Humble but delicious Blue wildebeest stew

Last night when I was digging around in Pandora’s Box aka my overstuffed freezer I came across some lovely Blue wildebeest steaks. I have completely forgotten about those bad boys since it was buried 6 feet below the ice and hidden behind a bottle of scotch. *ahem… Not being a big fan of venison I am not always too overly keen to do something with it so it will naturally migrate from the front of my freezer and end up way at the back where the sun really doesn't shine. To be completely honest I am absolutely terrified of venison. I find the taste very overwhelming and unflattering. Being a cook I push myself to try everything at least once and if I didn't like it the first time I will make it my personal goal to have it in different ways and start liking it. 

I found some inspiration from a Jamie Oliver recipe for ‘venison & juniper stew’.  I tweaked it a little bit, but I have to admit the end result was really amazing. This stew doesn't call for exotic ingredients and difficult time consuming preparations.  It’s surprisingly quite simple and the main thing is that none of the ingredients and flavours hides the venison. This is a very humble but delicious stew. I suggest you give it a try!   

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons plain flour
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 800g stewing venison or beef, cut into 2cm chunks
• olive oil
• 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
• a knob of butter
• 6 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 beef stock cubes, preferably organic
• 600g small new potatoes, scrubbed clean, larger ones halved
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

Method:

1) Dust a chopping board with 2 tablespoons of flour and a good pinch of salt and pepper, and toss your chunks of meat through this mixture until well coated. Heat a large pan on a high heat, add a few lugs of olive oil and fry your meat for 3 minutes to brown it. Add your chopped onions, carrots, rosemary and the knob of butter. Add a few tablespoons of water, give everything a good stir, then pop the lid on the pan and let everything steam for 4 to 5 minutes so the flavours really mingle together.

2) Take the lid off so your meat and veg start to fry, and stir every so often for 5 to 10 minutes. Chop your parsley stalks finely, and once the onions start to caramelize, add them to the pan with your remaining 2 tablespoons of flour and your crumbled stock cubes. Stir, and pour in enough water to cover the mixture by a couple of inches. Put the parsley leaves aside for later.

4) Bring to the boil, and then turn the heat down to medium low so that the stew is just simmering. Add your potatoes and slow cook for at least 2 hours with the lid slightly askew, or until the meat falls apart easily. Keep an eye on it as it cooks, and add splashes of water if you think it looks too dry.

5) Put your chopped garlic in the middle of a chopping board. Add most of your parsley leaves with a teaspoon of sea salt and ½ a teaspoon of black pepper. Chop everything together so you get a kinda chunky paste. Add this to the stew and stir through. Chop the last of your parsley leaves and sprinkle over before serving.