{"id":5100,"date":"2026-01-12T11:45:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T01:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/?p=5100"},"modified":"2026-01-12T15:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T05:22:08","slug":"how-to-make-gravy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/news\/how-to-make-gravy","title":{"rendered":"‘How to Make Gravy’ at STARS"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘How to Make Gravy’ at STARS<\/h1>\n
\"Rajesh

Rajesh and Stephanie from STARS Food Services provide their recipe for ‘How to Make Gravy’, inspired by Paul Kelly’s iconic song.<\/p><\/div>\n

Rajesh and Stephanie from STARS Food Services know a thing or two about the importance of the finishing touches on a meal. In October, they were the winners of the Hospitality in Healthcare Culinary Competition in Melbourne. Their standout dish was crispy duck breast including a gastrique, a special type of French pouring sauce.<\/h4>\n

Over Christmas they turned their attention to another favourite sauce, the gravy, in line with Paul Kelly\u2019s iconic song \u2018How to Make Gravy\u2019.<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s song is all about connectedness at Christmas and this is exactly what the Food Services team at STARS hoped to bring to the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Christmas Day we want our patients at STARS to have a special dining experience with all the trimmings,\u201d said Stephanie.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur patients were able to choose from a range of traditional Christmas fare, including roast turkey, served with stuffing, roast vegies, peas and of course gravy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also had mini pavlovas, custard, ice-cream, jelly and stone fruits for dessert.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose requiring a textured modified diet were also included with ham and turkey meals and a gingerbread inspired dessert.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you need a good gravy recipe, Stephanie has provided her favourite which is full of flavour and goes with a variety of meats and roast vegetables. You can substitute vegetable stock for a vegetarian version.
\nIngredients<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

– 4 or 5 chopped shallots or Brown onion<\/p>\n

– 1 diced carrots<\/p>\n

– 1 stick diced celery<\/p>\n

– 5 Sliced Swiss brown mushrooms or any mushrooms<\/p>\n

– 2 tbsp olive oil<\/p>\n

– 5 crushed cloves garlic<\/p>\n

– 2 tbsp flour<\/p>\n

– 2 tbsp tomato paste<\/p>\n

– 200ml dark ale or any beer or red wine<\/p>\n

– 1 stick rosemary<\/p>\n

– Small bunch thyme<\/p>\n

– 1L beef stock<\/p>\n

Method<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. In a large pot over high heat, add the oil. Once hot, add the shallots and a pinch of salt, then sweat down.<\/li>\n
  2. After 3-4 minutes, add the rest of the vegetables and cook until some colour starts to develop, then add the garlic.<\/li>\n
  3. Next, add the flour and tomato paste, stirring well. Cook this for 2-3 minutes to cook out the flour.<\/li>\n
  4. Now, add the ale\/wine, stirring well, and cook for a further 4 minutes before adding the herbs and then the stock.<\/li>\n
  5. Stir well, and then let it simmer for 40 minutes or until the gravy reaches your desired thickness.<\/li>\n
  6. When it’s thick enough, check the salt level, and if you’re happy, pass it through a sieve to remove any solid pieces.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As the song lyrics go, you might want to add a touch of tomato sauce for extra tang.<\/p>\n

    We hope all the patients at STARS enjoyed their Christmas lunch.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Winners of the 2025 Hospitality in Healthcare Culinary Competition, Rajesh and Stephanie have turned their culinary skills to making gravy, in line with Paul Kelly\u2019s iconic song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":5101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-stars"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5100"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5105,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100\/revisions\/5105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}