Meat mains
Venison stroganoff
Providing your meat is tender and your mushrooms have flavour, stroganoff is a surefire winner. Eastern European aristocrats used to insist on fillet steak, but cubed venison steak is just as good. To preserve its incredible tenderness just make sure you don't overcook it. Eat with pasta, rice, or even on sourdough toast. A little goes a long way – this should serve 4.
Ingredients
- 3 medium red onions, thinly sliced
- 50g butter
- ½ tsp Hungarian paprika and a pinch of sweet smoked paprika (optional)
- 4 large brown mushrooms (200g), halved and sliced
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 300g cubed venison steak, each cube sliced lengthways into 3 or 4 pieces
- 150ml white wine and 2 bay leaves and 2 juniper berries and 6 peppercorns in a saucepan, reduced by half and strained
- 250ml crème fraîche
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- juice of ½ lemon
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Fry the onion in a third of the butter until soft. Add the paprika and fry for a few more minutes. Remove and set aside.
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Step 2
Add a little more butter, heat and fry the mushrooms, turning every minute or so until beginning to soften. Remove and set aside with the onions.
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Step 3
Add the remaining butter and oil, heat to hot and fry the venison for 1 minute a side. Remove from the pan.
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Step 4
Return the mushrooms and onion to the pan, add the strained wine and crème fraîche, stir and allow to reduce and thicken for a few minutes.
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Step 5
Add the cooked venison, bring to a simmer, add the chopped parsley, stir once, season and serve immediately with the lemon juice and plain basmati rice.
