By Sarah Willcocks
Time to polish up our barbeque plates to a sparkling shine and make sure the Esky is full of overpriced servo ice – Australia Day is coming.
It may be stereotypical but I, and I’m sure plenty of others, celebrate the occasion by inviting friends and family over for snags in bread with tomato sauce. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially when the barbeque is combined with a pool party, listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown and a few green and gold themed drinks as is tradition at my place. Yet at Onya we are dedicated to showing the diversity of Australia, so if you’d like to make your Oz Day celebrations a little bit more fancy, or a little bit more gourmet, read on.
Guy Grossi is one of Australia’s most well known chefs, owner of Grossi Florentino in Melbourne and renowned for his Italian cooking heritage. Goulburn Valley Tomatoes, who are our biggest Australian supplier of the fruit over summer, recently invited Guy to develop a handful of dishes that we mere mortals could recreate on Australia Day. Tomatoes have become an integral part of our cuisine in part thanks to our Italian, Greek and Spanish immigrants. They are certainly entrenched in my family history as a young Australian. I distinctly recall burying my little nose in the clusters of juicy red tomatoes growing on my Poppy’s (i.e. grandfathers) backyard plants, to inhale their earthy, tangy scent. I even know people who eat their Vegemite on toast with tomato slices (I personally prefer my daily mandatory dose of the spread straight up).
Above: Guy Grossi with his signature Australia Day dish
Guy’s winning recipe was Fillet of Beef with Tasty Tomato Sugo; the classier cousin to the classic steak with sauce. Naturally, the winning dish has to adapt just as well sizzling on the barbeque as eaten with white napkins and silverware. Plus, it has to emancipate the humble tomato from our squeeze-y sauce bottles for the day. “Whenever I eat this dish I find that the beef actually becomes an excuse to eat the sauce, so be generous with it,” says Guy. We say break out the sourdough bread to mop up all that sun-ripened goodness.
Fillet of Beef with Tasty Tomato Sugo
Ingredients for tomato sugo:
6 tomatoes (If you buy Goldburn Valley you are supporting Australian farmers)
200ml olive oil
2 large onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 chillies, chopped
200g tomato paste
6 basil leaves
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
3 cup chicken stock
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients for pan fried beef:
25ml olive oil
6x200g beef fillet
12 thin slices of speck (or ham, proscuitto or bacon)
6x20cm butchers twine
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
600ml white wine
3 tablespoons capers
1 tablespoon of fresh or dried oregano
Method:
Begin by taking out the core from the fresh tomatoes. On the bottom side of the tomato make a small cross cut. Bring 2 litres of the water to the boil and blanch the tomatoes for 30 seconds.
Immediately refresh the tomatoes in cold water. Peel the skin off the tomato from the cross which was made. Chop the tomato into 1 cm cubes.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy based pot; add the garlic, onion, basil leaves and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the tomato paste and continue stirring until caramelised. Add the chopped tomatoes, stock, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 200ºC.
Wrap each beef fillet with two overlapping slices of speck and tie with twine.
Heat olive oil in pan and sear the steaks on both sides.
Place pan in the oven for 7 to 8 minutes for medium rare.
Remove steaks from pan to allow the meat to rest.
Meanwhile place pan back on heat and deglaze with white wine, then add tomato sauce and reduce by half. Add capers, oregano and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes.
Remove twine from the fillets and cut into two medallions. Arrange on plate and pour sauce over.
Have a happy (and delectable) Australia Day!
