Last year I had the pleasure of working at Piebury Corner in Islington. Among the many great pies that I fell in love with was the Venison and Red Wine. The powerful gamey flavours of the venison partner deliciously decadently with the richness of the red wine.
As with any stew this is a particularly non-prescriptive recipe. Any vegetables will work well – particularly root veg. I just went for peas and carrots but if I had them in I probably would have used parsnips, swede, turnips etc. The other fantastic thing is that venison sausages are ludicrously low in fat and calories, for the more health conscious of you.
I thickened with cornflour and water because I changed the idea in my head as I went along. If you’d prefer, add flour and a little bit more butter during step 2 to make a roux.
Ingredients
- Venison Sausage
- Dry Red Wine
- Butter
- Onion/Leek
- Vegetables
- Stock
- Flour/cornflour
- Earthy herbs – thyme, rosemary, sage etc.
- Seasoning
Method
- Start by boiling/steaming your vegetables because they won’t cook fully in the stew.
- Gently fry the onions/leeks in the butter with a little salt to help them get going. Keep it on a gentle heat so neither the butter nor onions burn.
- Add the sausages whole and fry for a little while to seal along with some herbs.
- Pour in a glass or so of red wine and the vegetables then simmer for a while, until it has roughly reduced by half. At this stage I like to slice the sausages and re-add them. If you do this before frying them they’ll lose their shape (not necessarily a bad thing, just not how I like it).
- Add stock and a few teaspoons of cornflour/water mix to thicken. Continue simmering and stirring, tasting and adjusting until you’re happy. If it’s too bland, a bit more salt and pepper/too runny add more cornflour/too rich add a bit more stock.
Serving
Serve with some thick slices of bread or some mashed potato – something to mop up the moisture.
The Guesscipe Book 