An inside look at the traditional wood-fired oven and how it is still used today; many Italians construct their own in their backyards.

Italian Food Safari goes to Fremantle to join the last sardine fisherman on the Western Australia coast, the charming Jim Mendolia who supplies the fresh fish market. Melbourne cook Rosa Mitchell from the Journal Canteen, better known as Rosa’s Kitchen, shows Guy the secrets of her delicious classic recipe for stuffed sardines. Italian cuisine wouldn’t exist without pasta and Maeve visits the Baldino family at L’Abruzzese Pasta in Adelaide to learn how all the various shapes of extruded pasta are made including the “little ears” or orecchiette which Guy cooks in his restaurant kitchen with cime di rapa, a favourite dish from Puglia, where Guy’s family is from. He then ventures into the Victorian Alpine country to visit Simone’s, a beautiful country restaurant run by Umbrian chef Patrizia Simone who shares her recipe for roast duck stuffed with local chestnuts, the centre-piece of an al fresco feast set out by a mountain stream.

Maeve spends the day with a tomato-growing family who have made fresh tomato sauce for 45 years; Guy joins tomato grower John Monigatti during his harvest.

Guy makes a bread-based salad called panzanella after visiting an artisanal baker in Melbourne; Maeve discovers more about the Italian passion for veal.

Maeve tries crayfish cooked on a barbecue after visiting crayfishermen off Geraldton; Maurizio Esposito teaches Guy the secret recipe for his crayfish gnocchi.

Guy visits a huge family garden in Melbourne that provides meals and wine; in Adelaide, Maeve discovers the wonder of prosciutto when it is cooked with pasta.