Ex-Masterchef Judge Gary Mehigan talks local produce ahead of his visit to Albany for Taste Great Southern

Former MasterChef judge Gary Mehigan has shared his excitement at visiting Albany for the first time this month and making the best of local produce during his appearances at several Taste Great Southern events. The festival championing the best of local food begins on Thursday and runs until May 14 with a big program of events for food lovers being held from Katanning to Esperance. Local chefs will cook alongside a smorgasbord of chefs and cooks visiting the region for the festival, including Mehigan who served as a judge on MasterChef for 12 series, alongside George Calombaris and Matt Preston, and has written five cookbooks. Mehigan will be visiting Albany while on a break from filming a TV show for National Geographic in India and said he was looking forward to “long walks on the beach” and meeting up with his Denmark-based famous friends Anna Gare and Luc Longley while in town. “It’s my first time to Albany and the Great Southern region, and I can’t wait,” Mehigan said. “It was one of the reasons that I signed up for the festival. “I have been to Margaret River, Perth and Port Hedland many times, but never down South, which is crazy. I am thrilled to be involved.” Mehigan will cook at the Catch of the South seafood degustation celebration on May 12 and with Garrison’s John Saville-Wright for the eight-dish Fee Fi Fo Fum closing night dinner on May 14. The chef said the menus for the events would champion local produce, featuring Albany sardines, wild-caught Kingfish, marron, Akoya oysters, Porongurgup’s Linley Valley Pork and bread from BredCo. “My whole menu has been designed around produce from the Great Southern region, particularly seafood,” Mehigan said. “We are doing two dinners, one at the Albany Boatshed in collaboration with Don Hancey, and the other at Garrison with John Saville-Wright. “The menus are both fairly eclectic, drawing influences from South East Asia, the Middle East and Australian cuisine, but we focus on the ingredients, so expect great flavours with simple but delicious dishes.” Mehigan will also cook for the public at a free demonstration at the Albany Famers Market on May 13, using only what is on offer on the day, in the chef’s own Masterchef-style challenge. “All the produce just sparks your imagination and I am looking forward to roaming the market and cooking up what I find,” he said. “I am hoping not to have a mystery box — I want to have an open mind, see what is there and have a riff, I love that. “I am looking forward to it and to taste some of the produce, that will be a thrill for me.” To see the full program of events and to buy tickets, visit: https://bit.ly/3naflTv