TV: Cork's Rory O'Connell cooks up a feast of treats in Morocco

He is best known for his magical menus bursting with homegrown Irish fare - but Cork culinary aficionado Rory O’Connell is not averse to seeking inspiration from faraway lands.

The co-founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School shares his love for African cuisine in his latest series How To Cook Well In Morocco which starts on RTÉ1 on Wednesday at 8pm.

Morocco, says Rory, is one of his favourite countries in the world.

“Since first visiting Marrakech in 1988, I have visited Morocco many times and 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.”

In the seven-part series - the first cookery series for RTÉ that has been filmed in Africa - Rory travels from Tangier on the north coast to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast, visiting Chefchaouen, Fez, Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains along the way.

At the end of each programme, he cooks a dish that has been inspired by his travels, capturing a flavour of Morocco, back home in East Cork.

In episode one, Rory leaves Spain and takes the short ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar. The city of Tangier is an exciting cultural melting pot and trading hub with a slightly rakish vibe, popular with writers and actors for more than a century.

Leaving the ferry, Rory visits the fish market before cooking a fish tagine at Blue Door Cuisine, a cookery school with an all female team which aims to promote cultural exchange through food.

His friend Pin Affleck is an Australian who visited Tangier and was bewitched by the place, making it her home. In 2020, Pin founded The Tangier Bureau, a textile company which produces her own contemporary designs using traditional hand weaving methods and Rory visits the workshop where the products are made.

At Donabo Gardens, Rory has a traditional lunch of harira soup and flatbreads, cooked in a clay oven, with his friends Malika El Alaoui and her husband Paul Belvoir who founded the botanical garden.

Finally, Rory samples some of the street food for which Tangier is famous before heading to the storied Gran Café de Paris where writers such as Tennessee Williams and Samuel Beckett enjoyed watching the world go by.

Back home in Ballycotton, Rory cooks Sardines Tangier Style, marinaded in Chermoula – a herb and spice relish.