Moran’s Paddock

The owner of ARIA and CHISWICK, who recently announced he will continue to run Sydney Opera House’s Opera Bar for the next decade, focuses on South Australia and Western Australia’s produce in the new season of Paddock to Plate, which screens on the Lifestyle Channel from Wednesday, September 3. Moran, whose restaurant and bar endeavours are currently all located in Sydney and Brisbane, tells The Adelaide Review an announcement is coming soon. “I’m going to make it in a couple of weeks. Something new.” Will it be something outside of Sydney and Brisbane? “It could be anywhere. It might be in Adelaide, you never know? We’re really excited. It’s a great time at the moment. We’re expanding.” The second season of Paddock to Plate features four episodes that celebrate South Australia’s food regions: the Eyre Peninsula (episode one), the Riverland (episode two), Fleurieu Peninsula (episode four) and the Barossa Valley/Adelaide Hills (episode six). Moran travels to an area of Australia to meet with farmers, producers and food identities in each episode before he cooks a meal using their produce. In the season opener, Moran experiences the diversity of the Eyre Peninsula as the former GQ Chef of the Year visits saltbush-grazing lamb in the South Australian dessert’s 41-degree heat before heading to the cooler climate of Pt Lincoln to dive with Bluefin tuna. It was this diversity that attracted him to SA. “We shot the first series in Victoria and New South Wales last year,” Moran says. “The first time out we were thinking about keeping it close. Proximity was a big thing. With Victoria, we knew that we could get five episodes in quite easily. I’m not going to say that South Australia is the food capital of Australia, but it wouldn’t be bloody far off if you ask me. The idea, when I first came up with it for ITV, was to shoot regions, so we could make quite a few seasons of it. South Australia is very diverse.” Moran cooks for some living food and wine legends in the upcoming Barossa episode. “I was there for seven days dissecting it. I feel as though I know the Barossa better than anybody,” he laughs. “We went and saw Maggie Beer and I had to cook for her, which is one of the scariest things in the world. I went to a Red Angus farm and that to me was a real paddock to plate. This guy breeds them, he gets them slaughtered and then he sells them in farmers’ markets. We went to Stephen’s [Henschke] place and I cooked up lamb as the feast at the end. To cook for Stephen Henschke and drink Mount Edelstone and Hill of Grace in his backyard for his family is a bucket list for me. Barossa was a great episode. To hang out with two icons of Australian food and wine, it was pretty damn cool.” Moran was part of Kangaroo Island’s Festival in April, where he cooked an Argentinian inspired feast to launch the festival. But KI isn’t featured in this series of Paddock to Plate. “I thought a great series would be the islands: Kangaroo, Flinders, King and Norfolk. And I haven’t done the Limestone Coast either. It means I might come back one day.” Sustainability is a theme that runs through the show. “That word is being kicked around a lot more these days. It’s not a fad. It is a reality. People want to know what they’re putting in their mouths, who’s growing it, where it comes from and how it’s looked after. Seasonality is another big thing I’m really into. When we use asparagus at ARIA Restaurant, for instance, we’re grateful that we’ve got it and thankful that we’ve got it. When we don’t have it, we’re not buying it from Brazil; we’re excited about getting it back again [when it’s in season]. That means menus change and seasonality comes into it a lot more than it used to. I built CHISWICK with a market garden next to it for one reason; the vegetables we grow, that’s what we use in the restaurant. It makes the chefs think about seasonality.” Moran also breaks down stigmas in Paddock to Plate. He shows that farmed fish taste delicious plus he goes out on a duck hunt. “I was worried about that [duck hunting]. I come from the country and I carry a gun license with me, I always have, since I was 19, for farming reasons. Duck shooting, I was a little skeptical about it. I met the guys. I met the family. It’s something they’ve been doing for 150 years. It’s part of their diet. It’s not dissimilar to me breeding lamb, killing it and eating it. What they shoot, they eat. And they proved that to me. We had a lot of fun doing it. I’m not one of those people who just go out to blast things for the hell of it, and I never have been. What they’re doing is sustainable and it’s a big part of their diet.” Paddock to Plate screens on The Lifestyle Channel from Wednesday, September 3 (8.30pm) mattmoran.com.au lifestyle.com.au/tv/paddock-to-plate