Wild Food

The darkness of November always gives me the urge to cook real winter food. Forget the grilled fish and ratatouille of summer, this weather calls for something altogether more substantial. The beginning of the game season compensates more than adequately for the absence of summer’s abundance. I like the German term for game, Wild, meaning not only the furred and feathered edibles, but also literally “wild”. Strangely, game is not easy to come by around here. There are plenty of hunters, and I’m told that wild boar are plentiful in the forest around the village, but my attempts to locate a supplier have so far proved fruitless. I have a horrible suspicion that this is due to the regulations governing the meat supply industry. Right and necessary though these may be, it seems to mean that if you want to eat the results of the hunter’s Sunday morning outing, first find your hunter. Buying his booty is probably illegal.

Venison can, however, be bought in some supermarkets. It may not seem quite so Wild when diced and shrink-wrapped, but it has the advantage of practicality, and seems to lose nothing of its flavour and tenderness. Venison is beautifully lean and easily-digestible meat, and I have so far failed to find anyone who doesn’t like it, if they can only be persuaded to try it once!

Nothing captures the spirit of English winter food like the Pie. I adore the mixture of light, flaky pieces of pastry with the slightly soggier bits from next to the meat. I make two or three times as much as I need, and freeze portions of it wrapped in clingfilm. This doesn’t seem to have any negative effects on the taste or texture of the piecrust, and I have a sneaking suspicion it might even improve it. Putting a simple crust on top of a venison ragout is an incredibly easy way to make something that looks and tastes a bit special. I like to make small individual pies, and with some fluffy mashed potatoes and plenty of gravy there is no more satisfying and warming supper. We’re back to the theme of comfort food here, you may have noticed. I wouldn’t want you to think that food is the only sort of comfort in my life, but I never run out of appetite for it.

This is not just kitchen supper food, though; the ragout can be prepared the day before, as can the pastry. For a dinner party, the veg. and gravy can be got ready in advance, then all you have to do is pop the pie into the oven when you serve the starter.

This recipe comes from Ravinder Bhogal, although I’ve tweaked it a bit. It’s much simpler than it appears at first glance, and the combination of flavours works really well.

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Venison pie with turnips and beetroot
Serves 2-3

Ingredients

100g smoked lardons

4 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion sliced
1 tsp ground cinnamon
6 cloves crushed
4 sprigs of thyme
2 fat cloves of garlic crushed
3 small turnips peeled and diced
3 small beetroots peeled and diced

500g venison, diced
2 tbsp seasoned flour
250ml Marsala
1 tbsp juniper berries roughly crushed
2 bay leaves
500ml vegetable  stock
1 egg beaten with a little water
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

• Preheat the fan oven to 160°C. In a flameproof casserole, sauté the lardons till the fat runs. Set aside.
• In a tablespoon of olive oil, sauté the onion with the cinnamon, cloves and thyme leaves until caramelised. Add the garlic and fry for another minute or two. Set aside with the bacon.
• In another tablespoon of olive oil, fry the beetroot and turnips until they have some colour on them. Put with the lardons and onions.
• Lightly coat the venison pieces in seasoned flour and brown them, in batches if necessary. Set aside with the veg.
• Deglaze the pan with the Marsala, scraping up all the bits, and boil to reduce by about half. Add the bay leaves, juniper berries, seasoning and stock. Put the onions, vegetables, lardons and venison back in, bring to a simmer, cover and cook in the oven for 1 ½  hours, adding hot water if necessary.
• In the meantime, make the pastry and leave in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. Place the cooked filling in the pie dish or dishes. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface, not too thinly. Cut to fit the dishes and use the pastry trimmings to make a 1cm strip. Wet the edge of the dish with egg/water mix and stick the strip all around.
• Cut a cross in the centre of the pastry for a pie funnel if you want to use one. Lay the pastry over the pie dish and seal the edges onto the pastry rim. Brush the pie all over with the beaten egg and bake at 180°C for 30 minutes till golden brown.

Game Gravy

1 small onion or shallot, sliced downwards

olive oil

1 tsp plain flour

300ml game stock

• Fry onion in oil until golden.
• Reduce heat, stir in flour and cook gently for 2 minutes.
• Add stock a little at a time, stirring well
• Cook for about 5 minutes to required consistency.
• Season to taste.

Piecrust Pastry (from Ruth Watson)

(makes 2 lots)

225g frozen unsalted butter

300g plain flour

about 80ml ice-cold water

• Grater the frozen butter coarsely into a bowl with the flour.
• Rub the butter in to the flour.
• Add the water gradually, using only as much as needed to make a soft dough.
• Roll the dough into two equal balls. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, or freeze straight away.