Recipe of the Month - November 2016
Venison Casserole
With Venison coming into season, we thought we would treat you to a winter warmer recipe. Venison is a lean meat option instead of beef or lamb and is very rich and deep in flavour. This casserole is a lovely option for those cold autumn evenings
Provided by Emlyn Sexon, Life’s Kitchen Company Head Chef
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 x tbsp. olive oil
- 25g butter
- 2 x onions, diced
- 4 x fresh garlic cloves
- 4 x rashers smoked bacon
- 500g mushrooms
- 2 x carrots, peeled & sliced
- 2.5kg haunch or shoulder of venison, diced
- ½ bottle red wine
- 400ml water
- 2 beef stock cubes, crumbled
- 3 tbsp. redcurrant jelly
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 50g corn flour
- Punnet redcurrants, to decorate
- 1 x Bunch Thyme (chopped)
- 2 x Bay leaves
Method
Preheat the oven to 150C On the hob, heat the olive oil and butter in a large casserole dish with a lid. Add the onions and cook until softened, but not browned. Add the garlic, bacon and mushrooms and cook for a further minute.
In a frying pan, brown the venison a handful at a time and add to the casserole dish. When all the meat is browned, add the red wine, water, stock cubes, thyme, bay leaves, carrots, redcurrant jelly and salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil and stir well. Put the lid on the casserole dish and place in the middle of the oven - cook for 90 minutes.
Remove the casserole from the oven, and make a paste with the corn flour and two tablespoons of water. Add as much of the paste to the casserole as is needed to thicken the sauce - add a little at a time if you are not sure how much you will need.
Transfer the casserole to the hob, and on a low heat, cook until the gravy has thickened - this will take about five minutes.
To serve:
Serve with new potatoes and your favorite green vegetables. Decorate each serving with a bunch of fresh redcurrants. Enjoy!
