RTÉ Guide Interview
Alan Corr

When it comes to entertaining, Rachel Allen has two simple rules - make it simple and don't stress yourself out. Good common sense from the Cork-based chef who teaches at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School and who is about to launch her new book and TV series, Rachel Allen's Cooking for Friends.

However, the more delicate matter of cooking a romantic meal for two does require a little more finesse and detail. Food to seduce needs time, planning, and a loving touch. You can't just throw a lasagne in the oven says the Dublin-born chef who first came to Ballymaloe Cookery School when she was 18. And if the food is rich, don't serve huge portions, unless you plan to fall into a heavy sleep as soon as you've finished eating!

Over the next 13 weeks, Rachel will show us how to make the perfect dish for friends and family, or maybe even the boss or the motherin- law. The series starts with that ideal romantic meal for two and Rachel's menu will feature a Flirtini cocktail, oysters with ginger and lime butter, pan-grilled scallops and pine-nut salad.

Mmmm . . . but what's a Flirtini cocktail? Sounds like the perfect aperitif to seduction.
Well, I actually did see a Flirtini on a cocktail menu in a bar in London and I tried to make it when I went home. I changed the fruit a bit. But it sounds very suitable because you have one and it makes you flirt! God knows what one would do after more than one!

What food is perfect for creating the right mood?
A little bit of caviar will always do the right thing. Little things that look good to eat and that you're not going to have to chomp away at like a big steak. Nothing too heavy.

What are your top tips on setting an atmosphere?
For me, it's mainly very casual. I find the more relaxed I am, the more of a tone is set. If I'm enjoying entertaining whoever is there, then it becomes more enjoyable for my friends, rather than me getting totally stressed in the kitchen. Make sure the main course is done and the dessert is done and that the table is set beforehand. Often it's more spontaneous: 'oh look! We've got some prawns in from the harbour, come on over'. It's about relaxing. I'm not about being formal.

Does preparing any particular dish stress you out?
Cooking meat doesn't stress me out, but when there are various sauces going on, that might stress me. I would eat that kind of food in a restaurant. My husband likes cooking a lot at home and he's into his French sauces and I am too, but he would specialise in that more than I would. I would go for a big bowl of noodles.

Your husband Isaac Allen (son of Darina) runs two restaurants in Cork - The Bank and The Crawford Gallery Restaurant - but who's the better cook?
Oh my goodness, ooohhhhh . . . he does look over my shoulder when I'm cooking and that drives me mad! I often end up looking at him and saying, 'do you want to do this? Is it going to be you or me?' Get out of my kitchen! It's almost like an unspoken thing; if I'm cooking something earlier in the day, like Shepherd's pie, that's fine, I'll have that done but if we're both there, I'll probably let him do the main course things quite often and I'll run around cleaning up the house ever so slightly and he might say, 'oh yeah, you can do the dessert' and it's all good fun, but the better cook? Eh, ahhhh . . . I believe that he's more of a natural than I am, maybe because he grew up with food all the time. My family loved food but they're not real, real foodies.

Do you have a favourite tv chef?
Oooh. Jamie, Nigella . . . I don't actually sit and watch tv cookery programmes because I think, ooh! I'm working if I watch this! I love reading Nigel Slater, I think Anthony Worrell Thompson is great, and Rick Stein. Gary Rhodes is very nice but his food is a little bit fussy.

Have you had any cooking disasters?
I've had many! There were a lot of disasters this year when I was writing the new book. I'd say, ok, this could work and I'd put lime juice into this or raspberries into this or tomatoes into this, so there's been quite a few times where the children (Joshua and Luca) have just turned their noses up and there was a lot of food in the bin. When I'm doing demonstrations at the Ballymaloe cookery school I've burnt a lot of things. Trays of biscuits coming out black and I'd say, oh ok I just did this on purpose, just to show you. Disasters mainly happen in front of about 58 people!