Venison Stroganoff

Serves: 2-3

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 2 ½ – 3 hours

Ready in: 3+ hours

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
500g diced venison
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 can cream of mushroom soup
.. or 500ml homemade mushroom soup*
½ the can of water (keep for later)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1-2 bay leaves
½ tsp mixed herbs
1-2 sprays of fresh thyme or 1tsp dried thyme
A pinch of nutmeg

* See ”My Gluten and Milk Free Mushroom Soup”

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
3. Cook the venison in the hot oil until browned on all sides, about 5-8 minutes.
4. Once browned, remove from the frying pan with a slotted spoon and put aside, leaving the remaining oil in the frying pan.
5. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the onions and garlic; and fry until translucent.
6. Pour the contents into a Dutch oven or ovenproof dish, add the meat and the remaining herbs.
7. Add the can of mushroom soup to the Dutch oven, rinse the can with water and then.
8. Clean the frying pan with the water; and add to the Dutch oven.
9. Cover, and cook in oven for 2½-3 hours, or until the venison is tender;
   check now and again making sure that the liquid hasn’t totally evaporated.

Thicken the Stroganoff with rice flour, if needed.

Serves: Inside a plain rice ring (the common way to serve Stroganoff)
. . . . . . .or with pasta: Pappardelle, Bucatini, Angel Hair, Orzo, Spaghetti or Penne
Decorate with parley.

Can be frozen – keep for max 3 month, in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Deep Fried Rabbit

I was experimenting and mixing a couple of recipes and came up with this one. I am not a great lover of deep frying but this is worth it. You don’t need a deep-fryer all you need is a steel/iron saucepan and 1 ltr of rapeseed oil. I must admit it’s the first time that I have cooked rabbit; but not the last. I was pleasantly surprised with the result, even though it wasn’t quite successful. The batter was a bit thin & runny; thus it fell off the rabbit. Never the less it was fun and a very nice result; for all it was relatively quick produced. I changed the recipe to be coated in egg and bread crumbs. I went to the butcher who stocks game and asked for a cleaned and jointed rabbit. The pieces he had were too big so he cut the saddle in half and separated the legs. I ended up with 8 pieces and it wasn’t OTT expensive.

• 1 ltr rapeseed oil
• 50g Parmesan, finely grated
• 2 x 50g sachets panko breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1 wild rabbit, jointed and each leg also
  jointed into a drumstick and thigh
• Lemon wedges, to serve

• Heat oven to 160°C/140°C fan and have ready a large baking tray with a wire rack placed over it.
• Heat the oil in a large, deep saucepan (or use a deep-fat fryer) until the oil reaches 140°C. Depending on the size of your pan you will be frying 3-4 pieces at a time; hence the hot oven. So fry the biggest pieces first.
• Meanwhile dry each piece of rabbit.
• Beat the eggs in a plate/soup plate (I like to add some herbs to the egg – e.g. salt, pepper and maybe some thyme).
• Mix the Parmesan and breadcrumbs on another plate
• Dunk each piece of rabbit in the beaten egg, lift out with a fork
• And coat in the bread crumbs.
• Repeat with a couple more pieces.
• Lower into the fat and fry for about 9 mins for smaller, 12 mins for larger pieces (11 mins if resting in oven), until deep golden and cooked through. Don’t overcrowd the pan.
• Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on the rack in the oven while you do the next batch. Never leave the pan unattended.

Serve the rabbit with a sprinkling of flaky salt and plenty of lemon wedges.
You can also add small bowls with mayonnaise and/or tartar sauce and/or sweet chilli sauce for dipping.