Coming home to Tasmania brought a new appreciation of fresh produce for chef Massimo Mele.
“18, I left Tassie. I wasn't passionate like I am now about produce. I didn't really understand where the produce came from. I wasn't really concerned with it either. As chefs, we all talk about being produce-driven, but I'm finally living it. I'm finally doing it and what that's created is a bit more appreciation for the farmers and the producers that I work with,” says the Italian-Australian chef in his Tasmanian series, The Chef’s Garden.
“It's all really because I'm surrounded by real produce. The produce that my mother and my nonna used to grow. The simplest food memory I ever had is her just breaking off the tomato, smearing all the tomato on the bread, and eating it in the field. I mean, now we call that bruschetta. Twenty years later I'm back where I started and I've got more energy than ever because I'm so excited to be cooking with produce that tastes like it should.”
Born in Tasmania and living in Naples for part of his childhood, Mele worked as a chef in Italy and Australia and is now food director at two leading Tasmanian restaurants, Grain of the Silos and Peppina.
The five-part series sees Mele cooking produce from his own garden and more widely, exploring the “garden” that is Tasmania. Tasmania, of course, is known for excellent produce, from land and sea, but Mele’s own garden is enough to provoke high levels of food-growing envy for any of us working with tiny balcony planters, or even an average city backyard, with row after row of productive garden beds bursting with greenery.
The series kicks off with the family’s annual passata-making gathering, before widening out to take in visits to farms, fishermen and factories. Each episode sees Mele cooking dishes featuring fresh produce, along with family favourites such as zeppole.
Here’s a taste of what’s on the menu in The Chef’s Garden.
"In an Italian household, family and food are everything and I like to keep the traditions going by getting the whole family together at the end of every summer to make passata," says Mele as the show opens with the family gathered in his garden to turn tomatoes into passata. But you don't have to have a backyard, or an Italian family, to enjoy this classic Italian dish. Purchased passata is also just fine in this homemade pasta dish!
Beetroot salad with goat’s curd
After a visit to Tongola Farm southeast of Hobart, where Massimo's friends Iain and Kate make a deliciously creamy goat curd, he makes a salad with freshly picked beetroot from his garden.
Baked figs wrapped in pancetta with goat’s cheese and nashi
"Figs are one of those fruits that remind me of growing up in Italy where fruit trees are everywhere," Mele says. And fresh figs pair beautifully with goat's cheese (you can also use gorgonzola) in this dish.
"For many Italians, zeppole holds a special place in our hearts, as a nostalgic trip associated with childhood memories. Usually, nonnas make zeppole," he explains before making his mother's recipe for these golden Italian doughnuts. "She makes it for my boys all the time. And everyone says Nonna's zeppole are the best. And I agree."
SBS Food is a 24/7 foodie channel for all Australians, with a focus on simple, authentic and everyday food inspiration from cultures everywhere. NSW stream only. Read more about SBS Food
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