Sunday, 18th August 2019 – Recipes (Fricasée de Cabrito, Venison Cobbler, Venison Ragu)

I’ve wanted to get some “ready meals” together again so today I had the chance, and having defrosted some venison and some goat meat, it was time to do some serious casseroling and letting things cook long and slow. We had the braised venison part of the cobbler for dinner tonight with some dumplings and it was really, really good. The recipes used are here:

Fricasé de Cabrito

Ingredients:

• (A)
  • 4 lbs goat meat, cut in small pieces
  • 1 Seville or sour orange
• (B)
  • 2 tablespoonfuls salt
  • 2 teaspoonfuls crushed garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoonful ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoonful oregano (dried or fresh)
  • 2 tablespoonfuls white wine vinegar
• (C)
  • 8 to 10 very small cooking onions, peeled
  • 1/2 lb bacon
  • 1/2 cup sultanas
  • 1/4 cup capers
  • 1 cup olives
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 red peppers
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 150 mls rum
  • 250 mls red wine

Method:

1. Soak the meat in the sour orange juice and let it stand for at least thirty minutes.
2. Drain the juice and mix with the ingredients listed under (B). Baste the meat with the resulting paste and leave to stand in the refrigerator for several hours before cooking.
3. Heat two tablespoonfuls of olive in a deep pan. When hot, add the meat slowly and turn the pieces frequently to sear all the meat surface.
4. Add the rum and carefully apply a match to set the rum on fire. It should extinguish itself after a few seconds.
5. Add the bacon, turning frequently.
6. Add the ingredients included in (C), and bring to the boil.
7. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook until the meat is tender (around 90 minutes).
8. If necessary, add some water to ensure a thick gravy.
9. Add the red wine shortly before serving.
10. Serve with white rice or, preferably, with boiled root vegetables.

Braised Venison Cobbler

Ingredients:

• 1kg venison, chunks
• 4tbsp plain flour
• 100g pancetta, diced
• 100g onion
• 2 carrots, diced
• 300g baby parsnips, diced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp tomato purée
• 500ml porter, or stout
• 500ml red wine
• 1l mushroom stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 sprig thyme
• 100ml vegetable oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Horseradish and Cheese Scones

• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 50g butter
• 50g Cheddar cheese, grated
• 50g Parmesan, grated
• 3 tsp creamed horseradish
• 150ml milk

Baby parsnips

• 12 baby parsnips
• Oil
• Salt

To Serve

• Fresh horseradish, for grating
• 1 handful chopped parsley

Method:

1. To begin, make the braised venison. Dust the venison evenly in flour, shaking each piece to remove any excess. Add the oil to a large saucepan pan and add a batch of the venison when hot. Cook until golden, drain and set aside. Work in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan.
2. Place a large, deep sauté pan with a lid over a medium-high heat, add the pancetta and cook until caramelised and golden. Drain the bacon, keeping the fat in the pan, and add the onions, diced carrots and parsnips. Cook until golden, then add the garlic and tomato purée and cook out for 2–3 minutes.
3. Add the beer and wine to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom of to remove any reside, then reduce by two thirds.
4. Add the stock, return the bacon and venison to the pan (plus any juices that have escaped) and top up with a little more stock if needed. Bring to a simmer, add the bay leaf and thyme and cover with a lid. Cook over a low heat for 1 ½–2 hours, or until the meat is tender and the sauce is rich – you may need to top it up with a little more stock if it’s getting a little dry.
5. While the venison is cooking, make the scones. Rub all the dry ingredients with the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the horseradish, followed with enough milk to form a nice dough. Do not overwork the mixture, or the scones will be tough.
6. Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30–40 minutes.
7. Dress the baby parsnips with a little oil and season. Spread out on a roasting tray and cook for approximately 25 minutes.
8. Roll out the scone dough until 2cm thick on a lightly floured work surface. Cut 12 scones using a 4.5cm diameter cutter.
9. Arrange the scones on top of the venison mixture and brush the top with egg yolk. Place in the oven with the parsnips for approximately 12–15 minutes, or until the scones are golden and the venison is bubbling away.
10. Remove and top with a grating of horseradish and finely chopped parsley before serving.

Venison Ragu

Ingredients:

• 2 kg of minced venison
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• A sprig of rosemary, leaves stripped off and finely chopped
• Teaspoon of juniper berries
• A sprig of sage, leaves stripped off and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 bottle of red wine
• 1 tbsp of tomato paste
• 1 litre of tomato passata

Method:

1. Take the meat out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature, spread it out on a tray. This will make it sear rather than boil when you put it in the pan.
2. Heat the oil in a wide bottomed saucepan and add vegetables, herbs and whole garlic cloves and sweat over a high heat for 5-8 minutes without colouring – you need to keep stirring.
3. Season the meat with salt and pepper and add it to the vegetables making sure it covers the base of the saucepan. Don’t touch it for 5-6 minutes so it seals underneath and heats through. Careful your vegetables don’t burn – you can add a bit more oil if you need to.
4. Stir the meat and veg every few minutes for about 10-12 minutes until it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.
5. Now add the wine and let it reduce to almost nothing. Add the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes – keep stirring.
6. Add the passata with one litre of water, bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for an hour and a half. Add a bit of water now and again if necessary, until you have a thick sauce).
7. When you’re ready to serve, heat the ragù, cook your pasta (preferably pappardelle, tagliatelle, or short pasta) and drain, reserving the cooking water. Add the pasta to the ragu and toss well – add some cooking water if you need to loosen the sauce a bit.
8. Serve with freshly grated pecorino or Parmesan.