Shane Delia - Spice Journey: An Adventure in Middle Eastern Flavours

From Morocco , Malta and Andalucia in the West, to Turkey , Lebanon and Iran in the East, the food and fl avours of the Middle East permeate almost every aspect of daily life. Orange blossom and rose petals, spiceencrusted slow-cooked meats, fermented yoghurts, dates and olivesthese are the fl avours that have entranced visitors for centuries and that have recently experienced a surge in popularity in Western kitchens.

Awardwinning Maltese-Australian chef Shane Delia journeys to both the welltrodden souks and private dining rooms of locals across six countries, in search of the most authentic local recipes to bring back to his kitchen. Spice Journey offers 80 of these recipes distilled for the home cook. Accompanied by hundreds of stunning images shot on location, this is a book for anyone who has ever dreamt of taking their own spice journey.

INTRODUCTION

Im sure you have been asked, If you were given just one wish, what would that wish be? Its a daunting question to most people; endless possibilities run through the mind contemplating things that would otherwise be unobtainable or impossible to achieve.

For a cook who comes from a family deeply rooted in its Phoenician ancestry, who has married into a Lebanese family that lives and breathes food and humble hospitality, the ultimate wish I could ever be granted would be to explore and celebrate the food traditions of the Middle East. In 2013, I was given the opportunity to create a television cooking show, Spice Journey , with the Australian television station Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), travelling across the Middle East, meeting cooks from all walks of life, discovering ancient and modern dishes and then returning home and reinterpreting them at my Melbourne restaurant, Maha. Three seasons on, seeing what I have seen, my spice journey has given me more than I could have ever wished for.

This book is the culmination of my travels. Im not a natural TV presenter or a travel guide. Im not a celebrity chef or wanting to be. Im just a cook from Melbourne who loves his life and all that it encompasses. My journey has taken me through the ancient lands of Persia, the Ottoman Empire, Phoenicia, the Moors and the coastal paradise of Andaluca. I have met people who have opened their homes to me and shared their cuisine, history and culture, but above all they have shared with me a piece of their hearts and their lives. I hope I have been able to do justice to the people who have given me so much. I hope I have portrayed their homelands in a manner that they are proud of. And I hope that I have created food that is respectful to the history and love in each special dish or item of produce that they shared.

I hope you enjoy the food and cultures I have visited during my spice journey. The recipes are all rock solid and tasty. A few have already become staples among my family and friends, and I hope the same will happen in your home soon. Cook with this book, use it, dirty it up and put these recipes to the test. Food is something that unites people through a common ground. It is the medium for conversation and gives people a voice irrespective of race, religion, sex or nationality.

Make these recipes your own, add your own words and give it your own accent. People have been doing just that for centuries and thats what makes food special and why I love being a cook.

Saha!

SHANE DELIA

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, St Julians Bay

Malta

This was where it all started for me as a cookthe home of my ancestors and the place where the penny finally dropped and I decided that I was going to dedicate the rest of my life to hospitality.

T he Delia family motto is Fortis et Hospitalis, which means strength through hospitality. I have it tattooed on my arm and the older I get, the more I understand what it really means.

My familys homeland of Malta is a deeply misunderstood little rock. The rest of the world doesnt know what to make of it. Situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, people think we are Italian, though we speak a language that has all the bones of Arabic and 95 per cent of us are Roman Catholic. Over the centuries we have been invaded by nearly everyone wanting a piece of the European pie. And yet we seem to endure.

I grew up in a large Maltese family in Melbourne, Australia. Tales of back home conjured a magical place where the summers were long and hot, adventure was around every corner, and happiness awaited with every plate of food. As much as my dad was Australian, he was always MalteseI mean, it is hard to disguise. Our family has dark skin, Arabic features and, no matter how hard you try, you can never quite shake off that very distinctive Maltese accent. I always wanted to get to know what made my dad the amazing person he was and finally, when I was 14, I was given that chance. Dad decided to take the whole family on a three-month vacation to Malta, to experience firsthand the country he grew up in.

We walked the same streets Dad did as a child, swam in the same waters, cooked and ate the same food with our family and friends, and drank in the same bars he did as a young man. We were thrown into a big, boisterous life that was not really ours, yet we were made to feel like we belonged. I immediately felt a very real connection to my ancestral home. All the stories of my fathers youth came rushing in as if they were my own memoriestales from my grandparents about happy times eating and drinking, celebrating festive days by the jewel-blue Mediterranean Sea.