The sun didn't always shine during Rachel Allen's recent road trip along Ireland's stunning Atlantic coast, but the chef and writer insists that was all part of the charm.
"When the weather wasn't great, it was wild and dramatic and windy. We had a couple of boat trips that did more than clear out the cobwebs," says Allen, who spent a month journeying along the rugged western terrain from Ballymaloe in County Cork to the rugged headlands of Donegal.
She visited numerous foodie locations along the route - and each stop-off forms a chapter in her new book, Coast, which is packed full of recipes inspired by her 'culinary odyssey'.
There was Sneem village in Kerry, where she met black pudding-producing butchers; Galway City, to stock up on farmhouse cheese, and Rathmullan House in County Donegal, where Allen sampled some locally-brewed Kinnegar beer.
"The characters you meet along the way and their passion is just wonderful," says the author and TV presenter, who teaches at the acclaimed Ballymaloe Cookery School.
"I also learnt how to free-dive for crabs and went snorkelling, looking at different seaweeds. I was constantly learning."
Allen believes Ireland's gastronomic output in recent years has helped reverse the opinion that it houses a "nation of potato and cabbage eaters".
"Our produce is just the best in the world - when you think of our amazing seafood, our dairy, our meat, because of all our wonderful green grass and our grass-fed animals - it's just fantastic," she enthuses.
"I think it's wonderful now that so many more chefs have confidence in our produce. We're importing less all the time. It's wonderful seeing people going for local produce and really showcasing it wonderfully by doing simple things to it."
Allen took what she learned on her road trip back to share with her pupils at Ballymaloe. The Dubliner was 18 when she enrolled in a course at the famous school and met now-husband Isaac (son of renowned chef Darina Allen).
"I love the teaching, and thankfully my mother-in-law Darina is wonderful at letting me go off and do this. I come back full of enthusiasm," she says.
The mum-of-three, whose children range in age from six to 15, admits that despite the long days and distances involved, her journey up the Atlantic coast was "probably easier" than her usual day-to-day work.
"Normally when I finish work, I have to come home and look after the children. [On the trip] we were staying in little hotels, guest houses or bed and breakfasts, so all I had to do was eat an evening meal and collapse into bed," she adds with a laugh.
Have Allen's kids picked up any of her kitchen prowess?
"Josh [the eldest] is good at catching fish. He'll bring the fish back, he knows how to cook it himself but I'm awful, I'm one of these mothers, like the typical Irish mum who'll say, 'Ah no, I'll do it'," she confesses.
"I need to get them to do more, because they're good actually."
Want to try one of Allen's tasty recipes at home? Here are three from Coast...
:: IRISH ONION SOUP WITH BLUE CHEESE TOASTS
(Serves four as a starter)
25g butter
600g onions, peeled and cut into 5mm thick slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1L chicken or beef stock
150ml double or regular cream
For the Blue Cheese Toasts:
8 x 1cm thick slices of baguette, white yeast bread or sourdough
75g blue cheese, crumbled
Melt the butter in a saucepan large enough to take the onions. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper and stir. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for one-and-a-quarter to one-and-a-half hours, until the onions are very deep golden brown. You'll need to stir the onions and scrape the bottom of the saucepan every few minutes while cooking.
When the onions have caramelised, add the stock and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the cream, bring to a simmer and season to taste again with salt and pepper, then take off the heat.
When ready to serve, preheat the grill, then toast the bread on both sides and cut into smaller pieces, about 4cm. Pour the hot soup into heatproof bowls and top with the toasted bread. Crumble the blue cheese over the top, place the bowls under the hot grill and cook for one to two minutes until bubbling.
:: RAW BEEROOT, FETA AND AVOCADO SALAD WITH TOASTED ALMONDS AND BALSAMIC DRESSING
(Serves four to six as a starter)
30g whole almonds, cut lengthways into three slices
180g raw beetroot, peeled and sliced on a mandoline or a vegetable peeler 1-2mm thick
One large ripe avocado, halved, stone removed, peeled and flesh cut into about 18 slices
30g watercress, separated into little sprigs
30g red onion, peeled and sliced on a mandoline or vegetable peeler 1-2mm thick
90g feta cheese, crumbled
Few pinches of sea salt flakes
For the balsamic dressing:
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
2tbsp extra virgin olive oil (the best you have)
Pinch of fine salt
Twist of black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6. Combine all the ingredients for the balsamic dressing and set aside.
Put the almonds on a baking tray and cook in the oven for three minutes until golden under the skins. (You can also do this in a frying pan on a medium-high heat.) Set aside.
Arrange the salad ingredients evenly on the plates: a layer of beetroot, about three slices of avocado, sprigs of watercress, red onion slices, crumbled feta, a pinch of sea salt flakes and a scattering of toasted almonds.
Drizzle each plate with a generous one to one-and-a-half teaspoons of dressing and serve immediately.
:: IRISH CREAM LIQUEUR BAKED CHEESECAKE
(Serves eight)
For the base:
300g dark chocolate digestive biscuits
50g unsalted butter, melted
2tbsp double or regular cream
For the top:
500g full fat cream cheese
150g caster sugar
4 eggs
100ml strong coffee
100ml Irish cream liqueur
Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas mark 3.
Put the base of a round 25.5cm (10in) spring-form cake tin upside down into the tin and secure the clasp.
Put the biscuits in the bowl of a food processor (or in a plastic bag) and whiz (or bash with a rolling pin) until they reach the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs.
Tip out into a bowl, add the melted butter and cream and stir to combine. Press firmly into the bottom of the tin to create an even layer and flatten the top. Place on a baking tray, just in case any mixture leaks onto the floor of the oven while the cheesecake is cooking.
Put the cream cheese, sugar and eggs in a large bowl and whisk well to combine and get rid of any lumps in the cream cheese. Mix in the coffee and liqueur and pour into the tin on the tray.
Place the tray in the oven and cook for 35 minutes or until almost set. There should still be a thick wobble when you give the cheesecake a little shake. Turn off the oven but leave the cheesecake inside to sit for 30 minutes, then remove and leave to cool in the tin.
To remove the cheesecake from the tin, run a small sharp knife around the side of the cake, carefully unclip the tin and, with the help of a palette knife, slide the cheesecake off the base onto a serving plate (it should slide off easily because you have turned the base upside down).
Cut into slices to serve.
Coast: Recipes Inspired By Ireland's Wild Atlantic Coast by Rachel Allen is published by Harper NonFiction, priced £25 (eBook £12.99). Available now
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