dishes at home and in the deli.

My island would be the clichéd variety - sunny, sandy, with palm trees. But I'm no longer a sun worshipper. I used to love frying myself in the sun, coated in olive oil. Now I'm over 40 I stay out of the sun and sit under a palm tree and relax.

I am a working mum, so I am extremely busy: I run the deli, look after my youngest daughter, Olivia (six), and am in the middle of writing a book called Dear Francesca to my oldest daughter, Francesca, who is at university. It is a cookery book combined with the history of our families. I love the way writing forces you to think. I've written two children's cookery books and I wrote a food column for The Scotsman newspaper, which stopped me relaxing for about three years. It was nice, but you are constantly thinking about what you're going to write and so it ended up becoming very invasive. But if I was stuck on a desert island I would have to keep my mind active so I would write, I would cook after all.

Drink: Pinot Bianco Jermann

My husband is the wine merchant of the deli so I checked with him over my choice. We settled on Pinot Bianco Jermann, the producer from the northeast of Italy. Jermann makes the most delicious white wine, and the Pinot Bianco is particularly lovely because it is a very creamy and rich wine - perfect for my desert island dish.

Luxury Item

It would have to be ice cream. I'm nostalgic about ice cream because I spent my childhood living above my dad's ice-cream shop in Cockenzie, a village outside Edinburgh. We don't make ice cream at the deli, but every day I visit Luca's, one of the oldest Italian ice cream shops left in Scotland. When we were kids they were direct opposition to my dad's shop so we weren't allowed to go there, but now I go practically every day to eat plain, simple vanilla. But I would actually have one of my dad's ice creams on the island.

My desert island dish

With the five allowed ingredients: Abbaccio (milk-fed spring lamb, not available in this country), dry white wine, roasting potatoes, garlic, Maldon sea salt.

Abbacchio is milk-fed spring lamb, reared in southern Italy specifically for its sweet tender meat. It is slightly fatty but when cooked it is meltingly soft and delicious. Abbacchio means 'spring lamb' and they eat it in Rome at Easter time. The lamb doesn't eat any grass. Traditionally in the ancient times they strapped the lamb under the sheep in a case and kept it there - now that practice has been abandoned. Young Welsh, Scottish or English hill lamb is beautiful cooked this way. I also love Shetland lamb, which is in season later on, August and September. On my island I would cook this on a spit, which is traditionally how they cooked the dish in Italy.

Abbacchio al forno

Serves 8

1.5 kg young spring lamb
300ml dry white wine
500g roasting potatoes
for the marinade
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2-3 cloves new season's garlic, unpeeled and squashed with the back of a knife
2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
4-5 fresh bay leaves
Maldon sea salt

Cut the lamb into 110-120g pieces, with the bone. Rub the lamb with Maldon salt and extra virgin olive oil. Put it in a dish with the rosemary, garlic and bay leaves and leave it covered in the fridge overnight. Remove the lamb from the fridge an hour before cooking. Pre-heat the oven to gas6, 200°C, 400°F. Roast the lamb, coated with olive oil and herbs, for about 20 minutes. After it has started to brown take it out of the oven, turn it in its juices and add the wine. Parboil the potatoes and add to the meat, turning them in the juices.Return to the oven for another 30 minutes until the lamb is tender and the potatoes are crispy. This is one of those dishes that I cook until it is ready. Keeping checking the oven and adjust the heat, as you like.

• Mary Contini is co-owner Valvona and Crolla, 19 Elm Row, Edinburgh EH (0131 556 6066). Her latest children's cookbook is Easy Peasy Sweetie Pie.