Venison with pumpkin mash and cavolo nero
Ingredients
1kg venison shoulder, bone removed (ask your butcher to do this)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 celery stick, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1 star anise
1 tsp juniper berries
1 litre beef stock
500ml good red wine
1kg pumpkin
75g unsalted butter
3 thyme sprigs
50ml double cream
400g cavolo nero
Method
Heat the oven to 120°C fan/gas 1. Put a deep saucepan or hob-safe casserole (with a lid) over medium-high heat. Season the venison with lots of salt and pepper. Add the oil to the pan/ dish and, once smoking hot, sear the venison, turning regularly, for 5 minutes or until brown all over. Remove and set aside.
In the same pan/dish, add the onion, carrot, and celery and fry for 5 minutes until beginning to soften. Add the bay leaf, star anise, and juniper, pour in the stock and wine, then bring to a boil. Submerge the venison in the liquid, cover with a lid, then transfer to the oven. Cook for 3 hours or until the meat is meltingly tender.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Peel, deseed and chop the pumpkin into 5cm chunks, then cook it in the water for 10 minutes or until tender – different varieties and sizes of pumpkin will take slightly different times to cook, so keep testing it with a fork after 10 minutes. You want the pumpkin to be soft throughout. Drain and leave to steam dry.
Put the butter in a small pan over low-medium heat with the thyme. Gently cook the butter for 5-8 minutes until it starts to smell nutty and has turned brown (don’t let it burn), then remove from the heat and discard the thyme.
Begin mashing the steam-dried pumpkin in the same pan you cooked it in, adding the cream, then the brown butter a little at a time until the mash is nice and smooth. Season with plenty of salt and black pepper, then cover and set aside.
Once the venison is cooked through, carefully lift it out of the liquid and set it aside. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a clean pan, then put it over high heat to reduce for 15 minutes into a glossy sauce. Meanwhile, wilt the cavolo nero in a covered frying pan with a splash of water for 3-5 minutes, then season with salt and pepper.
To serve, gently reheat the pumpkin mash on the hob and carve the venison into 4-6 equal pieces. Return the meat to the sauce and use a spoon to baste it as you warm it through. Divide the mash among serving dishes, then add the venison and cavolo nero with a twist more black pepper, and plenty of sauce.
TIPS
To make this dish in a slow cooker: sear off the meat first, then after Step 2 when you fry the onion, carrot and celery and add the bay leaf, star anise and juniper, put it all in the slow cooker. Cook for 6-8 hours on high. Note that there will be more liquid left over, so the simmering time for the sauce at Step 6 may take a little longer.
The venison, pumpkin mash and sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept in the fridge. Gently reheat each element on the hob until piping hot throughout.