Eat Life Up is a free pop-up alfresco event that is run by the Adelaide Festival of Arts. This year’s event was situated at Prince Henry Gardens, where Moro ambassador and guest celebrity chef – Miguel Maestre – was showcasing his authentic cooking skills via a number of free-to-public demonstrations of cooking delicious and easy dishes.

The team at Adelaide Food Central was kindly invited to the Prince Henry Gardens where we were treated to watch iconic cooking star Miguel Maestre cook and create Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish omelette) using Moro olive oil.

A native of the beautiful country of Spain, Miguel has catapulted his status of being a diverse and well-reputed chef by working hard in setting up the biggest Spanish restaurant (El Toro Loco) in Sydney, working alongside other well-known chefs around Australia and worldwide, and has also co-hosted Channel Ten’s “The Living Room”.

With a larger than life personality, Miguel captured the crowd’s attention as he charmingly greeted every single spectator and made sure that we were all included in his cooking demonstration. He also gave us an educational insight into the different varieties of olive oil and the many ways in which they could be used to bring out the best flavours in food.

Miguel used the culinary magic to create Tortilla de Patatas, samples of which were provided to us in a burger-like bun. As we witnessed Miguel in action, he deep-fried the potatoes and onions to a beautiful, caramelized crisp. He then cooked some lightly whisked eggs with this concoction.  The omelette held all the ingredients together beautifully, delivering with a delicious and juicy flavour. The infusion of the olive oil brought out the flavours nicely as well.

We were personally honoured and enthralled to meet Miguel, who is a down-to-earth person and makes his passion for cooking be known to everyone around him. His zest for cooking is inspiring and it is evident that tradition and authenticity are key components in making dishes that both look and taste appetising!

Words by Fatema Sitabkhan

WHERE: Prince Henry Gardens, Adelaide