Braised Venison With Chilli and Chocolate

Tulip-Fairy's Note:

This is Tommi Miers recipe from the show “Wild Gourmets” It looked so good I just had to cook it! It was easy to make and the flavours were wonderful. I have added and taken away different bit as my store cupboard dictated and still had success with it! Serve it with hunks of bread or mashed sweet potato or serve with a puff pastry top like I did last time. This will feed 4 hefty appetites or two normal ones with a little left over for lunch the next day! Cook times do not include marinating time. Allow a whole day or overnight to marinate. Measurements of wine are a 1/4 and 1/2 of a standard size bottle of wine. Zaars doesn't recoginise this and ml need to be recorded but I just guess when it comes to pouring the wine - hic!

• Total Time: 2 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 kg diced venison
• olive oil , for browning
• 1 medium onion , diced
• 1 carrot , diced
• 2 celery ribs , diced
• 1 parsnip , diced
• 3 garlic cloves , chopped
• 1 dried chili , crumbled
• 250 ml venison stock (or stock made from bouillon cubes)
• 163 ml red wine
• 50 g dark chocolate , chopped
• ½ tablespoon red currant jelly

for the marinade

• 325 ml full-bodied red wine
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 fresh red chile , deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 5 juniper berries , crushed
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat an oven to 190°C/gas 5).
2. Cut the venison into 2.5cm cubes, removing large bits of fat or gristle. Put these into a double-layered plastic bag, along with all the marinade ingredients. Set aside for a day in the fridge, turning every so often so that all of the meat comes into contact with the marinade.
3. When you are ready to cook, remove the venison from the marinade, setting the marinade aside for later.
4. Heat a large casserole over a high heat until it is smoking hot. Pour in a tablespoon of olive oil and when it is very hot add the venison cubes, 6 or 7 at a time, so that you are not overcrowding the pan and thus bringing down the temperature of the oil.
5. Brown the meat on all sides for 1–2 minutes, letting the pan get hot again between each batch and adding more oil if necessary.
6. When the meat is all browned, set it aside while you brown the vegetables.
7. Add a tablespoon of oil to the casserole and sweat the onions for 5 minutes before adding the carrots, celery and parsnips. Cook for a further 10 minutes, allowing the vegetables to start caramelising without letting them burn. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.
8. Return the venison to the casserole, along with the reserved marinade and the rest of the ingredients. Bring up to a gentle simmer, stirring to melt the chocolate into the sauce. Cook in the preheated oven for about 90 minutes or until the meat is tender and falling apart.

Reviews

[DrHelen79]

Lovely rich dark gravy - possibly slightly overpowering! Good selection of vegetables. Going to have it next day with mashed potatoes which should work well.

[Sweetiebarbara]

We had this for dinner tonight. We had a tough shoulder cut that needed a special touch... this was it. Both my husband and I liked it very much, and it is an alternative to my Roast Venison and a lot easier! The chocolate and the currant jelly (I used black, but intend to get red, the next time) added just a touch of sweetness that goes well with venison. I will also make sure I have Juniper berries as one of my new stock items on my spice shelves. I have added this to my Wild Game cookbook... Thank you for a nice recipe!

[Crepesuzy]

I prepared this for Christmas dinner for four and it was the perfect meal! I used a loin-roast cut and left it whole for a more impressive presentation. This recipe makes an abundant amount of gravy, which is smooth, dark and lovely. A nice change for us, very enjoyable!