Homemade Venison Game Pie

Red deer venison game pie is served with homemade chips and garden peas

A game pie is very often - or perhaps even most often - made with a variety of three or more different types of wild game. That does not mean for a second, however, that an excellent game pie can not be made with just one type of wild game. In this instance, advantage was taken of a really good deal obtained on Scottish red deer venison and the pie was delicious. This recipe will work with any type of venison, from moose, to caribou to roe deer.

Ingredients for Two Servings

3/4lb chopped venison haunch
Olive oil
2 medium carrots
1 medium onion
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper
1 pint fresh beef stock
1/2 bottle red wine*
1/2lb puff pastry
Flour for rolling the pastry
Beaten egg for glazing the pastry
Homemade chips/French fries as required
Frozen garden peas as required

* Do you get confused about which type of red wine you should use in your cooking? I have heard some top chefs say that only the cheapest of red wine should be used in cooking (to save money) but equally, I have heard other top chefs say that only quality red wine that you would really enjoy drinking should be used. If top chefs can't agree, how can we be expected to judge? Personally, I tend to go somewhere between the two. You don't want to use a wine that is of such poor quality that you couldn't possibly force yourself to drink it - but equally, why waste the good stuff that is far better consumed straight from a glass? The bottom line is that it's all down to personal taste, as well as the nature of the dish you are making. In this particular instance, it doesn't really matter - go with what you can afford and what you prefer and don't get too hung up on the issue. 

Venison is quickly browned in a little olive oil

Directions

Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil (a good glug, is the technical term!) to a large pot and gently heat. Add the diced venison and brown and seal, stirring with a wooden spoon. This will take a couple of minutes.

Carrot, onion and seasoning is added to the browned venison

Peel the carrots and onion. Slice the carrots in to discs. Half the onions and finely slice. Add the vegetables and thyme to the venison and season. Stir for a further minute or so.

Red wine and beef stock are added to the venison and vegetables

Pour the stock in to the pot along with the red wine. Bring to a simmer and cook in this way for two hours, stirring occasionally and carefully keeping your eye on the liquid level. If your simmer is gentle enough, it should be fine, but you can top up with a little hot water if necessary. After two hours, try a small bit of the venison - it should be beautifully tender. Turn off the heat, cover and leave to cool completely. (This will take around another couple of hours but note that the meat combination could now be refrigerated to assemble the pie for dinner the following evening).
 

Venison and stock ready to be topped with pastry for the pie

Put the meat and stock in to a pie dish, measuring 9" by 6". The stock should almost but not quite cover the meat.

Rolling the pastry for the venison game pie

Roll out your pastry on a clean, dry, floured surface to about 10" by 7", so that it will be slightly larger than the pie dish. Lay it carefully on top of the dish and crimp and tuck the edges.

Venison game pie is ready for the oven

Glaze the pie with beaten egg, using a pastry brush. Remember also to cut a steam vent in the centre. Lay it on a roasting tray (helps prevent possible spillage necessitating an oven clean) and bake in the oven, preheated to 400F/200C, for around 40 minutes, until the pastry is beautifully risen and golden.

Venison game pie removed from the oven

When you take your pie from the oven, don't cut it for service immediately. Remember, meat should be rested after cooking, whether it be a roast or a pie like this. Set it aside for fifteen minutes.

Plating the meat of the venison game pie

Cut the pastry of the pie in half and remove to a temporary holding plate. Use a slotted spoon to divide the meat between two serving plates and top with the pastry. Serve with your homemade chips/fries and the frozen peas cooked as per the instructions on the packet.

Pastry is added to the venison game pie filling

Lebanese 7 Spice Lamb and Pepper Stew

Lebanese 7 spice lamb and bell pepper stew is served with rice and garnished with fresh mint

Lamb is one of the most popular meats cooked and eaten both in the Middle East and in North Africa. It is delicious roasted but it is also perfect for making in to a spicy stew. This lamb stew also incorporates mixed bell peppers and the deliciously spicy and tangy Lebanese 7 spice.

Principal ingredients for Lebanese 7 spice lamb and pepper stew

Ingredients (Serves Two)

3/4lb diced lamb
1 small red bell pepper
1 small green bell pepper
1 small yellow bell pepper
1/2 medium onion
Large clove of garlic
1 tsp Lebanese 7 spice*
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1 pint fresh chicken stock
Olive oil for browning lamb
6oz basmati or long grain rice
2 mint sprigs plus chopped mint to garnish

*Lebanese 7 spice is not something I have ever seen in an average supermarket. On this occasion, it was bought at a large, Asian speciality hypermarket in Glasgow.

Begin by preparing the vegetables. The onion should be peeled and moderately finely sliced. The garlic should be peeled and finely diced. The bell peppers should each be seeded and cut in to long strips between a quarter and half an inch in width.

Lamb for stew is browned in olive oil

Put about a tablespoon of olive oil in to a large stew pot and heat. Add the lamb and stir with a wooden spoon to brown and seal before adding the spices and seasonings, followed by the vegetables. Stir for a further couple of minutes.

Chopped vegetables are added to browned lamb and spices

Pour the chicken stock in to the pot. Bring the stock to a simmer for one hour or until the lamb is tender. Be sure to stir occasionally and keep an eye on the liquid level. It shouldn't be necessary but a little boiling water can be added if required.

Chicken stock is added to lamb and vegetables

Put the rice in to a fine sieve and rinse under running cold water. This removes a lot of the excess starch. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil and add the rice. Bring back to a simmer, stir well and cook for ten to twelve minutes.

Rice is thoroughly rinsed before it is cooked

The rice could of course simply be served as a bed in the base of the plate. Here I have lined a couple of small bowls with clingfilm, prior to carefully draining the cooked rice through a sieve.

Clingfilm lined small bowl is used to shape rice

Pack the rice in to the bowls. Sit a serving plate on top of each bowl and carefully invert. Hold the edges of the plastic down tight with one hand and carefully lift away the bowl. The plastic should then easily peel free.

Rice is packed in to film wrapped bowl for presenting

Use a large slotted spoon to carefully arrange the stew around the rice on each plate. Garnish the rice with a sprig of mint and the stew with freshly chopped mint.

Spicy lamb stew is spooned around central bed of rice

Easy Jamaican Jerk Spiced Chicken Wings

Jamaican jerk spiced chicken wings are served with tomato, onion and a lemon wedge

Jamaican jerk chicken is something I first tasted in the form of street food at the famous Notting Hill Carnival in London, a few years back. I loved it but for some reason it is not something I have ever previously tried to prepare. That changed only when I saw Jamaican jerk spice in my local supermarket a few days ago while looking for something else. I decided to give this simple idea a go to try it out for the first time and produce a quick and tasty meal. I definitely loved it and will get more adventurous with the spice in future.

Jamaican jerk spice and salt are added to olive oil

Ingredients per Person

8 whole chicken wings
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Jamaican jerk spice mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 small white onion
1 medium tomato
Chopped parsley to garnish
Fresh lemon wedge

Chicken wings are carefully folded through oil and spices

Directions

Put your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C and pour the olive oil in to a large glass or stone (not plastic - it may stain it irrevocably) bowl. Add the jerk spice and salt and stir to form a smooth paste. Put the chicken wings in to the bowl and stir them in a gentle folding motion to evenly coat with the oil and spices. This will take a couple of minutes and a bit of patience.

Spiced wings are ready for the oven

If time permits, you may wish to cover the chicken wings and leave them to marinate in the spices for a couple of hours but this is not essential. Lay the chicken wings in a single layer on a large roasting tray and place them in to the oven for half an hour.

Onion slices are added to the cooked Jamaican jerk spiced chicken wings

Take the wings from the oven and scatter over the sliced and separated onion strands. Stir carefully through the juices with a wooden spoon. Leave to rest for ten minutes.

Onion slices are carefully folded through the spiced chicken wings

Cut the tomato in half and each half in to three wedges. Arrange the wings and onions on a plate and garnish firstly with the tomato wedges. Scatter with the chopped parsley and sit the lemon wedge on the side of the plate.

Jamaican jerk chicken wings are plated and garnished firstly with tomato wedges

Duck Confit with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Quick Fried Pak Choi

Confit leg of duck with roasted sweet potatoes and flash fried pak choi

Traditional duck confit is as much a food preservation technique as a cooking method. It involves brining or salting the duck legs for up to a couple of days before cooking them very slowly and gently, submerged in duck or goose fat. They can then be cooled and stored in the fat, in the refrigerator, for up to a couple of weeks. In this instance, though, as the duck confit is for immediate consumption, the salting or brining process was eliminated and considerably less fat was used.

Goose fat for duck confit

Ingredients (Serves Two)

2 whole duck leg and thigh portions
4 tsps duck or goose fat
Salt
2 large sweet potatoes
1 pak choi
Black pepper
Sunflower or vegetable oil for frying
2 orange slices for garnish

Duck legs ready for the oven

Directions

Put two teaspoons of goose or duck fat in the base of an ovenproof dish, just large enough to contain both the duck legs. Pierce the skin of each duck leg several times with a skewer and sit one - skin side up - on top of each lump of fat. Add a further teaspoon of fat to the top of each leg and season well with salt only. Put the dish on to a roasting tray and place it in to a cold (not preheated) oven, set to 150C/300F. Leave to cook for two hours.

Parboiled sweet potatoes are left to steam and cool

Peel and roughly chop the sweet potatoes. Put them in a large pot of cold, salted water. Bring the water to a simmer for ten minutes. Drain the sweet potatoes, return them to the empty pot and leave them to steam and dry out for five minutes. Cover and leave to cool completely.

Duck confit

Take the duck confit from the oven and carefully lift the legs to a plate. Cover and leave to rest.

Duck legs are lifted from the fat and left to rest

Carefully stir the sweet potatoes through the fat and put the dish back in the oven, turning it up to 220C/450F for fifteen to twenty minutes until crisp.

Sweet potatoes are roasted in duck and goose fat combination

Pak choi is sometimes referred to as Chinese cabbage. It can be eaten raw in salads or very successfully incorporated in stir fries.

Pak choi

In this instance, the pak choi leaves are sliced in half and fried for a couple of minutes in a little bit of very hot oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Flash frying pak choi

The orange slices should be almost but not quite cut in half. Cut out the flesh and twist the rind as a garnish.

Orange slice for garnishing duck confit

Plate the duck legs. Drain the sweet potatoes on a plate of kitchen paper and add them to the plate with the pak choi. Garnish with the twisted orange rinds.

Confit duck leg, sweet potatoes and pak choi are plated

Pancetta Wrapped Chicken Breast with Pan Roasted Potatoes and Sprouts

Pancetta wrapped chicken breast served with roast potatoes, sprouts and redcurrant sauce

Pancetta is a form of bacon from Italy. It is much closer to American bacon than British bacon (it is taken from the belly of the pig, rather than the back) but it tastes of course similar to both. It is important to remember when cooking with pancetta that you are extremely unlikely to need any additional salt, as the salt curing should provide all that you require. That is why the chicken breasts in this recipe are seasoned with white pepper only and the only salt used is in the poaching water for the potatoes and the Brussels sprouts.

Ingredients (Serves Two People)

2 skinless chicken breast fillets
10 slices of pancetta
12 small potatoes
10 Brussels sprouts
Salt (see note in opening paragraph)
White pepper
Redcurrant jelly

Chicken breast fillets and pancetta

Directions

Add your unpeeled potatoes to a large pot of cold salted water. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for twenty-five to thirty minutes until the potatoes are soft. Drain, cover and leave to cool completely.

Wrapping chicken breast fillets in pancetta

Start your oven preheating to 375F/190C. Lay the chicken breast fillets on a chopping board and carefully lay five strips of pancetta over each as shown. Tuck the pancetta in underneath. Lightly oil a foil lined roasting tray and sit the fillets on it, tucked sides down. The foil simply makes the tray easier to clean.

Pancetta wrapped chicken breasts ready for roasting

Cover the tray with a second sheet of foil and cook for twenty minutes. Remove the top sheet of foil and cook for a further fifteen minutes to crisp up the pancetta. Take the tray from the oven and pierce each fillet to ensure the juices run clear. Sit aside for fifteen minutes to rest.

Pancetta wrapped chicken breasts are rested

Trim any remaining excess stalk from the Brussels sprouts and remove any loose leaves. Put them in to a pot of boiling, lightly salted water and simmer for ten to twelve minutes, depending upon their size. They should be just softened when done, never soggy and starting to fall apart.

Peel the skin off the potatoes with your hand and roast in a deep frying pan of hot oil for five or six minutes until golden.

Peeling cooled potatoes for roasting

Remove the potatoes from the oil with a large slotted spoon to a plate covered with kitchen paper to drain. The sprouts should be drained through a colander.

Put a pancetta wrapped chicken fillet on each plate, together with half the sprouts and potatoes. Add the redcurrant jelly and serve.

Pancetta wrapped chicken breast is plated

Fresh Fig, Iberico Ham and Mozzarella Salad with Toasted Oktoberfest Boule

Fresh figs stuffed with mozzarella, served on a bed of Iberico ham and with Oktoberfest boule toast

This attractive and incredibly simple salad - representing tastes of Spain, Italy, Germany and the Middle East - was actually prepared from start to finish in the time it took to make the toast. That means that it not only represents a refreshing change for the average dinner menu, it in no way involves any time spent slaving over a hot stove. Iberico ham is a Spanish delicacy and although by no means cheap to buy, it really is absolutely delicious and well worth forking out for as a special treat. These wafer thin slices cost about sixty British pence each (£2.99 for a pack of five slices) - equivalent to around one American dollar per slice.

There's a little bit of a story as to where this idea came from and it's only fair that I give credit where it is due. Figs are something I hadn't eaten in years and it was when I read a friend's Hub Page sharing details of her Fig Puff Pastry Tart that this meal was subsequently devised. If you buy a bag of figs, therefore, you may want to give Claudia's delicious pudding/dessert idea a try.

Slicing the Oktoberfest boule for making toast

Ingredients per Person

2 slices of Oktoberfest boule
3 slices of Iberico ham
3 small fresh figs
2 ounces of buffalo mozzarella (approximately)
Freshly chopped basil to garnish
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Iberico ham is carefully laid on the serving plate

Directions

Slice the boule and put it on to toast before carefully laying the slices of Iberico ham on a serving plate that each one represents a bed for a fig.

Fresh figs

Snip any remaining stalk off the top of each fig. Make two cuts at right angles down through the fig, stopping about three-quarters of the way through. Carefully squeeze each one at the bottom to open them like flowers and lay them on the ham beds.

Fresh figs are cut open and laid on the bed of Iberico ham

Cut the mozzarella in to three even sized pieces, just the right size to stuff the figs. Be careful not to cut the pieces too big as arranging them may burst the figs open and spoil presentation.

Mozzarella is cut in to small portions for stuffing figs

Carefully stuff the figs with the mozzarella and garnish with some freshly chopped basil leaves.

Mozzarella is stuffed in to figs and garnished with freshly chopped basil

Lay the toasted Oktoberfest boule slices on the side of the plate. Drizzle everything with extra virgin olive oil (optional), season with a little salt (remember the salt in the ham) and plenty of black pepper.

Oktoberfest boule toast is plated beside the fig and Iberico ham salad

Sausages and Goose Fat Roasted Potatoes with Savoy Cabbage and Chantenay Carrots

Beef link sausages are served with roast potatoes, savoy cabbage and Chantenay carrots

 
Sausages of thousands of different types are popular around the world and eaten by their millions every day. Sometimes, however, we can be a bit unimaginative with what we serve along with sausages and delicious as bangers and mash can be, it can equally become a little bit repetitive after a while. This combination came about simply because I had the savoy cabbage and the Chantenay carrots in the fridge requiring to be used up and it proved to be even more delicious than I had hoped.

Fingerling potatoes are parboiled before they are roasted

Ingredients per Person

4 beef link sausages
Vegetable or sunflower oil
2 fingerling potatoes
2 large savoy cabbage leaves
1/2 small white onion
3 Chantenay carrots
2 tbsp goose fat
Little bit of butter
Little bit of freshly chopped coriander leaf/cilantro

Potatoes are drained and cooled before being roasted

Directions

Wash the fingerling potatoes and cut each of them in half lengthways. Put them in a pot of cold salted water, bring the water to a boil and reduce to simmer as gently as possible for eight to ten minutes. Carefully drain the potatoes and leave them to steam for a few minutes before covering them and letting them cool completely.

Spoon the goose fat in to a small, ovenproof dish and put it in to the oven while the oven preheats to 220C/450F. When the oven is heated, add the potato halves to the dish and carefully stir around in the fat with a wooden spoon, ensuring they are all completely coated. Roast in the oven for twenty minutes.

Goose fat is added to an ovenproof dish before being melted for roasting potatoes

When the potatoes are in the oven, add the sausages to a frying pan with a little vegetable or sunflower oil and fry very gently, also for twenty minutes, turning occasionally. The low heat will cook them but prevent them bursting.

The carrots should be added to a pot of seasoned cold water and brought to a simmer for ten minutes. The cabbage and onion should be shredded and sliced respectively before being added to a pot with a little oil, salt and pepper and braised over a medium heat for five to seven minutes, stirring very frequently.

Plate the sausages and the cabbage and onion. Drain the potatoes on some kitchen paper. Drain the carrots and stir them in a little butter and chopped coriander/cilantro and you are ready to finish plating.

Savoy cabbage and onion are braised in a little olive oil