Category: 2.13 Venison

A simple, tasty, comfort food for a cold evening.

Prep: 10 min Cooking: 30 min

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 225 degrees (fan)
2. Place the onions and mushroom in a frying pan, add a little olive oil and start gently frying – soften and cooking, but not browning.
3. Mix the flour and cayenne together and season with salt and pepper. Use this to coat the Venison.
4. When the onions are translucent and the mushrooms just cooked through and squidgy add the Venison, spreading it evenly across the pan – do not stir.
5. Wait one minute then turn the venison (stir in other words) and leave for another minute. This seals and browns the venison, also cooks the flour to help thicken the gravy.
6. Mix all the gravy ingredients in a jug and add to the pan. stir to form a smooth gravy and lift any flour from the base of the pan. If you want to be ‘chefy’ about it add the wine to the pan first to lift the flour, then everything else… Cook this on a low heat until the gravy is thick and unctuous.
7. Put the mix in a pie dish (I use a 25cm square dish) and gently move the dish back and forth to even out the mixture.
8. Roll out the puff pastry and lay it on top making sure it is just slightly larger than the dish, cut a few sprue holes in the top and put it in the oven for 18min. If you like you can glaze the pastry with egg yolk but I generally don’t bother. Similarly, you can crimp the pie edges but I don’t tend to do that either. If the gravy is the right texture then the pastry rests on the mix and cooks just fine.

I normally serve this with mash, but if you want a one dish dinner you can bulk up the pie with pumpkin or carrot – just cut this into fine cubes and add it when you add the mushrooms – just up the gravy mix by adding extra (about 75ml stock per 150g veg).

On the ingredients side – you can substitute beef for the venison, a beef stock cube for the venison stock (but add less salt tot season) and you can make or buy the pastry.

Method

Place the ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil, put the lid on and reduce the heat to a very low setting where the water is just bubbling and the lid stays unruffled by the steam. On my induction hob that’s 2/10.

Cook the stock for at least 90min, ideally 2 hours then put to one side to cool or use it straight away. Remember to pick at the bones to get any meat off, and to strain the stock to remove any bone fragments.

If you store the stock in the fridge use within 2-3 days.

The quantities are a guide to the proportions I find useful – If you want just multiply it all up and freeze it in 500ml blocks (see below). But if you stick to smaller batches you can play with flavours – roasting the bones first in the oven (200 c in a fan oven with a smear of olive oil adds a deeper flavour – good for gravy but not for broth. Up to you…

Why make your own stock?

You can buy stock, and stock cubes, but if like me you buy venison by the ‘beast’ then you want to make the best out of every bit…

Typically I’ll freeze maybe 5 or 6 packs of bones and use half the stock fresh, and freeze the other half. I could make a huge batch but I like to take the time and faff, playing with flavours because it’s how I like to relax.

Making Stock Blocks

Save up some large margarine tubs and keep the lids. Open out a plastic freezer bag and place it in the tub (remember to label it first),

Pour in the stock until it’s almost full, fold over the bag to cover the top then pop the lid on. Leave until it’s cool before stacking in the freezer.

Leave it for at least a day to freeze then pop it out of the tub, still in the bag and tie the bag – hey presto a 500ml stock cube…

Remember not to tie the bag before you freeze it as the liquid will expand – and for the same reason always leave a little room in the tub for expansion – if you over fill the tub will crack.