Venison is such a lovely meat, and I recently discovered that they sell it in our local supermarket. It’s a lean and tasty meat, and as I’d found some diced venison I decided to try out making a pie with it. I found the original recipe for this on allrecipes.co.uk but that one serves 10 people, which is a bit much for just me and Tom! So I’ve adapted it here, adding a few of my own ingredients too.

Ingredients

300g diced venison
2 rashers unsmoked bacon (you could use streaky bacon if you wish)
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
about 500ml beef stock (you need enough to cover the meat in the pan)
1 medium potato, diced
2 small carrots, diced
3 mushrooms, chopped
220ml (1/2 can) Guinness
1 sheet puff pastry
Flour to dust the pastry and venison

Method

1.Heat the bacon in a dry frying pan to render the fat. Remove and set aside.

2. Cook garlic and onions in the bacon fat until caramelised. Remove from pan and set aside.

3. Dredge venison with flour and brown in a hot pan. Return onion, garlic and bacon to the pan. Pour in stock, stir and bring to a very slow simmer. Let simmer for 1 hour.

4. Add vegetables and simmer until tender. Remove from heat and pour in Guinness, stirring well. If the gravy is too thin, thicken it with a little cornflour mixed with water.

5. Transfer contents into a baking dish and cover with puff pastry. Pierce a few steam holes in the pastry (there were holes in the side of mine so I didn’t bother – but I did put a pastry deer on the top!).

6. Bake at 180 C / Gas 4 for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and puffy. Serve with some green vegetables and enjoy!

I like this picture – he looks like he’s coming out of a forest!

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This does make an excellent mid-week meal and you could also use pasta instead of pastry to make a yummy, creamy pasta bake. And it won’t break the bank either! The recipe below is my adapted version of Jamie’s recipe.

Ingredients

4 x 180g skinless chicken breasts

A knob of butter (leave this out if using bacon or chorizo – see optional ingredients)

Olive oil

A bunch of spring onions

150g button mushrooms

1 heaped tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 heaped tbsp low fat creme fraiche

300ml chicken stock (I use a stock cube)

A few sprigs of fresh thyme (or a tsp of dried mixed herbs works well too)

1/3 a nutmeg, grated

1 sheet pre-rolled puff pastry

1 egg

Optional ingredients: 2 rashers smoked bacon/100g chorizo, chopped into small pieces/1 leek instead of spring onions

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°c/400°F/Gas mark 6. Cut the chicken into chunks (I use my kitchen scissors for this – so much easier!). Put a lug of olive oil and butter into a hot, large pan. Add the chicken and cook for a few minutes until sealed. If adding bacon or chorizo, wait until the chicken is sealed before adding to pan.

2. Meanwhile, make the stock and then wash and trim the spring onions (or leek) and slice. Cut the button mushrooms in half before adding to the pan with the onions. Leave for 2 minutes before adding 1 heaped tbsps of plain flour and creme fraiche. Stir well.

3. Add the chicken stock and stir again. Add the herbs and the nutmeg, and season. Leave to simmer for 5-10 minutes or so.

4. Pour the mixture into an oven proof dish. Roll out the pastry (luckily, my dish is just the right size for the pastry so I don’t need to do any rolling out) and place on top, tidying up the edges. Add a little decoration if you like! Beat the egg and brush a little over the pastry.

5. Place in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Serve with some steamed vegetables and enjoy!

Post updated 24th June 2016.

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