It's a "Taste of this Here", and a "Taste of that There" and, not surprisingly, billed as the Taste Riverina Festival promoted by Riverina Regional Tourism  in an effort to get us all involved with regional food and regional travel..

More than 100 events are on offer, and I suspect that by the end of it all the most devoured item will be the indigestion pill, so tempting  is the smorgasbord on offer, ranging from an exclusive hands-on masterclass with super-celebrity chef/writer, Christine Manfield, (Wagga - $250) to a Teddy Bears Picnic (Griffith - Free).

You can lunch with Costa Georgiadis, learn to make bread, attend an "All About Olives" workshop, and women who like their grog can join a 'Women Who Wine" progressive lunch (Leeton - starting 10am : $70 ).Sore heads in the morning?

The vast menu makes either mouth-watering, or repulsive reading, depending on your taste. 

However, some of the marketing details are confusing. Some venues or events are listed as free, while others claim reasonable or moderate prices, whatever that actually means, but when an event  promotes Free Entry - ATM at site, I become confused to say the least.

Curiously, another event will charge you to bring your favourite dish to share, but requests $15 for the honour. (Perhaps the proceeds will benefit a charity?)

It's great to see our local producers receiving wide promotion. Major sponsors of the event are Sunrice and Riverina Fresh, but no specific venue appears to "star" these products.

Beef, lamb, pork, olives and some wines all get a mention in passing, but it's a shame the program does not seemingly showcase them more positively.

The Riverina, quite rightly, promotes itself as the "food bowl" of Australia.

From where I sit at this computer, the window on my right displays a paddock filled with fat sheep with young lambs at foot, while the window on the left reveals a herd of pitch black cattle, and at certain times of the day, usually mornings and evenings, the window in front of me showcases several members of another local food product, brazenly feeding on the lush lawn grass.

They are the famed Australian underground-chickens, better known as the cursed rabbit, and excellent eating.

Why not celebrate this Riverina food at home? I'm offering lamb shanks, beef meat loaf and rabbit fricasee.

Enjoy your local produce.

Serves 4. Long, slow cooking at its best. The spices in this recipe are dry-roasted before the meat is cooked for added depth of flavour.

6 lamb shanks, each weighing approx 275g

1 small red capsicum, cut into chunks

1 small orange capsicum, cut into chunks

1 small yellow capsicum, cut into chunks 

4 garlic cloves, cut into slivers

2 brown onions, peeled and chopped

750ml full-bodied red wine

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1½ teaspoons coriander seeds

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 small red chillies, finely chopped

400g can chopped tomatoes

3 tablespoons honey 

1 tablespoon flour

Put the lamb shanks into a large plastic container or dish.

Add the capsicum, garlic and onion and pour the red wine over the top.

Cover and leave to marinate for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Put the cumin seeds in a dry frying pan over a medium heat. Stir while they toast for two to three minutes. They will start to smell aromatic and jump in the pan when they are ready. Tip them in a mortar, then dry-roast the coriander seeds in the same manner. Grind the spices together to a powder. Lift the shanks out of the marinade. Strain the rest of the marinade ingredients, reserving the liquid.

Heat the olive oil in a flameproof casserole dish and, when hot, brown the shanks in batches. Transfer to a plate and remove all but 1 tablespoon of the fat. 

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Add the reserved vegetables and chillies to the casserole dish and cook over medium heat for eight to 10 minutes, or until the onion has softened a little.

Meanwhile, mix the chopped tomatoes and honey into the marinade liquid.  Scatter the ground spices over the vegetables and stir. Pour in the marinade mixture and stir everything together. Season with salt. Add the lamb shanks and bring the liquid to the boil.

Cover with a lid and transfer to the oven for two hours. Turn the shanks halfway through cooking. Transfer the shanks to a large, deep serving dish, removing the meat from two of the shanks to make larger servings, and keep warm. Put the liquid over direct heat and bring to the boil. Bubble for 10 minutes to reduce the sauce. Pour the sauce over the meat and garnish with fresh coriander leaves, if you like.

Serves 6. A well-made meat loaf should be light, juicy and hold its shape when cut. Don't be put off by the suggested sweetness of orange in this recipe, it's more savoury than one imagines, and finished with an exciting glazed topping. Meat loaf may be eaten hot or cold; it provides an excellent filling for sandwiches or bread rolls, or simply slice and pack in a lunchbox with crisp lettuce wedges and cherry tomatoes. A good meat loaf should be in every home cook's repertoire.

750g minced beef

¼ cup orange juice

1 egg

1½ cups fresh white bread crumbs

1 onion, finely chopped

salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

For the topping:

¼ cup tomato paste

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

¼ teaspoon dry mustard

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom or cloves

3 slices orange cut in half with peel removed

Combine all the meat loaf ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Handle the meat lightly when mixing so that the final result is not too dense.

Lightly pack into a greased 21 X 11cm loaf tin. Bake in a preheated 180°C oven on the lower shelf for 30 minutes.

Make the topping: Combine the tomato paste, sugar, mustard and spices and mix well. Place the orange slices on top of the meat loaf, spoon the spice mixture over and bake for a further 30 minutes or until cooked and the top nicely glazed. Serve hot or cold.

Serves 4. A fricasee is a dish  of white meat, usually chicken, veal or rabbit, in what was once known as a veloute sauce made with egg yolks and cream.  As a young country lad, I was brought up on this dish and still love it. The unique fried sage leaves are an optional garnish. Instead of clarified butter, you could use 40g of ordinary butter and 1½ tablespoons olive oil.

60g clarified butter

1 x 1.5kg rabbit, cut into 8 pieces

200g button mushrooms 

2 smallish onions, peeled and quartered

125ml white wine

125ml chicken stock

bouquet garni

1/3 cup olive oil

small bunch sage

150ml double cream

2 egg yolks       

Heat half the butter (or butter and oil) in a large saucepan, season the rabbit and brown in batches, turning once. Remove from the saucepan and set aside. Add the remaining butter to the saucepan and saute the mushrooms and onions until the onions separate and begin to soften. Put the rabbit back in to the saucepan with the mushrooms and onions. Add the wine and cook for a few minutes before adding the stock ans small bundle of fresh herbs (bouquet garni).

Cover the pan tightly and simmer gently over a very low heat for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the 80ml of oil in a small saucepan. Remove the leaves from the bunch of sage and drop them, a few at a time, into the hot oil. The leaves will immediately start to bubble around the edges. Cook them for 30 seconds, or until bright green and crispy. Make sure you don't overheat the oil or cook the leaves for too long or they will turn black and taste burnt.  Drain the leaves on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

Lift the cooked rabbit, mushrooms and onion out of the saucepan and keep warm. Discard the bouquet garni. Remove the pan from the heat, mix together the cream and the egg yolks and stir quickly into the stock. Return to a very low heat and cook, stirring,  for about five minutes to thicken slightly (don't let the sauce boil or the eggs will scramble). Season to taste with salt and pepper.To serve, pour the sauce over the rabbit, mushrooms, and onions and garnish with the sage leaves.