Food Safari

There's no doubt our knowledge of food

took a giant leap forward when the Italians arrived,

and our steepest learning curve was seafood.

What we once knew as bait, we now know as culinary masterpieces.

Welcome to the ingenious world of Italian food.

On this Safari, catching sardines and cooking them to perfection,

a celebration of pasta,

and a queen of Umbrian cuisine creates an alfresco feast.

LILTING MANDOLIN & PERCUSSION

For hundreds of years in the Mediterranean,

Italian fishermen have set off before dawn

to catch one of their favourite fish, the small, flavoursome sardine.

When they came to Australia

and started fishing along the Western Australian coast,

they discovered sardines in abundance.

Jim Mendolia has grown up with sardines.

From an early age he helped his father, Francolino,

learning all the old ways.

The birds also help us find fish.

That's how your dad used to fish?

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, you look for the birds first.

What sonar does, it gives you the quantity.

And it tells you which way the fish are moving,

so... easier to catch sometimes.

Yeah.

The local dolphins are attuned to the sounds coming from Jim's boat.

The sound of the nets encircling a school of sardines

is like a dinner bell.

Yeah, we share it. We feed both of us.

You know, like the fish are gonna be schooled up.

So they'll jump in and out. In and out, whenever they like.

While many other boats used to fish the area for sardines,

Jim is now the last sardine fisherman

on this part of the Western Australian coast.

Oh, look at 'em!

Yeah, the scalies jump.

So you know you've got a good haul.

Yeah, probably too many. Too many?

I don't want to take this many, but...

We'll leave some for tomorrow.

But there used to be a lot of fishermen

going for sardines around here. Yes.

What happened? How are you the only one now?

I tended to go for the food market, whereas they went for feed,

you know, like the tuna feed or pet feed,

where you had to gear up really big.

I'm happy with one or two ton a day.

And that's barely reaching your demand.

Oh, yeah. I should catch a lot more, but, look, I'd rather keep it small.

That's good. I've lost enough hair.

A vacuum pumps the fish in a silver stream

ready to be processed within an hour of being caught.

What happens, all the Italians come from Italy...

They come here for the lobster industry,

but as they were coming in from behind the islands,

they could see tons and tons of them,

so that's when t ey brought nets from Italy

and started catching 'em.

But in those days, they were catching so many

and the food market wasn't big enough,

so it was just used for lobster bait.

And for years my father wanted me to start a factory,

but they only knew salted fish like anchovies, salted sardines.

But then I got the idea off my mum for filleting

and I was reading this seafood magazine

and in Norway and those places

they fillet herring, North Sea herring, for rollmops,

and I was able to track one down

and an old Norwegian guy came here and converted it to do sardines.

Really? Yeah.

The machine was doing about 150 fish a minute. And there you have it.

And now, there's a big market for fresh sardines.

Oh, yeah, cos I'm the only one left on the west coast,

I can't keep up on the market.

Messy! Oh! There's a good facial.

It's got Omega-3.

They say no one cooks a sardine like a Sicilian.

Rosa Mitchell is one of Melbourne's culinary dynamos,

opening a place of pilgrimage for food lovers,

a trattoria called the Journal Canteen,

featuring Italian home-style food.

Why would you put a car in a garage? Why would you? That's just dumb.

Yeah, that's right. You can keep food in there. Signora.

Rosa spent her childhood in seaside Catania,

learning all her secrets from her mother Maria.

In Australia, their workshop is their double garage

where they cure olives and make salami,

pickle artichokes and dry wild fennel and salted ricotta.

They just look like an incredible thing.

This is beautiful with 'maccheroni alla Norma'.

Si. Oh, wow.

And it's just as hard as a parmesan. It's nice?

Yeah.

Smells beautiful. Dolce, eh?

You try that, nutty and just gorgeous.

Yeah, you take this out.

See that, on your pasta. Fresh tomato sauce.

It's amazing. Really good. It's very, very good.

Really good. Really delicious.

Buonissimo, Signora. Complimenti, complimenti.

You're gonna bone these crazy little things out by hand.

Top chef like you, I'm gonna teach you something.

I'm always eager to learn. This is how I do them.

Look at that. There we go, just like that.

Then we just turn it upside down, you run your nail along the bones.

So we just go along the backbone, snap there, pull,

and there's your filleted sardine.

and there's your filleted sardine.

So just attack. Pull. Pull. It's really, really simple.

We get some bread, just processed fresh bread.

We get some bread, just processed fresh bread.

White bread's best, and then some parsley,

some grated parmesan and some pepper,

some garlic, bit of garlic.

Put some salt in there

and just some egg to bind it together.

Can I help you with that? I like to assist in the kitchen.

You don't want it too, too wet.

And what I normally do is... Is it better with my hands?

And what I normally do is... Is it better with my hands?

I think so, you get more of a feel for it.

I think so, you get more of a feel for it.

I'm not worried about it. Probably needs a bit more.

I test it by just putting it together in your fingers like that.

Then we're ready. Beautiful.

Okay. So next is filling up our sarde?

Okay. So next is filling up our sarde?

So just a little bit, squash it in my hand a little bit.

So just a little bit, squash it in my hand a little bit.

Down the centre of the sardine.

Down the centre of the sardine.

Then you've got to find one that's the same size.

You make a little sardine sandwich.

This is called a sarde a beccafico,

which is the name of a little tiny bird in Italy.

So now we're ready to go into the hot oil.

Yep. So just lightly floured, not too much. Put that there.

They look so tasty. They are.

These would be good for a cocktail party because they're so small.

So is that getting a bit warm? Looks like it's nice and hot.

There's another one. They smell great already.

There's another one. They smell great already.

It's that olive oil... I don't cook with anything else.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And I just love it and I think, you know,

it's what makes the taste of these is the olive oil.

What I also like to do is a little bit of salt

for a taste of the sea. Beautiful.

So we'll let them brown a little bit. Sizzle away.

Okay, we might turn it over.

Turn this one over as well.

They're looking good. They smell divine.

I think sardines has got to be one of my favourite fish to eat.

They're just so flavoursome. Yeah.

They're just so flavoursome. Yeah.

As you said, you can really taste the sea.

As you said, you can really taste the sea.

Sardines are so good for you. So, eat as many as you like?

Sardines are so good for you. So, eat as many as you like?

Yes. Great.

With a nice glass of wine. Keep you nice and virile.

Yeah, that's right. I like that!

Yeah, that's right. I like that!

I think I'll eat all of those later.

Are they nearly there? I think they're nearly there.

They sound and look like they're nearly there,

they certainly smell like they're nearly there.

I'm not burning my fingers. You wouldn't want that.

Be careful they're not too hot. I've got to try it though.

Okay, go for it. I'm getting so hungry.

Mmmm! Sono buoni?

Mmmm! Sono buoni?

Buonissimo! Grazie.

Sorry for talking with my mouth full.

I had to get that out. That is absolutely stunning.

You've gotta try some. I will, I will.

Careful, it's a bit warm. Dirty hands.

Let me feed you. And, you know, you can...

You happy with that? Mmmm. I'm happy with that..

Guy, it's hard to imagine Italian cuisine without pasta.

And why would you?

It's one of the most beautiful staples of the Italian 'cucina'.

And there's so many sorts.

I know Italians that eat pasta every single day

just a small amount, but every day.

And besides, in the words of the great Sophia Loren,

everything you see here before you I owe to spaghetti.

There you go!

The basis of much of the great pasta is a variety of wheat

that gives a beautiful colour and texture to pasta.

It's called durum wheat

and it's grown mainly in what's known as "the golden triangle" -

the grain belt of New South Wales and South Australia.

Durum wheat is known for its hardness, protein,

Durum wheat is known for its hardness, protein,

intense yellow colour, nutty flavour and excellent cooking qualities.

With a growing interest in high quality wheat for pasta and semolina,

production has doubled in Australia in the last 10 years.

Pasta can be made by hand