W L FOOD & DRINK
THE BUTCHERS CUT
BY MUFFS OF BROMBOROUGH
HEARTY WINTER VENISON STEW
INGREDIENTS
• 250g Dry cured Bacon cut into lardons
• 1kg diced venison
• Finely chopped onion
• 3 carrots roughly chopped
• 3 celery sticks roughly chopped
• 300g waxy potatoes
• 1 diced turnip
• 3 Bay leaf
• Sprig of Thyme
• 6 juniper berries
• 3 banana shallots cut in half
• 500ml veal stock
METHOD
• In a large heavy based pre heated casserole dish , add some oil and start to fry the bacon lardons . When you are starting to get some colour and the fat is beginning to render out , add the chopped onion .
• As the onions start to go slightly translucent , add half a tablespoon of tomato puree and stir well . Don ’ t let the paste catch on the pan as this will make it too bitter , add a little water if needed .
• Add the carrot , banana shallots and celery and continue to cook out . When the celery and shallots are softening a bit , deglaze the pan with the port or some red wine . Remove all this into a separate bowl or pan so you can clean and reuse your dish to fry off your venison .
• One your casserole dish is nice and clean , pre heat so it ' s nice and hot . Drop your diced venison in a little flour and shake off any excess flour . Pop some oil in the pan and fry off your venison . Do it in small batches if you need to . You are aiming to slightly colour the meat , you don ’ t want to burn it as this could make it tough and dry .
• Now add your previous mixture and use the juice to deglaze the pan . You can now add the juniper , bay leaves , thyme , stock , potatoes and turnip .
• Bring it all up to a simmer . Leave on a low heat , a very gentle simmer for two to three hours , stir occasionally to make sure it is not sticking and burning to the pan .
• Enjoy with some crusty bread with plenty of butter on and some pickled red cabbage . Heaven !
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