The following recipes have been submitted to us courtesy of our festival's Guest Foodie Rebecca Sullivan. Rebecca was our food celebrity and MC for our festival events, the 50 Mile Meal and Paddock to Plate precinct day.

The Taste Coly committee would like to take this opportunity to once again thank Rebecca for being our Guest Foodie and for sharing her knowledge and skills with us. 

More information about Rebecca can be found at her website: 

Beef Bourguignon
INGREDIENTS:
  • 100 g middle bacon
  • 1 kg lean stewing steak
  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 10 small button onions or French shallots
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons plain flour
  • 500 ml (2 cups) red wine
  • 250 ml (1 cup) beef stock
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 350 g button mushrooms
  • mashed potato to serve
  • parsley sprigs to garnish

serves 6

METHOD:

  1. Preheat the oven to 230 deg C
  2. Slice the bacon into strips or chunks. Cut the steak into 1 1/2 inch cubes.
  3. Slice the onion and carrot. Crush the garlic clove. Peel the button onions or shallots.
  4. In a large casserole dish, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil and cook the bacon until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon (leaving behind as much oil as possible), put in a large bowl, cover and set aside.
  5. Reheat the casserole dish until the fat is very hot, almost smoking. Working in batches, add the beef cubes and fry until brown on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the bowl with the bacon.
  6. Add the carrot and onion to the casserole dish and fry briefly, stirring constantly. Pour or spoon out any excess fat.
  7. Return the beef and bacon to the casserole dish. Add the salt and pepper and shake everything well. Sprinkle with plain flour and shake again. Put the dish, uncovered, on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 4 minutes. Give everything a stir and return to the oven for another 4 minutes.
  8. Reduce the oven temperature to 160ºC. Stir in the wine and enough beef stock to just cover the meat. Add the tomato purée, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to the boil on the stovetop then cover and cook in the oven for at least 2–3 hours, or longer if you like.
  9. While this is cooking, prepare the shallots and mushrooms. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the oil in a saucepan. When the fat starts to bubble, add the onions or shallots. Gently fry them over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until softened, and set aside in a bowl.
  10. Do exactly the same with the button mushrooms, frying them for about 10 minutes. Add to the bowl with the onions.
  11. When the bourguignon is ready, add the onions and mushrooms to the mixture and serve with truffle mash or mashed potatoes and sprigs of parsley.

Perfect mash
INGREDIENTS:
  • 6 large potatoes - King Edward are great
  • 50 ml thick cream
  • Two knobs of butter
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 2–3 tablespoons grated parmesan (optional)

METHOD:
  1. Peel the potatoes and chop them into chunks. Put in a saucepan, add water to cover and bring to the boil. Boil gently until soft enough to mash.
  2. Drain well, add all the other ingredients and mash with a hand blender for the perfect texture.