Earth, Fire, Water: How cooking with the elements made me a better food lover

From the sweet to the savoury, Maeve O'Meara's brand-new book Food Safari Earth Fire Water celebrates cooking with the elements and once again reiterates why her adventures have earned dream-job status.

Dan and Angie Hong with Maeve O'Meara celebrating he fiery powers that be. Source: Food Safari Fire

There's nothing quite like the joy of seeing the advance author copy of a book you’ve worked on for most of the year arrive. I've always compared that moment to the rush of the maternity ward (where I've visited 3 times) and it might sound strange but books the size of Food Safari Earth Fire Water take a good 9 months gestation. From collection and testing recipes to gathering the stories that flourish behind them, working with the publisher Pam Brewster to craft and curate them into a beautiful book. Each page features the past three series of Food Safari - Fire, Earth and Water which has come to life thanks to the brainchild and my partner director Toufic Charabati.

300 pages celebrating over 200 recipes and most importantly, highlighting the voices and faces of multicultural Australia - from famous chefs to home cooks, all sharing their best recipes. For me, filming these three series and collecting all these recipes has changed the way I cook, the way I eat and shop. I eat less processed food, buy cleverly and with confidence from markets and growers and pick up many spices from emporiums on my travels. It's safe to say I've stepped out of my comfort zone, which I think Food Safari is really good at doing.

The series' showcases new ingredients, techniques and combinations, and television has been a great window into so many different worlds. Food Safari Earth Fire Water is an extension of that warm and happy place where nothing is too complicated and everything is explained - and the recipes simply work! Plus you’ve got the bonus of being able to access the video recipes via SBS Food - so you can see how my friend Judy Saba shapes her pumpkin kibbeh, how charred you need the leeks that Pablo Tordesillas Garcia cooks over charcoal ready to serve with a classic rich romesco sauce, or how Johnny di Francesco makes his pizza base ready for topping, and then the wood-fired oven.

Pizza margherita. Source: Food Safari Fire

The common thread here - when cooking with the Elements - is something that starts with the exceptional flavour and sheer joy of cooking with fire. Everything simply tastes better cooked over a fire and it's not just meats that become so delicious, its a range of vegetables as well. We feature eggplant, okra, pumpkin and cabbage plus an inventive Cuban idea of cooking corn in its husk over charcoal, the roasted kernels ready to serve with charred red capsicum and avocado. 

There's a whole section from my friend Turkish chef Somer Sivrioglu on kebabs and how to make four different types of superb accompaniments including an iced purslane salad with pomegranate seeds that pop in your mouth.

Since we filmed the Fire series we’ve added a tandoor to our fire devices at home (alongside our charcoal BBQ, gas-fired paella pan and hotplate). Marinating and preparing meat and chicken ready for the intense heat of the tandoor and gradually mastering cooking bread on the clay sides has been a delicious adventure, all inspired by the people we’ve met during along the way. I'd now love a smoker to be able to recreate the 12-hour beef brisket and pulled pork belly recipes we feature.  

It's no surprise that many of the recipes in the book are now my go-to favourites. Like Attila Yilmaz’s red lentil kofte - a brilliant meze dish which was on our Christmas table last year served as a Turkish san choy bow with pickled onion (these are delicious and useful for all sorts of salads), freshly picked herbs and a squeeze of lemon. What could be more delicious? One of those make-ahead recipes that pleases everyone and it's likely to make Christmas again this year!

Source: Sharyn Cairns

Then there’s Nat's broccolini salad which has also been on high-rotation at home. I still remember tasting it for the first time when we were filming her husband Joseph Abboud cooking saj pizza at home. A mix of broccolini, pistachio and pepitas, sliced green beans, pomegranate seeds, mint and parsley; Pip Fagan's date, almond and chocolate meringue is one of the easiest crowd-pleasing sweets I've found; chef Peter Conistis’ brilliant scallop moussaka - a sure-fire way to impress at dinner parties. Plus the spring celebration of young broadbeans from Turkish chef Ibrahim Kasif - made and enjoyed so often.

I can’t tell you the delight of being able to feature talented cooks who are the toast of their communities - the delightful Senegalese Aissatou Ba with her spiced rice and fish that's the national dish of her homeland; Ulku Gani with her ancient Turkish mix of grains and dried fruit that is known as “Noah’s Ark Pudding”; Franca Norris who forages for mushrooms in north-east Victoria and teams a delicious wild mushroom and tomato sauce with the lightest gnocchi on the planet; Samira Saab with the Lebanese iron-rich mulberry cordial (sharab el toot); my friend and mother's group friend, Kate Kennedy whipping up a Kiwi classic of whitebait fritters... the list goes on and it's like trying to choose a favourite child!

I love that our book honours some of the icons of food in Australia, pioneers of their cuisines and incredible humans to boot: Abla Amad who opened her Melbourne restaurant in 1979; Angie Hong who has brought Vietnamese food to many of its lovers and beyond; Lien Yeomans, whose recipe for cha ca - marinated fish cooked over charcoal and served with herbs and dipping sauce - is simply incredible. Alla Wolf-Tasker whose recipe for gingerbread is the pinnacle; Rosa Mitchell with her Sicilian-inspired recipes (including her caponata); we have recipes from stellar chefs Tetsuya Wakuda, Peter Gilmore, Martin Benn, Guy Grossi, Brent Savage, Andrew McConnell, Frank Camorra, Danielle Alvarez and Cheong Liew.

You can watch Food Safari Water with Maeve O'Meara 7.30pm, Wednesdays on SBS and then on SBS On Demand. Visit the program page for recipes, videos and more. Food Safari Earth Fire Water [Hardie Grant; RRP $60] is available in stores from 1 Nov. Did you know Maeve hosts “Food Safari Live”? For the past 20  years, she has been designing and leading food tours in Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, Byron Bay, Victorian High Country, Sardinia and Corsica, Vietnam, the Greek Islands and Turkey. Get all the details gourmetsafaris.com.au

And if you're in Sydney or Melbourne, Maeve invites you to come along to one of these events.

Sun 4^th Nov – Sydney - Bar Machiavelli in Rushcutters Bay. Click here to book /// Sat 17^th Nov - Sydney - Carriageworks Farmers Markets signing - 8am to 1pm /// Sun 18^th Nov - Melbourne Middle Eastern Feast at Rumi Restaurant. Click here to book /// Tues 20^th Nov – Melbourne - Eltham Book Shop dinner at Maroush Middle Eastern Restaurant. Get the event details here /// Thurs 29^th Nov - Sydney - Bathers Pavilion lunch. Click here to book /// Sat 1st Dec - North Sydney - Northside Produce Markets - 8 am to midday.