Recipe a month....

[curiouswombat]

brutti_ma_buoni said one of her aims this year is to try a new recipe each month from a recipe book she already owns.

Today I joined in and cooked Spiced Braised Venison with Chilli and Chocolate from one of the BBC Good Food Magazines that were my birthday present at the end of 2012.

D-d and I have now eaten (S2C is in bed - he'll get his later), and both agree that this is absolutely gorgeous. Also that it would work just as well with beef if you would prefer.



For 6 portions.

Ingredients;

3Tbs vegetable oil
1.5kg diced stewing venison
1 onion roughly chopped
3 large carrots roughly chopped
1tbspn cumin seeds
1 teaspn ground coriander
large pinch chilli powder*
Small cinnamon stick
1 red chilli, whole*
1 heaped tbspn plain flour
500ml red wine
300ml beef stock
400gm can chopped tomatoes
large sprig thyme
2 bay leaves
2 ox dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)

* We like chilli - I substituted a dessertspoon of chilli paste.


Method;

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas mark 4.
2. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish and brown the meat in batches.
3. Add the vegetables to the pan and brown lightly then stir in the spices, chilli, and flour and cook for a few minutes.
4. Pour in the wine, tomatoes and stock, stir, add the herbs and the browned meat, then bring to the simmer.
5. Cover with the lid and put in the oven for 90 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for another hour until the meat is really tender.
6. Remove from the oven, let it cool for 2 or 3 minutes, then stir in the chocolate until it has melted.

Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.


They are very generous portions - there will certainly be plenty for tomorrow. It would be very good with a pastry lid as a pie.

Comments

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

It looked very promising until the tomatoes.

[sparrow2000.livejournal.com]

Oh this sounds lovely, I'll definitely have to try it. I love vension. We also get a lot of bison over here, which is also very lean, so I'm thinking this recipe would work for bison as well.

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

That sounds very good indeed.

And I suppose has the sad side effect of leaving you with some spare chocolate that needs using up. Oh dear.

[hobbituk.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely - I'm going to try a sweet potato and cheese soup tomorrow night...

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Is venison something you can commonly find in a grocery store? Because it isn't here.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I see the tomatoes aren't visible when finished otherwise Manolo wouldn't touch it. I'd make it with beef because we can't get venison easily here but it does sound really yummy!

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

It sounds totally scrumptious, and I mean to try it. Will have to use beef though, as wouldn't be able to lay my hands on venison for love or money.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Ooooo....I have some goat stew meat I got for Christmas (from my farming daughter; a friend had meat goats pasturing there all summer) and I bet this would be good. I was going to do goat curry but Mr Marwalk's not a big fan of chili. Thanks for posting this!

[jay-of-lasgalen.livejournal.com]

Mmm, that does sound good! The new recipe aim is a great idea - I find it hard to think what to make for supper, yet I own dozens of recipe books!

[kathyh]

I spotted that recipe in the BBC Good Food magazine too. It sounds delicious but I have to treat chilli with caution. We had another of their venison recipes this evening as I had some red cabbage and some frozen blackberries.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2411656/blackberry-braised-red-cabbage-with-venison

I didn't follow the recipe exactly as I prefer to braise red cabbage in the oven but we both enjoyed it.

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely! Would work well in the slow cooker too after preliminary browning. Today we made a beef stew in the slow cooker - so we could just leave it from this morning while we got on with housework - and it will make good meals for Kieran while I'm in Oxford. :)

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Weirdly enough, that's very similar in technique to my venison chili, although the spicing is way different (whole chopped Ancho and Poblano peppers, fresh ground cumin, and a good bit of garlic different). Chocolate in dark-spicy meat is a great thing, isn't it?

I can't afford to buy venison in the very few gourmet/organic groceries that sell it here, and none of my hunting relatives like me well enough to give me some of theirs, so this hits me right in the sorrowful nostalgia spot.

My soup from last night involved half a roast butternut squash cubed and simmered with about 355ml of chicken broth, two good size cloves of garlic, chopped fine, a peeled and julienned thumb of ginger, and some finely sliced lemon grass, until it was smooth and velvety, then flinished with coconut milk, green curry paste, a bit of fish sauce and some salad shrimp/prawns (it's better with bigger fresh shrimp of the size that's called "41-50" here -number of shrimp per pound- but they were outrageously expensive) and then a sprig of fresh basil laid on top when it's served. It's tasty enough that my soup-hating husband had seconds, for the second time of making it!

Julia, making ground beef chili tonight, and I need to go start chopping and browing the onions.

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

This sounds divine.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, yum! Can I come over to your house for leftovers?

Lynda

[mummy-owl.livejournal.com]

Yummy! I love venison and it does work well with strong-ish seasoning. Chilli and chocolate sound wonderful!

I put chocolate (or cocoa powder) in my chilli con carne and it really makes a differnce :-)

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

That sounds delicious (and something that the girls would eat as well, which is always a bonus when I'm trying something new), so I shall keep the recipe and give it a go.

I've got some chocolate and chilli fudge at the moment (omg so nice!) but don't think I'll be adding that into the mix. *g*

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

That sounds delicious.

[cbtreks.livejournal.com]

Do you hunt or know someone who does, or can you get venison at the grocery store? I've never seen it in a grocery store here but it's not hard to get. Can't throw a stone without hitting a hunter. Or a deer, for that matter!

[myrhiann.livejournal.com]

That sounds really yummy. Unfortunately venison is hard to get here, but beef would be a good alternative.

[sulien.livejournal.com]

*wipes drool from laptop* Oh, my... This sounds a lot like a Mexican molé dish and if I had someone to cook for besides just me I would totally cook it it. Thank you for sharing the recipe! *tucks away for later*

[samson28.livejournal.com]

How hot is it? Sounds yummy but my kids only like mild xxx

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

I have this going in my crock pot right now (with the last of my Christmas goat!) and it smells FANTASTIC. Thank you for posting it!