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Braised Venison & Red Wine Stew

The working muscles in animals develop loads of flavour, due to the fact that they are always moving. They need a little care and attention, and a little more time to cook, as they tend to be tougher. The important part of this recipe is to make sure that you have a nice hot pan and you caramelise the meat well before adding any wine or stock. Loads of flavour is developed at this stage in the dish.

15 minutes prep, Around 2 hours, 30 minutes cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g venison haunch, trimmed and diced

25g butter

2 shallots, diced

100g carrot, diced

½ leek, diced

50g silver skin baby onions

3 sticks celery, peeled and diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

25g plain flour

25g tomato purée

120ml red wine

300ml beef stock

3 sprigs thyme

25ml rapeseed oil

Salt and pepper

Method

For this you will require a saucepan with a lid, suitable for the oven. If you do not have one, you can follow the recipe using a pot and then transfer everything into a casserole dish and pop it in the oven. It will also work in the slow cooker.

Heat a teaspoon of oil the pan. Season the meat and add to the hot pan. Make sure you do not add too much meat at a time, as you need to keep the pan hot throughout the browning stages. Colour evenly for 4 to 5 minutes, then remove the meat from the pan and place to one side.

If necessary, add a splash more oil to the pan and then add the butter and slowly start to sweat the shallot, carrot, leek, baby onions and celery.

Once softened, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Now add the flour and tomato purée and cook for a minute. Add the wine and reduce until fully evaporated, then add stock and the thyme.

Finally add the meat back into the pan and bring to a simmer. Place the lid on the pot and put it into the oven at 150°C/Fan 130°C/Gas 2 for 1 to 2 hours or until the meat is tender.