EPISODE TEN OF TWELVE, RTÉ ONE, NOVEMBER 25th at 7.30PM
Rachel arrives in Mayo and visits a hill farm in Killadoon. There Tommy Joe Gallagher breeds Connemara Hill Lamb – the sheep that are unique to a region which stretches from Galway to South Mayo and are protected with PGI status.
The sheep are ready for shearing and so Rachel is invited to get stuck in – which she does rather reluctantly.
With the sheep sheared, Rachel borrows Tommy Joe’s kitchen to cook a lamb dish in local red ale, and the family gathers together to watch her at work.
Next Rachel travels up to Blacksod to meet Barbara Heneghan, a keen forager who uses flowers from her meadow to make teas, soaps and candles. The pair collect some red clover, and Barbara makes Rachel a soothing cup of red clover tea. This is paired with a tasty honey and almond cake that Rachel bakes at Barbara’s family home, overlooking the harbour.
Armed with a couple of slices of cake, Rachel heads off on a bike ride with her assistant Ivan Whelan – on a tandem! They ride part of the Western Greenway and, after a couple of false starts, they head off along a beautiful stretch of the coast.
Series Overview
Ireland’s gourmet goddess Rachel Allen is back with a new show that sees her travel along the southern and western coast in search of the best local produce.
In this new series Rachel takes to the road visiting the south and west coasts, hunting down the very best of the abundant local produce; foraging and, at times, battling wind and rain. Rachel cooks as she goes, for her crew and participants, usually outside in the elements and subject to the vagaries of the Irish weather. Taken away from the relative comforts of the kitchen, Rachel’s Coastal Cooking plays to her natural curiosity and sense of fun while showcasing some of the best of Ireland’s produce and the people behind it.
This food and travelogue series marks a real departure for Rachel, as she challenges herself to explore landscape, culture, social and culinary history in a way she has never tried before. The series also sees Rachel immersed in local communities, meeting incredible characters and exploring a mix of traditional and contemporary approaches to food production, from a state of the art Abalone farm to foraging for Woodruff in ancient woodland.