After some further research for recipes for the Pizza Oven I came across some techniques for cooking paella in a WFO (wood fired oven). Traditionally the Spanish use olive or orange tree prunings as the smoke from the wood imparts a special flavour onto the food. As I’m only 6 weeks from firing up our oven and spring has just begun I figured now would be the time to get some olive wood of my own.
I started by looking online for the local Olive growers association, to see if they could point me in the right direction. After some emails to the right people, I contacted a local grower, Michael Johnston, who, by chance just heavily pruned his trees. Located at Willunga we locked in a 10.00am pick-up. After a great drive through the hills we arrived at his fantastic property at the top of Willunga Hill with views of the ocean and flat lands below.
We got to chat with Michael and learn about his grove, the kids played with the kelpies and climbed the trees and we got a trailer load of great olive wood and 2 bottles of his latest ‘vintage’. A great day all-round!
