Rachel’s Australian food odyssey begins! Kicking off her eight week journey in one of the world’s most liveable cities, Rachel wanders around Melbourne's European-designed streets and samples coffee at the city’s oldest establishment. Rachel explores the oldest Chinatown in the Southern Hemisphere and discovers the importance early settlers had on Melbourne’s food scene. On her travels, Rachel also visits a new breed of restaurants with a 'back to basics' food philosophy and appreciation of fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Everything old is cool again in Melbourne's retro heartland, with food and fashion leading the vintage charge. Rachel visits a century-old milk bar and samples a curious combination of Aussie classics at one of the city's trendy Melbourne bars. Later, Rachel prepares a dish with Kate Gibbs, the grand-daughter of legendary Aussie cook Margaret Fulton.
Rachel explores some of the city’s suburban pockets and discovers an open-hearted food community. First up she meets a kindred spirit and discovers some of the tastiest croissants outside of Paris. Rachel cooks with expat and seasonal cooking advocate Matt Wilkinson, before discovering a not-for-profit restaurant.
Rachel takes a break from city life and spreads her wings on a road trip to the Bellarine Peninsula - a region emerging as the new ‘it’ area for foodies seeking local produce. Meeting up with a mussel trawler, winery owner and cheese maker, Rachel is treated to inspiring food stories and sensational fresh produce. Along the way, Rachel even has a go at milking a goat!
Melbourne prides itself on being the sporting capital of Australia. Rachel discovers what fuels the city's weekend warriors and shines a spotlight on sport fanatics' favourite gourmet fast food. She cooks with the city’s original food truck proprietor, samples the best Southern fried chicken Melbourne has to offer, and visits a cutting edge craft beer brewery.
Immigration has played a massive role in shaping Melbourne's food scene. Keen to explore this melting pot of cuisines, Rachel explores a Vietnamese food market, tracks down a suburban hot bed of Greek eats, and learns how to make passata from an Italian-Australian nonna.
Rachel uncovers one of Melbourne’s lesser-known day trips when she heads for the hills and explores the Dandenongs region. She meets up with passionate Argentinian chef Mauro Callegari from The Independent restaurant and together the pair cook locally caught golden trout. Later, Rachel uncovers the secret behind Melbourne's delicious mushrooms and finds an orchard full of seasonal fruits.
Rachel wraps up her Melbourne immersion with a look at the city’s current and future food trends. She meets a Thai couple who have crafted their passion for Asian-fusion food into a unique all day breakfast. Rachel cooks with a local who represents the growing breed of mixed heritage chefs, and checks out a Texan-inspired smokehouse restaurant. Culminating her time in Australia, Rachel invites the series' guests to a barbecue party at her Melbourne apartment.
Any firm white fish will work for these tacos, but I particularly like snapper or flathead. A tortilla press is a really handy tool to make even thin tortillas, but you could easily use a rolling pin if you don’t have one.
The authentic cut for this dish is belly pork with the skin on. Traditionally, the recipe calls for tender Chinese leeks, but I also enjoy the dish with green and red capsicums. The dish should look bright red, thanks to the chillies blended in the chilli bean paste, but it's more a matter of aesthetics. Just make sure your pork is packed with hot, pungent flavours!
Nothing beats inviting some friends around for a flame-grilled feast. I love barbecuing lamb ribs because they’ve got a lovely layer of fat which melts as they cook, adding flavour to the ribs, while keeping the meat moist at the same time.
The cream cheese pastry I use here works for both sweet and savoury pies because it has so little sugar in it. You can make the pastry a few days ahead of time and keep it refrigerated or frozen which makes this dish an easy number to whip up for a mid-week dessert.
“Here Margaret Fulton’s granddaughter shows us her modern take on a classic 1950s English salad first made in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. You can serve the recipe canapé-style, as we have done here, or as a large shared salad with the pappadums passed separately.” Rachel Khoo
“This is a really easy dish to put together with a few simple ingredients. It's perfect for any time of day - breakfast, lunch, dinner or even a midnight snack. You don’t have to used sliced white bread for this - just use whatever you have hanging around at home and even better if it’s a few days old. And it wouldn’t be a Khoo recipe if there wasn’t some cheese involved! You can easily make this dish vegetarian by just leaving out the bacon and using a vegetarian–friendly cheese.” Rachel Khoo
Chef and restaurateur Elena Bonnici’s eclectic style of cooking is a reflection of her melting pot of a Maltese-Middle Eastern-Italian heritage. From her restaurant United Arab Eatery in Melbourne, Elena shows Rachel how her diverse cultural upbringing has inspired her playful fusion of flavours.
These pastries are my version of a traditional sweet Greek dish called galaktoboureko. It might be a hard word to say, but the combination of creamy semolina custard, crunchy buttery filo and fragrant syrup is definitely not hard to eat! If you can bear the wait, they’re best eaten the day after making.
When you have fantastic produce like these super fresh mussels, it’s really easy to create delicious food without too much effort. Here I serve them straight up with a squeeze of lemon, in lettuce cups with a ceviche dressing and in the half shell with gazpacho jelly and crispy capers. To make it even easier when you're entertaining, prepare the gazpacho jelly the night before.
These stunning little tartlets are the perfect way to celebrate orange season and make a great dessert or afternoon tea. You can make the tart bases well ahead of time and keep them in an airtight container but make sure you assemble the tarts just before serving so they stay nice and crisp.
Matt Wilkinson, chef and cookery author, has a passion for growing, sourcing and presenting the best tasting produce he can. Here he pairs freshly plucked figs from the trees at Merri Creek's community veggie patch with blue cheese, walnuts and corn bread.
By investing a little time each summer in processing box upon box of the season’s tomatoes, Rosa Bovezza and her family ensure they have enough passata to feed everyone all year round. This recipe does feed a lot, but you can always freeze half for another time.
