A delicious stew recipe

[luzula]

(US friends, my thoughts are with you.)

So my two housemates and I are now taking turns cooking dinner, which I appreciate enormously. I love cooking for other people, and it's also great to just sit down to table to a meal someone else cooked, which is often something you might not have cooked yourself! I also love just leaving all the clean-up to someone else after cooking dinner. One of my housemates is an excellent cook. It was almost comical when we moved in and we were both, "so here are all my jams and preserves and all my saved-up empty jars and bottles! : D" Luckily we have a large pantry in the cellar. I never really liked kombucha before, but his is delicious, and now I am starting a second batch cloned off from his, because his weekly batch always runs out too soon. My other housemate is not that good a cook, but oh well. You can't have everything, and she's a good housemate in other ways.

However, I can confidently say that I am also an excellent cook! I made a venison stew the other day which turned out delicious, and I thought I'd share the recipe.

venison chopped into pieces (can be one of the tougher parts)
red wine
tomato paste
a bunch of small whole peeled onions (they'll end up mush in the sauce anyway)
a couple of whole peeled garlic bulbs (ditto)
a couple of anchovies (ditto)
rosemary
bay leaves
black pepper
some tabasco or similar
salt
a dash of cocoa powder (not the kind with sugar and milk in it, just the chocolate)
heavy cream

Fry the pieces of venison in butter on high temperature, then add the other stuff and let it simmer on low temperature for about three hours. Add water as needed if too much of it evaporates. (I am not confident that "anchovy" is the word I want. We call them "sardell". But it's the tiny fish which is salted and then preserved in oil; my main use of it is to flavor sauces.) To go with the stew, I grilled slices of the following root vegetables in the oven: potato, carrot, parsnip, beet, and Jerusalem artichoke.

Comments

[chestnut_pod]

Anchovy sounds correct for what you describe! Mmmm, anchovy.

[luzula]

Mmm, indeed. I also like it on pizza now, although I used to think it was too much that way.

[seascribble]

(Oof. We're suffering)

Anchovy sounds correct and that sounds delicious, although getting venison to cook with here is not as easy as when I lived with a bunch of backwoods hunters.

[luzula]

(*offers hugs*)

Sweden has a lot of game, and it's not that hard to get hold of even if you don't know people who hunt. My piece of venison was from my uncle's farm, though.

[sanguinity]

Yup, that sounds like anchovy! It's a key ingredient in Caesar dressing and puttanesca, if that helps you cross-reference.

I've long liked adding cocoa to beef chili; that plus anchovy sounds like excellent additions to this.

How do you source venison where you are? Here, you almost have to know a hunter to get it.

[luzula]

It's a key ingredient in Caesar dressing and puttanesca, if that helps you cross-reference.
Ah yes, that is what I mean.

Sweden has a lot of game, and it's not that hard to get hold of even if you don't know people who hunt (you can order it online, for example). My piece of venison was from my uncle's farm, though.

[cahn]

(Thanks.)

Ooh that sounds delicious! It's hard to get venison here (as others have said) but I bet this would be great with stewing beef or pork as well.

Also, I feel like you are living your best life with your housemates and house, it is delightful to hear about this!

[luzula]

Yeah, I'm sure it would work with most kinds of meat!

I am totally living my best life. : ) I feel happy every day about moving here.

[cahn]

I just wanted to mention that I made this with stewing beef, and it was delicious! I didn't have cocoa-without-sugar, and I used beef broth instead of cream (because I was going for a blood test the next week and was trying to eat a bit healthier, ha ha), but I'll try those too next time :) Thank you!

[luzula]

Cool, I'm glad it turned out well! : )

Oh that sounds delicious!

[jesse_the_k]

I live in a hunting state, where people would take their deer (&c) to the local butcher and then store all the wrapped bits in a horizontal top-load freezer in the garage.

Unfortunately, for the past 20 years Wisconsin has been a hotspot of chronic wasting disease CWD. Some folks have stopped eating CWD-positive venison, since the science on prion disease is so new.

Re: Oh that sounds delicious!

[luzula]

a horizontal top-load freezer in the garage
The previous owners of the house left us one of these! But we have it in the walk-in pantry in the cellar. Currently it is full of apple sauce, apple juice, bilberries, currants, etc.

Oh no, I'm sorry about the CWD.

[nineveh_uk]

Sounds great. I'm a big fan of a dash of cocoa powder in a venison dish.

[luzula]

It was the first time I tried it, actually! And it was great.

(Also, hi! I just noticed now that you'd followed me. But I've seen you around in other people's journals etc, of course. : ) )

[hurry_sundown]

That stew sounds yummy, Luz. Venison is a little hard to come where I am, but maybe bison?

Also, I appreciate the supportive vibes. I'm having a very hard time accepting the outcome of the popular vote. I don't recognize my country anymore.

[luzula]

Ha ha, bison is extremely hard to come by (probably impossible) where I am. I'm sure it's good with any type of meat!

*offers hugs*