Recipe: Venison Bourguinon

Yes yes, it's another recipe in such a short time but the weekend I had quite a bit of spare time on my hands as well as a lot of venison meat. I am quite a fan of making dishes where you throw a bunch of ingredients together, cover and a while later its ready, this one is perfect for that!

I started with it Sunday morning and pretty much left it till that evening so the meat was super soft you could eat it with a spoon! Yet again I improvised a little so mine is again different to that of the original recipe but I have adjusted the directions underneath...

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• packet chopped bacon
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 700g venison chunks
• 3 medium carrot, chopped into large chunks
• 3 clove garlic, crushed
• 250g mushrooms
• 1 cup peas
• baby golden potatoes
• 1 tin chopped peeled tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups beef stock
• ½ cup Brandy
• 2 cups dry red wine
• 1 Bouquet Garni (small fresh herb bouquet with thyme, rosemary and a bay leaf)
• salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the bacon, onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until brown, then add the venison, paprika and flour and brown.

Add the carrots to the pot. Cook and stir for several minutes until the onions have softened, then add the mushrooms and cook another 5-10 minutes.

Add all the brandy, wine, stock, chopped tomatoes and potatoes. Then add the bouquet garni and cover. Season with salt & pepper.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for approximately 3 hours in an oven on 160 until the venison is very tender.

Serve with cous-cous or polenta.

...This recipe works very well with cold weather and is perfect for the weekend to invite friends over.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Venison Cottage Pie

I have always had a passion for cooking, I think I got it from my dad, when he is home there is always good smells coming from the kitchen. I always joke around and say that he thinks he's Jamie Oliver because we have all of his books and every morning I can find my dad browsing for new recipes in one of his cook books.

This is a dish that I have been wanting to make for a while and decided last night was the night I was going to try it. My fiancé recently went hunting so we have a lot of wild in our freezer so I made this with venison instead of beef. Some of the other ingredients I have also changed because I find that I never quite stick to recipe's anyway, think I got this from my dad's 'wing it' cooking style and it always seems to work for him. But never the less, it came out really good and would recommend it to anyone!

Meat Filling

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 600g venison mince
• 1 onion, minced
• medium carrot, minced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tin chopped peeled tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• salt and pepper

Potato Topping

• 5 potatoes, peeled
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• salt and pepper

Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with hot water. Add a heavy pinch of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Continue to boil until the potatoes are tender. Mash potatoes, then mix in the butter, milk and Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt and white pepper and set aside.

In a large pan over medium heat. Brown the mince and onions with the garlic. Add the carrots and peas as well as the oregano, thyme and bay leaves.

Stir in tomato paste, tinned tomatoes, stock and flour, stirring often to prevent it from burning to the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper

Now to put it all together...

Spread the mince filling evenly over the bottom of the casserole dish. Spoon the mixture on top and flatten out gently over the mince filling.

Place the pan into the oven on 180 and bake until the potatoes are nicely browned.

...It looks like a lot of work but is actually super easy, give it a try it's definitely worth it!