Succulent braised venison

Succulent braised venison

Venison benefits from long, slow cooking, and this Scottish dish develops a beautifully earthy sweetness - try it as an alternative to turkey.

Ingredients

2 carrot, roughly chopped

140g turnip or swede, roughly chopped

2 onion, roughly chopped

3 celery sticks, roughly chopped

olive oil and butter, for frying

1 garlic clove, crushed

1kg boned leg or shoulder of venison, cut into large chunks (or buy ready-cubed venison for stewing)

5 tbsp plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

2 tbsp redcurrant jelly (or rowan or hawthorn jelly)

450ml dry red wine (Rioja is good)

450ml beef stock

2 thyme sprigs

1 bay leaf

Method

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Fry the vegetables in a little oil and butter in a heavy-based casserole for 4-5 mins until golden. Tip in the garlic and fry for a further min, then set aside.

Put the venison into a plastic bag with seasoned flour and shake to coat. Add a little more oil and butter to the pan, then fry the venison over a high heat, stirring now and then, until well browned. Don’t crowd the pan – cook in batches if necessary. Set aside with the vegetables.

Add the redcurrant jelly and wine to the pan, and bring to the boil, scraping up all the bits that have stuck to the bottom. Pour in the stock, then add the thyme, bay leaf, meat and vegetables. Season if you like and bring to the boil. Cover and transfer to the oven for about 1½ hrs or until tender. Remove from the oven and check the seasoning.

Just in case the thought crosses your mind, you could possible do this in the slow cook, but I think you would have to part cook the root vegetables first, so if it was me cooking this I would cook this in the oven, but please let me know if you take the slow cooker root, I would be very interested in the outcome.