The Auld Alliance: Bordelais venison and wild mushroom stew
Serves 6
Ingredients:
40g butter
2 red onions
450g venison steak
25g plain flour
salt & pepper
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
100g smoked streaky bacon
200g fresh ceps (porcini mushrooms), or 50g dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 250ml boiling
water for 15 mins
400ml Château des Chapelains Prélude rouge (or another Bordeaux red wine)
6 sprigs fresh thyme
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
Melt half the butter in a flameproof casserole dish. Add chopped onions and fry until just browned.
Remove from heat.
Cut venison into approx. 2cm cubes. Season flour in a bowl with salt and pepper and toss meat to
coat, shaking off any excess flour.
Heat a large frying pan and add sunflower oil. Fry chopped bacon until starting to brown, then add
chopped porcini mushrooms (if using dried mushrooms, drain off soaking water and squeeze off
excess – you can reserve the soaking water for use in stocks/sauces). Fry for a couple of minutes to
soften and then add bacon and mushrooms to the fried onions in the casserole.
Add remaining butter to frying pan and brown the venison well on all sides. Transfer to the
casserole. Add wine to frying pan, bring to the boil and de-glaze pan, scraping off any remaining
scraps of meat into the wine. Pour into casserole, add salt and lots of ground pepper to taste and
pop in the sprigs of thyme.
Cover casserole with a well-fitting lid and cook in oven for 60-90 minutes, stirring occasionally and
topping up with a little more wine, or some of the water from soaking the dried mushrooms, if
needed.
Serve with garlic mashed potatoes, green beans and a suitable bottle of red, of course!
