Venison and Ale Stew

Not an everyday dish, what with venison being so expensive! It is very tasty, and a fantastic stew for winter.

Ingredients

60g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 spring onions
4 cloves garlic
500g venison
15ml Whisky
300ml ale
2 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
300ml beef stock


Pepper and salt to taste

Method:

Heat the butter and oil in a saucepan and saute the onions and garlic. Lay the venison on top then tip in the whisky and stir the ingredients together. If you don't have whisky just use some of the ale. The whisky just adds another hit of flavour.

Add in the ale and stock, along with the vinegar, sugar and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring to boil, then simmer until the meat is tender - about 40 minutes. Check occassionally to make sure the sauce is not over-reducing.

Serve with your choice of vegetables. This goes particularly well with red cabbage, potato, sweet potato, and beetroot.

Kale Stew

I've been enjoying kale over the last few months - baby kale in salads, older kale in stirfrys or cooked similar to cabbage and served with whatever it is I'm eating. And crispy kale chips are a perennial favourite in this house! This dish is nowhere near as healthy as any of those options, but it is very delicious. This stew is great as an accompaniment to ham or other meats, and it is just as nice on its own with some mashed potato.

Ingredients

1 kg Kale
75 g butter
200ml cream
1 cup of good quality vegetable stock
2 tablespoon flour

Method

Rinse kale well and Discard any discoloured leaves and tough stems.

Slice into ½ inch thick slices with a sharp knife.
Make a roux with 50 gram of butter and the flour, stir in the vegetable stock and stir till it is smooth.
Add kale and the cream, then season to taste.

Boil gently for 10-15 minutes. The kale stew should not be overly runny, it should have a rich creamy consistency.

Bean Casserole

This is tomatoey and smokey and great on a winters night. I use either mild csabai or a smoked paprika which again has no heat in it. This serves 4-6 & is very yummy with mashed potato or a thicker noodle (like a gnocchi for example). You can also add a couple of potatoes and have a thicker one-pot stew. ;)

Bean Casserole

• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 2 carrots finely sliced
• 1 stick celery finely sliced
• 1 can beans (I used borlotti but you can use whatever you have)
• 1 440g can chopped tomatoes
• water - fill the can from the tomatoes
• 1 small tub of tomato puree
• 1 stick csabai OR 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika and 200g tofu (for a vegetarian version) chopped into large chunks
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tbsp vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a casserole dish, stir till combined. Bake in a preheated 190 degree C oven for 1.5 - 2 hours or until the veggies and the meat is tender.

For the veggie version: do not put the tofu in at the beginning as it tends to fall apart if stewed for a long time. So cook until the veggies are almost tender, then stir the tofu through and cook for another 20 mins.