Slow Cooked Wild Venison Masala

So if you haven’t guessed already, I’m a super busy woman. I run the behind-the-scenes of my husband’s brick and block laying business, I’m a stay-at-home mum of a 2 year old boy (pregnant with another, due Christmas day, yeah yeah, laugh it up...), chase around after our two lively English Springer Spaniels allllllll day, have a part-time job, we own 22 acres which requires daily attention, all while trying to build my own empire with ‘Hunter &Wife Homeware’, ‘Hunter & Baby Babygear’ and ‘www.howtobeahunterswife.com’. And in between all of that, I keep the house in some kind of order!

So basically, rule number one when it comes to prepping and cooking dinner for the team is – Must be simple and versatile. That’s why the slow cooker is pretty much my best friend.

The following recipe is a goodie that’s super adaptable, use any red meat (works particularly well with goat), no biggie if you don’t have one of the spices, you can use cream or sour cream if you don’t have yogurt, use fresh tomatoes if you don’t have a can. Don’t be too fussy about quantities, except maybe the cayenne... unless you like it HOT!

Ingredients

 

500gm Cubed Venison

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Cumin powder

1 tsp Fenugreek

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Paprika

3 garlic cloves (or 3 tsp of minced garlic)

2 tsp minced ginger

1-2 cups plain yogurt

1 can diced tomatoes

1 diced white Onion

Oil

Method

Combine cubed meat with spices, garlic, ginger and 1 cup of yogurt and place covered in the fridge for as long as possible – anything from a couple of hours to overnight would do!

Preheat a good slug of oil in a large pan, add marinated meat and brown quickly. Transfer to warming slow cooker (or casserole dish with lid if going to cook in the oven).

Add diced onion to pan and sauté till softened. Add can of tomatoes, cook to combine. Use a wooden spoon to get all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan.

Carefully pour over the browned meat and stir to combine. Meat should be just covered in liquid, if not, add a small amount of liquid beef stock.

Allow to cook on low for 6 hours +. If cooking in the oven, cook at 100 deg Celsius for 3 hours.

Add remaining yogurt before serving, on fluffy white rice.

'What's in the fridge' Venison Roast

Despite us having a new addition to the family, I've been insisting that the Hunter continue to have his 'man time' in the mountains. Not only is it vital to his mental health (and mine in a way!), but it keeps the freezer full! Unfortunately, I have less time to get creative in the way I used to, and instead have to get creative in a whole new way. A way in which I am bound by the ingredients that are in the fridge. Gone is the luxury of being able to whip in to town to grab some vital ingredient from the super market. Now I have to make do with what I have. Hence, 'What's in the fridge Venison Roast' was born!

Ingredients:
1x Lump of Venison meat (Pretty sure this was shoulder? Not really important)

Photo was taken before I added the stock, oops

1x small jar of basil pesto
Cranberry sauce
Minced garlic
Beef Stock
S & P

Method:
Sear the meat on all sides in a hot frying pan with a little olive oil to seal the meat.
Place in a roasting dish and baste with a sauce made with the pesto, cranberry sauce, minced garlic and S & P.
Pour approx 1 cup of beef stock into the dish, this will help keep the meat moist.
Cover in foil and roast for about an hour at 100 deg Celsius. Continue to baste in any leftover sauce and the juices throughout cooking.
Serve with creamy mashed spuds, or new potatoes and salad. I made a quick jus from the juices in the dish too.

This time and temperature is very approximate, it totally depends on the size of your piece of meat. I recommend using a meat thermometer if you have one. If you don't have one, pierce the meat with a thick skewer, if it the blood oozes out on it's own very quickly it may be too rare, if you have to apply pressure to the meat to get blood out it'll probably be about medium. We like ours medium/rare so cooked ours for about 30-45 minutes, and let it rest wrapped for about 15 minutes. This photo is kind of deceiving, it wasn't actually that bloody, I'd just poured some of the cranberry sauce jus over it.

Moroccan Goat Tagine

This works really well with almost any meat - goat, lamb, beef, venison, chamois. And you don't have to cook it in a tagine, a casserole works just as well.