Venison Stefano 1

Named after one of our regular customers, Venison Stefano is a twist on the Greek dish of stiffado.  We buy our venison from a local gamedealer; gamedealers can be found at farmer’s markets in most towns nowadays, but failing that some of the supermarkets also stock it.  It’s a great warming dish for those chilly winter evenings.

We cook it when we’re in the woods in a dutch oven, but it will work just as well in a slow cooker at home.

Ingredients

• 2 kg of diced venison
• 2 onions, chopped,
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 1kg shallots
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 4 cloves
• 1 lire of vegetable stock
• 2 glasses of red wine
• 4 tbsp of red wine vinegar
• 4 tbsp of tomato puree
• 1 cinamon stick
• 6 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 tsp of ground nutmeg
• 6 bay leaves
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

How to make Venison Stefano

• Sear the venison in a lightly oiled frying pan
• Add the onions and garlic and gently stir until the onions soften
• Add the red wine and red wine vinegar, cover and leave for 5 minutes
• Add the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, bay leaves, rosemary, tomato puree and salt and pepper to taste
• Keep stirring to let all your ingredients mix together
• Add the chopped tomatoes and continue stirring for 5 minutes
• Place the shallots into hot water to soften the skin and peel, then fry these in a little olive oil
• Transfer all the ingredients to a dutch oven and add about 1 litre of vegetable stock
• Place the dutch oven in a well heated pit oven and cover
• Leave for about 1 ½ to 2 hours

You can see many more photos from our ‘Wildfoods and Woodland Cooking’ courses on our Facebook page.