Saucy TV show
I’m proud of my daughter-in-law: she came to the cookery school as a student in 1990. A gorgeous butterfly, who, by her own admission, was more interested in the boys than the cooking techniques, Rachel caught the eye of my eldest son and the rest is history.
Despite herself, Rachel became fascinated by food and proved to be a natural in the kitchen. Rachel cooked in Ballymaloe House for a year, then put her pack on her back and travelled and tasted her way through Canada and South East Asia, before coming home to teach at the school.
Rachel made her TV debut on the Ballymaloe Bread series in 2001 and now writes a monthly column on food and style for Image magazine.
Rachel’s latest TV series has 13 parts, for which she cooks the sort of food that she loves to cook for her ‘discriminating’ friends: yummy, easy dishes, stylish, delicious and multi-ethnic. Perfect food for someone whose lifestyle demands flexibility, fresh thinking, good food - and all in a hurry.
Simple recipes, based on fresh ingredients that are readily available, are combined with bright ideas for fun. Rachel loves Asian flavours - a taste acquired on her travels in the East - and will encourage her viewers to have fun with lemon grass, nam pla, kaffir lime leaves, and coconut milk.
The book to accompany the series is published by Gill and Macmillan and has chapters entitled Easy Entertaining, An Indoor Picnic, Great Family Meals, When the Boat Comes in, Chilli Night, Sunday Brunch, Boys’ Lunch, Vegetarian Food for Everyone, Simple Comfort Food, Summer Lunch, Winter Lunch, Noodles and Children’s Birthday Party.
With 180 recipes, the book should help solve the eternal problem of ‘what am I going to cook tonight?’
Rachel’s Favourite Food by Rachel Allen, published by Gill and Macmillan, €19.99.
