Month: October 2026

Venison and red pepper stew

A friend of mine comes up regularly to hunt game, including red deer, and he managed to bag a large stag at a recent visit. The meat was plentiful, but not that tender. I also had a lot of peppers, due to a glut (not my own) so I made this. I did look around in my recipe books and on the internet, so this is a combination of a number of ideas.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1kg venison, cubed
  • Around 250ml red wine
  • Olive oil
  • 1 tbsp hot paprika, or 2 tsp paprika and a pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp plain flour, preferably white bread flour
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 sticks of celery
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 white onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbsp concentrated tomato puree
  • two bayleaves
  • six juniper berries
  • 1 tsp dried thyme, or Italian herbs for meat, or a sprig of fresh thyme
  • three large red sweet peppers
  • 250ml beef or venison or vegetable stock or water (I used beef stock)
  • Chopped parsley to garnish.

METHOD:

  • Chop the venison into cubes, and marinade in olive oil and red wine overnight.
  • Take the venison from the red wine, and keep the red wine for later. Pat it dry.
  • Comine the paprika, flour and 1 tsp salt and then sprinkle over the meat and stir to coat it all well.
  • In a large casserole pan, heat some olive oil and fry off the meat until it is browned. Take the meat out of the pan and set aside. 
  • Cut the onion, carrot, celery and garlic into chunks and then chop finely in a food processer. 
  • Add the vegetables to the pan over a medium heat. You may need to add a little oil. As the vegetables cook and moisten the brown crust in the pan, scrape it up and keep stirring. 
  • Once the vegetables are soft, add the tomato paste and keep cooking for another minute or so. 
  • Add the red wine marinade, and cook until half the wine has evaporated.
  • Add the meat and herbs  and any juices into the pan and stir to combine. Add enough stock or water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to a low simmer. 
  • You could simmer on the top of the stove for around four hours. Check every so often to check that there is enough liquid in the pan, and give it a little stir. An alternative would be to put it in the oven at 140C. 
  • Once the meat is beginning to get tender, chop the peppers into squares, and saute them until they are soft. Add them to the pan, and simmer for another hour. Then the stew is ready. 

You could add the peppers to the vegetables at the beginning, or use red pepper paste, and they will be incorporated into the sauce. I enjoyed the chunks of pepper in the stew. 

I served this with mashed potatoes and parsnips one night, and with sprouts and baked potatoes the next night. When I reheated it, I moistened the stew with a little red wine. SO good. 

 

Turkish celeriac soup

I have a really useful book of Turkish recipes, so when I bought a celeriac recently I thought I would try to make this soup. There are several versions online, so this is just one way to make it.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, thinly chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 medium carrot, cubed
  • One large celeriac, around 450g, cubed
  • One green pepper, dried, or any mild green pepper will do
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 litre of stock (vegetable or chicken stock)
  • 100 to 150ml plain yoghurt
  • Juice of half an orange
  • Fresh dill to garnish
  • More olive oil
  • Another 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 2 tsp dried mint

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil in a soup pan, and gently fry the sliced onion until it starts to soften.
  • Add the garlic, and once that is incorporated, add the chopped carrots and celeriac and the green pepper as well as around 1 tsp salt and a good grating of black pepper. Cook for around five minutes
  • Add the stock, and bring to the boil. Simmer with the lid on for around 25 minutes, until the celeriac is tender.
  • Use a soup blender to puree the soup.
  • Once the soup is smooth, add the orange juice and the yoghurt, taste and adjust the seasoning.
  • Next, in a small pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and fry two cloves of garlic (crushed) until it starts to brown. Add the dried mint, and stir for a few seconds before swirling through the blended soup
  • Serve with a garnish of chopped dill, and some toasted pitta breads or other flat bread.

Kibbeh pie

This is from Sami Tamimi and Yotam Ottolenghi’s book ‘Jerusalem’. They have both spoken out about the horrendous scorched earth that is Palestine, and how Palestinian food traditions are embedded in the dishes of the region. This is not 100% traditional, but it is still delicious. Of course, I had to make a few adjustments to take into account what was available locally. The inspiration for making this was finding some minced lamb in one of the local shops. 

INGREDIENTS: 

  • Bulghur wheat (fine, if possible, but I could only get medium). 
  • Olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped and crushed
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 1 green chilli, finely chopped
  • 350g – 400g minced lamb
  • 1 tsp ground allspice
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaf.
  • 3 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 60g pine nuts
  • 2 tbsp self-raising flour
  • 50g light tahini paste (I have no idea if my tahini was light, it was from the co-op)
  • 2 tsp lemon juice (half a small lemon should do)
  • 1 tsp ground sumac (I used Zahtar from seasoned pioneers because I didn’t have any sumac)

METHOD:

  • Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan oven). Line a round springform or loose bottomed cake tin with grease-proof paper. I used a little oil to make sure it didn’t shift about too much. 
  • Soak the bulghur wheat in 200ml hot water for 30 minutes at least. 
  • While the wheat is soaking, heat some olive oil in a large frying pan, and gently cook the onion until it is soft. As it is cooking, add the crushed garlic and chilli. Take your time; the onion should be soft but not browned. This will take around 10 minutes. 
  • Remove the onion from the pan, and then turn the heat up to medium and add the lamb. Cook this for around 5 minutes, stirring all the time, to ensure it is browned well. 
  • Add the onions back into the pan along with the spices, coriander leaf, half a teaspoonful of salt, a good grating of black pepper, and most of the pinenuts and parsley. Cook and mix for a couple of minutes and adjust the seasoning to taste. 
  • Strain the bulgur wheat if necessary, and then add the flour, 1 tbsp olive oil, a good pinch of salt and a good grating of black pepper. Kneed together to make a pliable mixture. You may need to add a little more flour if the mixture is too sticky.
  • Push the wheat mixture into the base of the cake tin. Then add the lamb mixture, press it down and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
  • Meantime, a bit of magic with the tahini. Whisk this together with 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp water and a pinch of salt. It should end up the consistency of double cream. 
  • Remove the kibbeh pie from the oven, spread the tahini sauce over the top, sprinkle over the remaining pine nuts and chopped parsley, and return to the oven for a further 10 to 12 minutes, until the tahini is setting and the pine nuts are golden. 
  • Remove from the oven and let it settle to a warm temperature. Before serving a drizzle of olive oil and then a sprinkle of sumac or zahtar. 

I had this with a green salad and a dish of tzatziki.