Programme four
Wednesday May 7th 2025, RTÉ One, 8.30pm
In this new seven part series, Rory O’Connell visits Morocco, one of his favourite countries. This is the first cookery series for RTÉ that has been filmed in Africa.
“Since first visiting Marrakesh in 1988, I have visited Morocco many times and have been entranced by the place, the people, the food, the sights and sounds, the exotic atmosphere and the new discoveries,” he says.
“To be able to revisit favourite places and discover new ones, and to share those experiences has long been a dream of mine.”
Rory travels from Tangier on the north coast to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast, visiting Chefchaouen, Fez, Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountains along the way.
At the end of each programme, Rory cooks a dish that has been inspired by his travels, capturing a flavour of Morocco, back home in East Cork.
Episode 4: Marrakesh (First of two episodes in Marrakesh)
Rory arrives in Marrakesh late at night, but still in time to join the traders, hawkers and visitors who throng Jamaa El Fna, the city’s main square, and to take part in some impromptu drumming with travelling musicians.
The next day, Rory takes a food tour with Amanda Mouttaki from Moroccan Food Adventures, and cooks a Tanjia (a stew not to be confused with a tagine), in the embers of a furnace which heats the water for a Hammam (turkish bath) on the street above.
Rory advises viewers how to buy genuine spices, and avoid the fake, highly coloured ones before heading into Mustapha Blaoui, an interior design shop filled with wonderful things that Rory wants to bring home.
Rory then meets American Moroccan Nora Fitzgerald who set up the inspirational not for profit Amal Culinary Centre to teach young women from underprivileged backgrounds how to cook, and just as importantly, how to find work and gain some financial independence.
Back home in Ballycotton in East Cork, Rory makes a Medjool Date and Orange Salad, inspired by the piles of dates seen in the souks of Marrakesh.
How to Cook Well in Morocco is produced and directed by David Hare for InProduction TV and sponsored by Kerrygold
Press enquiries:
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Pauline Cronin 087 2629967