A Gondola on the Murray

Stefano’s restaurant is in Mildura, a provincial city on the banks of the ‘Mighty Murray’ river, the longest in Australia that, in this part of the country, winds its way through desert and irrigates the region known as Sunraysia. Travelling with Stefano on an old bicycle, we meet wonderful local characters like Mrs Mazello whose eggs are so big she calls them rooster eggs. Stefano uses them to make his homemade pasta - pasta fatta in casa. The Murray River is home a delicious fresh-water fish, the Murray cod. By the banks of the Murray River, on a gnarled fallen gum tree, Stefano steams to perfection a fresh cod caught for him that day by a local fisherman. But a cook’s life is not always so free and simple - that night, with guest chef Tony Tan, Stefano prepares a sumptuous banquet for the Mildura Arts Festival.

Many families in Mildura migrated to Australia with nothing more than an old cardboard suitcase containing all their worldly possessions and have never looked back. In this episode we visit the cantina of a farming family where bread is still made in the traditional wood-burning oven. Stefano shares with them a wonderful meal of bruscetta with freshly roasted capsicums and vegetable pickles preserved in vinegar and zepolli with sardines, all washed down with home made wine. Later, Stefano prepares a minestre di riso, an exquisitely refined dish made with asparagus he got from the grower that morning. After a nostalgic visit to an old sherry winery, there is work to be done - all the de Pieri clan meet at the family’s orchard to pick apples. In the kitchen, the dishes for a picnic have been prepared by Stefano and his mother-in-law, Anna, who cooks a marvellous eggplant parmiagiana.

There are some places that Stefano just can’t get to on his bicycle and, in this episode, he sets out to drive hundreds of kilometres north from his beloved Murray River. He is visiting his friends, Trish and Philip Palmer, who own a huge cattle property.