Venison Stroganoff

I know that I shouldn't, but I really can't help myself.  To save money and to avoid food waste I really ought to stick to my shopping list.  However, I am a slave to bargains and interesting ingredients.  More often or not I end up having to rewrite the weeks meal plan to accommodate items that I have bought which are out of date.  The more exciting finds usually end up in the freezer, saved for a special occasion.  Tonight is one such special occasion.  The visit of the Mother in Law.

I get on well with the Mother in Law, so I will leave all of the traditional jokes to somebody else.  In fact I get on so well with her that I was happy to defrost some venison loin that had leapt off the shelves and into my basket, without consulting my shopping list, a couple of months ago.

Stroganoff was the obvious choice, as we already had sour cream and mushrooms in the fridge that needed using up*.  The meat is fried first then rested while onions are fried in the same pan with a heaped teaspoon of smoked paprika.  Sliced mushrooms are added next followed by the cooked venison and the sour cream.  Served with wild rice and some broccoli, special meals don't get much simpler to cook.

*I'm not above using leftovers for my guests.

Venison and Chocolate Casserole

Britain, it would seem, is in the evil grasp of a new tradition this evening.  Ever since I was a lad* Hallowe'en has meant dressing up and, with a suitable adult in tow, wandering around your neighbourhood collecting sweeties from the locals that you knew.  I remember one such Trick or Treat outing, I was dressed up as Twiki, Buck Rogers' faithful tin friend.  If you have no idea of who Buck Rogers or Twiki are then you are younger, and possibly less cynical than I am.  Other than my costume I also remember bobbing for apples and helping my dad carve a lantern out of a turnip**.

All of that feels like a very long time ago.  You never hear of bobbing for apples any more.  The practice has probably been outlawed unless a full Health and Safety review has taken place to ensure that nobody drowns and that no teeth fall out as a result of biting close to frozen apples from ice water.  The humble turnip has also been replaced by the huge and vulgar American pumpkin. 

At least the carved turnip has a culinary use.  The carving pumpkin however, has no place in the kitchen.  A never ending barrage of soups, risottos and pies are being cooked this evening in an attempt to use up the pappy, mealy, bland scrapings from the legions of not really scary tea-light holders.  I'm sure that when R gets a little bit older, we'll be carving pumpkins too, but until then we're staying clear of the Americanised and commercialised version of All Hallow's Eve.

Rather than having a jack-o-lantern to ward off the evil spirits of the Underworld, we decided to celebrate and rejoice with the spirits of our loved ones with a Day of the Dead*** inspired Mexican meal.  Venison stews are often sweet affairs packed with root vegetables and finished with redcurrant jelly.  We decided that the bitter sweetness of Mexican chocolate would be a marriage made in heaven.

As with most casseroles, I started by coating the meat in seasoned flour and frying it off in batches.  I then fried two onions, three red romano peppers and some garlic until they had softened, scraping the meat residue off the bottom of the pan at the same time.  I added the meat back into the pan along with five large tomatoes and a teaspoon each of ginger powder, ground cinnamon, ground cumin and some fresh chilli.  Finally I added some chicken stock and let it bubble away for a couple of hours.  After about an hour and a half I added my not so secret ingredient, half a jar of The Chilli Jam Man's Hot Chocolate Orange Chilli Jam.

I cooked the meal before I set of to work for the evening.  Letting the casserole rest for the best part of eight hours let the flavour come together.  When I had turned it off there was still a rawness to the chilli and the chocolate wasn't as pronounced as I would have liked it to be but by the time I had got back home, it had really come together.  Z reheated the venison and cooked some rice, so that when I got in from work we could sit down together and have a meal for the first time this week.

We live on a quiet road where there aren't that many families with children old enough to go trick or treating.  Our neighbours have decorated the front garden with cobwebs and ghoulish nick-nacks, but as one of them is a set designer I can forgive them.  Perhaps it's our proximity to a cemetery that puts people off from knocking on our door looking for a tooth rotting hand out.  Whatever the reasons, I'm glad that we were left alone tonight to enjoy this wonderfully spicy and not too sweet meal.

*the 70's do feel like a very long time ago don't they.
**that would be a swede for my English readers. How you could possibly carve what the English call a turnip is beyond me!
***technically November 1st but we couldn't wait another day.

Venison Steaks with Caraway Cauliflower and Anya Potatoes

Last weekend Z took the boy on a trip to Headingley so that I could crack on with some of the urgent DIY that a Victorian house demands.  We are slowly reinstalling a cast iron fireplace, replacing an ugly 80's gas fire in the process.  My task for the day was to chisel out the existing mortar from beneath the hearth tiles so that they can be relayed.

Z's trip was actually to a craft fair in Heart, but she also managed a trip to Headingley Farmers Market and picked up a few goodies.  One of Z's finds was a purple cauliflower.  I have seen them in seed catalogues but never seen one in the flesh, let alone eaten one.  As with all oddly coloured vegetables, I assumed* that the purple cauli would taste the same as the standard creamy white version.

With that in mind we decided to serve the cauliflower as a side veg, steamed to keep its colour.  We raided the freezer and found a couple of venison haunch steaks that were begging to be eaten.  The venison was simply fried for a couple of minutes on each side and allowed to rest.  The steamed cauliflower was tossed in butter and cracked caraway seeds.  A pile of anya** potatoes finished off a plate of food I could sit down to night after night.

*correctly.
**one of the nicest potatoes out there.

Venison Steak with Braised Red Cabbage and Roast Potatoes

After a week of not cooking, I was determined to reclaim my place at the hob tonight.  I wanted to come back with a bang, but needed inspiration.  We set off to the Kirkstall Deli Market hoping to stumble upon the one ingredient that would shape our meal.  If you haven't been to the Kirkstall Deli Market can I suggest that you give it a try.  Even today, in the pouring rain, there was a good mix of hot and cold food stalls.  Even the local allotment society had a stall and at £1 for a huge bag of rhubarb, I'm glad they were there.

The inspiration finally came from Round Green Farm.  I didn't try any of their venison burgers or sausages, which were being cooked, but the offer of two packs of haunch steaks for £10 was too good an offer to miss.  Meat in the bag, I nibbled my way around the rest of the stalls picking up more ingredients for future meals.

After the market we had a less enjoyable food trip around a supermarket.  We had planned this prior to the fun at Kirkstall Abbey and it gave us the opportunity to pick up the rest of the ingredients for tonight's meal.  I think it was the heavy rain that made me crave the comfort of braised red cabbage and who doesn't want roast potatoes?

Venison Sausages with Roast Potatoes

This is not a meteorological blog post, but the weather certainly plays a part in what we eat.  Big rib-sticking stews in winter, light salads in summer, you get the idea.  Having started Tonight's Menu in November I haven't written many salad posts but they will come soon enough.

This time last week I had spent the day on Portabello beach, Edinburgh, building sandcastles and eating ice cream.  It was like it was the middle of summer, only without the hoards of people.  I have never, in all my years of visiting Scotland, eaten ice cream, on a beach, in March.

Last night's meal was a light and summery pasta dish with a sauce made from my home grown rocket.  Tonight, due to the wintry conditions that we awoke to, we needed something a little bit more hearty to give us a big comforting hug and keep the chill out.

The venison, pork & red wine sausages were grilled, but the real treat was the roast potatoes.  Anya potatoes make the most fantastic roasties.  Each spud is almost like a single, huge, knobbly chip.  The flavour is superb, nutty and buttery.  To really set them off we roasted them in goose fat and served the lot alongside some steamed kale from the garden.  Summer is great but winter food can be so much more indulgent.

Venison Casserole

We're away from home for Christmas, visiting Z's family in Windsor.  Chris Rea sings about Driving Home for Christmas, but he also warns of the Road to Hell.  In an attempt to avoid motorway madness on Christmas Eve we made the journey down the M1 today.

As the season demands, the feasting starts today, just as soon as Grand-Phil gets home from work.  Although there will be a lot of food, I doubt I'll be doing much of the cooking.  I'll definitely be acting as sous chef, chopping, stirring, washing and generally doing what I'm told.  I'm fine with this, it will leave more time for drinking and less responsibility if things are late or a tad "caramelised".

To get the ball rolling  A&P have made a venison casserole. It was cooked yesterday to save time and then finished off today.  The cooking sauce was reduced and red current jelly and chocolate were added before serving.