Challenge #24: Slow Cooked Red Venison

[miss_s_b]

Equipment needed:

• Slow cooker/crock pot
• Frying pan/skillet and tools to use with it.
• Chopping board and sharp knife.
• 1 tsp measuring spoon

Ingredients:

• 500g diced venison;
• A 400g bag of frozen pitted cherries (they stock these in both Sainsbury's and Ocado, so I assume they're normal. Tinned cherries might work otherwise, but I'd make sure they were in juice not syrup, and I'd drain them and weigh them post drainage to get my 400g);
• One large (or one and a half small) red onion(s);
• About 75g bacon lardons (I buy cheap cooking bacon and chop my own rather than buying these, it's about a tenth the price);
• A glass of red wine, remembering The Keith Floyd Rule;
• Some Garlic;
• A teaspoon of powdered cloves;
• A teaspoon of pink peppercorns;
• A pinch of salt;
• A dash of Henderson's relish/worcestershire sauce/balsamic vinegar/Other source of flavoursome acidity.

Method:

• Finely chop your onion and put it in the frying pan with the bacon lardons on a lowish heat so the onion softens and the bacon fat starts to ooze.
• Chuck the cherries, garlic, cloves, pink peppercorns, salt and Hendo's (or substitute) into the slow cooker and turn it on to low.
• Add the venison to the frying pan, turn up the heat and brown.
• Once the venison is browned, tip the contents of the frying pan into the slow cooker.
• Deglaze the pan with the wine and add that to the slow cooker too.
• Give the whole thing a stir, then put the lid on, make sure the lid is well seated, and leave for a couple of hours before stirring again.
• Cook for a minimum of 6 hours, but preferably 8 or 9.
• Serve with mixed roasted veg (today it will be beetroot, carrot and potatoes) and a nice red wine with a lot of cherry tones in it, or a good porter if you're more of a beer person.

This would probably work with other red meats as well, but there's just something about venison and cherries together... If you're doing it with beef or lamb you could leave out the bacon; that's only in there because venison is so very lean. I'd try this recipe as written with rabbit, though, or a rich gamey bird.