We have just celebrated Harvest in our village and Monday night saw our Harvest Supper and Auction of Produce - with marrows, pumpkins and apple pies being auctioned off to raise money for the village church! It still surprises me how much people will pay for a marrow in a charity auction!

Derek did a wonderful job as auctioneer and everyone left with a box or two of veggies and fruit!

Supper was a simple casserole and jacket potatoes. Preparing casserole for 80 people was a daunting task and I will certainly not be peeling another carrot for a while - it took me hours! I thought that I would post the recipe, just in case you ever need to mass cater for a simple event!

Beef in Red Wine (Serves 80 - 90 people)

Preparation time 3 hours, cooking time 3 hours (or longer if you have it)

7.5 kilos stewing beef

plain flour, salt and pepper for dusting the beef

300ml vegetable oil

2 kilos bacon, fat removed and chopped

3 kilos red onions, peeled and roughly chopped

2 kilos leeks, roughly chopped and thoroughly washed

7 kilos carrots, peeled and chopped

5 kilos parsnips, peeled and chopped

3 kilos mushrooms, roughly chopped

9 tins chopped tomatoes

6 litres of cheap red wine

6 litres of beef stock

3 large tubes tomato puree

3 kilos frozen peas

Dust the beef with the flour and seasoning and brown in small batches to seal, adding a small amount of oil to the pan with each batch of meat. This took approximately 1 1/2 hours. Set aside. Fry the bacon in batches and set aside. Whilst the meat and bacon are browning, add the chopped onions to a large saucepan with 4 tbsp of the oil and stir until soften. Add the leeks and cook down for a further 10 minutes.

Take three large pans (and I mean large - my jam pan was the smallest!). Divide the onion and leek mixture, meat and bacon between the three pans. Divide the carrots, parsnips and mushrooms between the three pans and add two litres of wine and two litres of beef stock to each pan together with 3 tins of tomatoes and 1 tube of tomato puree. Top up with a little boiling water if the vegetables are not covered. Bring the pans to the boil and then cover and simmer over a gentle heat for 3 hours until the vegetables are cooked and the meat is tender. Season to taste. 20 minutes before serving add the frozen peas so that they keep their colour. Each pot will feed approximately 25 - 30 people.