Summer dining calls to mind long tables festooned with bright tablecloths, colourful salads and platters of vibrant seasonal dishes.
Draw inspiration from top local and international chefs by tuning in to SBS On Demand, which has a whole slate of programs this summer to whet your appetite. There’s the new Summer Entertaining collection, which brings together hosting specials by names such as Ina Garten, Khanh Ong, Ainsley Harriott and Gordon Ramsey. There’s also Stanley Tucci exploring Italy’s richly diverse food culture, Mabu Mabu’s Nornie Bero journeying through the Torres Strait Islands cooking locally loved dishes, and Marcus Wareing soaking up sun (and recipes) in Mallorca. Here’s what to watch for the ultimate summer cooking inspiration.
The Mediterranean has summer cooking on lock. English chef Marcus Wareing dives into the bounty of Mallorca where the Spanish island’s cuisine is tailored for its year-round warm climate. The food centres around produce pulled from its fertile soil and the waters that surround it. Follow Wareing as he visits markets, learns from Mallorcan chefs and digs into local street food and tapas culture. Summer-cooking inspiration comes in the form of barbequed pork chops, chilled tomato soup, paella and jugs of rosé sangria. Streaming from January 8, 2025.
Nornie Bero is the chef-restaurateur of Melbourne’s Mabu Mabu and an advocate for sharing and celebrating Indigenous cuisines and ingredients. The chef leads this vibrant new show. Bero, who was raised on the Torres Strait’s Mer Island, guides viewers through her cultural heritage as she hops between islands, shares stories with the locals and cooks dishes with locally caught and foraged produce. Expect plenty of summery seafood and the big flavours Bero brings to the table at her Fed Square restaurant. Streaming from January 8, 2025.
Few destinations scream “summer” more than Italy – and charming actor Stanley Tucci is the perfect tour guide to show us around its sun-kissed shores, forests and cities. Tucci takes viewers cross-country, sharing the cuisines and dishes that each region is known for. He speaks to – and learns the tricks of – the chefs and producers building on these legacies, getting the lowdown on the history of pizza in Naples, sampling the cuisines of Sardinia (which have been heavily influenced by centuries of diverse civilisations) and cooks bolognaise near Bologna.
Over seven seasons of The Cook Up, Adam Liaw and his guests have cooked hundreds of dishes. This makes the show an impeccable source of inspiration no matter the season, whether you’re looking for something cheffy or a simple home-spun meal. Take cues from the show to cook up easy yet impressive chargrilled prawns with chilli and garlic, a zucchini and feta salad, and a pistachio-berry ice-cream.
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with SBS On Demand.
