Venison Stew
I am always gifted with generous co-workers who are willing to share their venison. Which means that I get to eat it without the pesky task of having to see where it comes from. I’m very… American in that respect. I like my meat packaged and cleaned and don’t want to know where it came from. (This is why there is a goose in my parents’ freezer that I can’t bring myself to eat. More on that another time.)
Venison makes the best stew. It has a flavor that beef does not. It is tender and stringy at the same time. It can taste gamey, but you can use several things to cut down on that taste (like thyme and garlic,) or you can embrace the leftover gamey-ness and relish it as something different. Mmm, venison. I start this stew stovetop, and then move it to the crockpot to let everything hang out for a long time and get happy.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs venison (a marbled cut, I used a roast this time) cut into 1 1/2″ cubes
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbs dried thyme
- flour (about 1 cup) for dredging
- water (about 2 cups)
- 3 fist sized potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes (I used Yukon Gold)
- 2 onions, cut into large chunks
- 1 c. baby carrots
- 1 1/2 c. red wine (mmmm)
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil (or whatever oil you have)
Place venison into large bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dust generously with flour, toss to coat. Heat a large pan (I used my big metal Dutch oven) over medium high. Add about 1/4 c. of olive oil to the bottom of the pan. Add half the garlic. You’re going to have to cook the meat in two batches, so add about half of it, and let it hang out in there and get beautifully browned on all the sides. Don’t worry if there’s a bunch of stuff sticking to the bottom of the pan. We’ll deal with that later. Take out the first batch of meat, add a little more oil, the rest of the garlic, and the rest of the meat. Brown. Take out this meat too. Add your red wine, and use it to get all of the good brown stuff off the bottom of your pan. (Mmm, bits. Can you tell I love stew?) Put the meat, the wine with the bits, your chopped up carrots and potatoes, your thyme into a crock pot. Add water. Stir. Let it cook until all of the veggies are cooked through. (I started mine at high for about 2 hours to get it started, and then let it go for another 4 on low.)
Love your stew. Say nice things to it. Eat it until there is none left and your tummy is warm and your head is happy.