Find a Day Spa, Guide for Day Spa Reviews

Mark “The Black” Olive is Australia’s most acclaimed Aboriginal chef. For the past 20 years, Mark, a proud Bundjalong man, has had a passion for bringing the vibrant colours and earthy tastes of ancient outback flavours and food to dining tables across Australia and throughout the world.

Mark’s love of food stemmed from spending long hours as a child watching his mother and aunties prepare food using traditional ingredients such as wattle seed or lemon myrtle. From this initial love, Mark went on to train under Italian chef Rino Collechia. Upon completing his apprenticeship, he went on to cook for a diverse range of restaurants and kitchens.

In 1993, Mark decided to have a break from cooking to follow his other love of film and television and started studying at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. This new love eventually led to a move to Melbourne in 1998 to attend an Indigenous theatre course at Swinburne University and then on to the Victorian College of the Arts where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Television. Shortly afterwards, Mark started appearing on the ABC TV series “Message Stick” as the resident chef.

However, Mark wanted to take his love of cooking and television one step further – out to the bush of Australia to visit Aboriginal communities throughout Australia, showcasing the native food of the area. Thus, the concept of a travel show combining tourism with food was created and The Outback Café was produced by the Lifestyle Channel on Foxtel. Mark is in the process of planning his own restaurant in Melbourne, which will also act as a training centre for young Indigenous people to enter into the hospitality industry in a culturally appropriate way. coo king in COAL AND ashes is the basic technique for cooking flesh, including most meats, fish and small turtles. A further slow roasting, involving covering with coals and ashes thoroughly cooks the meat or softens tough meat.

Care is taken to only use the correct type of wood from which the ashes are obtained. Some woods cause an unpleasant taste or irritation or discomfort. Most wattles have been successfully used for baking in the ashes, yielding a fine ash that did not cause irritation. Witchetty grubs only required to be briefly rolled in the hot ashes to cook them!

Encrusted Beef with Rosella Jus
Serves 4.

1 kg wagyu beef fillet,
4 eye fillets x 250gm each bunch silverbeet
1 ltr macadamia nut oil
250 gm butter (salted)
200 gm plain flour
1 ltr beef stock
bottle Australian Cab Sav
jar rosella flowers in syrup (500gm)
bunch shallots,
chopped herb mix (kutjera, Tanami apple, ground wattle seed, lemon myrtle, sea parsley, saltbush, Tasmanian mountain pepperleaf, pepperberry, chilli flakes)

1. Prep silverbeet leaves, blanche, rinse in cold water and squeeze out excess juice. In hot fry pan, sear fillets in oil on both sides until brown (medium to medium rare). Encrust one side with herb mix. Place on a rack on a baking tray in oven preheated to 180°. In fry pan, add butter and flour to make a roux. Add stock, red wine and 50ml of rosella syrup. Reduce. Add shallots and remove from heat.

2. Brush plate with jus (generous amount), then layer with julienne silverbeet and fillet, and crown with rosella flower. Drizzle jus over fillet.

3. Prep silverbeet leaves and blanche. Remove from water, rinse in cold water and squeeze out excess juice, then finely julienne.

4. Dust veal fillets in flour, then sear in oil in a heated fry pan for 1 minute each side and season. Set aside to relax. Cut with circular cutter into circles to fit on top of sourdough croutons.

5. To arrange, layer silverbeet, veal and fig on sourdough croutons. Drizzle syrup and garnish with fennel.

Seared Veal on Rye with Aniseed Myrtle Marinated Fig
(Bite-size finger food)

1 kg baby veal fillets, thinly sliced
2 bunches silverbeet (spinach)
1 loaf sourdough rye,
uncut 4 caramelised figs
aniseed myrtle olive oil
200 gm plain flour
salt & pepper
fennel sprigs (garnish)

1. Drain the syrup from the figs into a bowl. Add aniseed myrtle and stir. Let aniseed swell. Slice figs in half and place into syrup. Set aside.

2. Slice loaf lengthways, remove crust. Cut bread with circular cutter into bite-size circles (say 3cm). Brush with oil. Place on rack on baking tray in oven preheated to 180° until browned.

Remove and set aside.

(Images courtesy of Wayne Quilliam Photography)

Was this article helpful?