Venison & Mushroom Pie

We were blessed to have some really good quality wild venison to cook this week. The first night we cooked a truly fabulous Annabel Langbein recipe, serving the fillets on ginger mashed kumara, with a sweet red wine and balsamic sauce. It really was sensational, partly down to the tender quality and flavour of the meat, as well as the accompaniments of course. 

But tonight I had the challenge of using the rest of the meat to create a pie (Hubby's orders. But who doesn't like pie right?). The challenge was, that the meat was from the eye fillet, so exceptionally tender and only requiring quick cooking. 

Pies are traditionally a dish that are suited to a tougher cut of meat. This recipe explains how to cook it using a high quality cut of meat. However if you had stewing steak then you'd simply rearrange the order, brown the meat first, and simmer it in the gravy for at least 40 minutes till it's tender, before cooling and using as a pie filling. 

One of my tips with pies is to cool the filling first. It doesn't have to be fridge cold (though you could prepare the filling a day in advance), but you certainly do not want it hot. It would cause the pastry to melt a little which you don't want to happen prior to going into the oven. Also, a HOT oven, so make sure to preheat first. 

Ingredients (Serves 4-6 with sides): 

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 400g venison fillets, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp flour 
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 c red wine  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 50g butter
• 200g mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 cup diced pumpkin
• 1 tbsp dried thyme (or 1/4c of fresh thyme) 
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup of beef stock
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 sheets of butter puff pastry*
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

Toss the chopped meat in the first measure of flour, seasoned with salt and pepper. 

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan. Lightly brown the meat in batches and set aside in a bowl. 

Once the meat is browned, reduce the heat to low and use the wine to de-glaze the pan. Stirring until all of the bits have been removed from the bottom of the pan, and the wine has significantly reduced. Pour this over top of the meat and set aside. 

Heat the oil and half of the butter in a large frying pan. Add the mushrooms and pumpkin and saute for 5-10 minutes until mushrooms are softened. 

Add the garlic, additional butter, and thyme, and stir till the butter has melted. Sprinkle over the flour and stir to coat. 

Gradually add the hot beef stock to the pan (if using a cheaper cut of meat return it to the pan now to stew in the gravy), stirring constantly and allow the sauce to thicken. 

Once thickened, remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature (if using a fillet cut of meat stir it into the gravy once cooled). 

Preheat the oven to 190*C fanbake (210*C bake). 

Butter a 22cm pie dish and line the base with the thawed pastry. Cutting to fit. 

Spoon the cooled filling into the base and sprinkle with 1/2 a cup of frozen peas. 

Use the remaining pastry to cover the top. If you don't have enough a rustic lattice top will do the trick (I like my pies to be rustic and somewhat freeform). If you do fully cover the top, be sure to prick a few holes in the top to allow it to steam. 

Bake for 40 minutes till the centre is hot.  

Remove from the oven and sit for 10 mins before cutting. 

Serve with roasted potatoes and steamed veggies or salads. 

* Many store bought pastries are made with vegetable fat (often palm oil), check the ingredients and if possible it's worth spending the few extra dollars for butter puff pastry. 

Angelo's Wild Kitchen - Book Review

Angelo’s Wild Kitchen - Family Favourite Recipes

By Angelo Georgalli

I was very excited to get my hands on this pre-release copy of Angelo’s Wild Kitchen, his second book following The Game Chef. He’s a household name in our family, thanks to his show also titled The Game Chef on Maori Television. Here he shares his love of hunting (often with bow and arrow) and gathering, with his passion for wholesome family cooking.

His mother is Italian, and father Croatian, so his recipes have a very European flair running through them. Expect to see mouth watering pastas, pizzas, breads, and homemade sauces, all prepared with local New Zealand produce, much of which he has grown or foraged himself. There’s even a few recipes at the back of the book which feature his children and their inherited love of food. Teenager Luca’s Roast Tomato Soup made with his own home grown tomatoes, and Oscar, who loves fishing, has a Brown Trout recipe .

Angelo has been in NZ for over 20 years currently resides in the picturesque Cardrona Valley, so as well as the stunning food photography, you’ll find breathtaking imagery our native backyard. The inside cover of the book even has topographical maps of Lakes Hawea and Wanaka, and the Cardrona ranges.

Even though the title is ‘Wild’ Kitchen, don’t be put off. Pretty much every single recipe in this book I could source the ingredients for and could easily make myself. The ‘wild’ more refers to the fact that ingredients can be sourced locally (and for free, hunting, fishing, growing, if you’re that way inclined). He even has a page of tips and tricks for ‘How to bring the wild into any home’. There is still enough to keep the wild food lovers happy too, with a few venison and hare recipes, a rabbit pie, and a North African Goat Hotpot, amongst the more traditional beef, chicken, cured meats, vegetarian, and variety of seafood recipes. The seafood recipes alone make this book worthwhile: crayfish caesar and sandwiches, calamari fettuccine, Greek fish stew, and Greek stuffed calamari, trout, salmon, BBQed fish, seafood chowder and 3 different seafood pizzas. AKA seafood heaven!  

One thing I really love about this book is the variety. The chapters cover everything: Breakfast, Butters - so popular right now! & Bases, All Things Saucy, Grazing - my favourite way to eat, Seafood delicacies, Pizza Pasta Pizazz, Wild Asian Fusion - nope, it’s not all European, Give Me Greens (Salad and Veges), Meat, Sweet Things, For The Kids - dedicated to his children’s recipes, not kid food. In fact, one criticism would be, what has he got left? It seems he’s put everything into this cookbook, and I wonder, or hope that he’s got more up his sleeve for another one. There’s so much crammed in that the pizza recipe, like the steamed buns, provides the recipe for the dough, then a range of different filling and topping recipes. Meaning that if you go to the effort of mastering the dough making, you’re not just a one trick pony!

It needs to be noted as well, that this book is truly for everyone. I’ve mentioned the variety of recipes above, but it’s also suitable for all those people with dietary restrictions too. Featuring Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free and Vegetarian recipes throughout the chapters.

You can expect to find copies of Angelo’s Wild Kitchen on shelves from the 1st of September and if you can get in quick, I’d highly recommend this book as a great gift for upcoming Father’s Day, or a Christmas gift for any budding foodie, hunter, or horticulturist. The recipes are simple classic fare with his own twists. The first recipe I tried was his Pork Belly, Mushroom & Sage Orecchiette which is his version of Fettuccine Carbonara: Indulgent, yet simple and delicious. Next up, I plan to make his Napoletana Sauce, which then features in other recipes throughout the book.

Rabbit Pie - Oh My!

Another hunt, another delivery of meat for me to prepare. Two rabbits this time, slender, lean little morsels. I prepared this dish over a few days, as it required slow cooking reduction, then baking into a pie, but trust me, it was worth the wait. One rabbit would be sufficient for one pie, but now I have another batch of the meat in the freezer for a stress free meal another day. 

Two years ago we were in Holland having Christmas with my dutch relatives, to learn that a traditional meat to have on Christmas Day is Braised Rabbit, my Aunt however, had not prepared this for us fearing that we wouldn't be accustomed to it. Little did she know that the Mister and I thrive on trying new things and experiencing other cultures to the fullest. 

So anyway here I am two years later, making my take on a christmas classic with a braised rabbit pie. I intend to heat the leftover braised rabbit with an additional tin of tomatoes and toss through parpadelle, with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. 

Ingredients (this makes enough for two large pies) 

• Olive Oil 
• Two small rabbits, jointed
• 3 rashers bacon, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 2 onions, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1/2 green capsicum , diced
• sprig of fresh rosemary
• salt & pepper 
• 2 tbsp flour
• tin of tomatoes
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
• 700g puff pastry (or 350g for one pie) 
• A little melted butter 

Method

The reduced cooking liquid

In a hot pan heat a glug of olive oil and in batches add the rabbit pieces to brown all over. Remove and place in slow cooker. 

In same pan heat a little more oil and add bacon, carrot, onions, garlic and capsicum, stirring, and cook for about 5 mins till softened. Add salt and pepper and rosemary. Sprinkle over the flour and stir to coat. 

Pour in wine and vinegar, stirring to remove anything that might have stuck to the bottom, pour all of this into the slow cooker also. Add the tomatoes. Cover and cook on high for 6 - 7 hours till the meat is falling off the bone. Allow to cool slightly before transferring into a container to store in the fridge to cool. 

Once cooled (for 5 to 24 hours), pour any liquid into a heavy based fry pan and heat gently, stirring occasionally, to reduce. Leave to cool in the pan.

Now this is the bit where it gets a little messy, you need to sort through the meat and vege to remove the bones. I recommend taking your time to do this, as rabbit bones can be very small. 
Be gentle.

Cooled, shredded de-boned meat

Once you have gone through and removed all the bones, leaving only vegetables and meat, stir the reduced liquid through again. Return to the fridge.

Grease a pie tin and roll puff pastry to 5mm thick (or thaw frozen pastry sheets). Line the base of the pan with pastry, then fill with the cold rabbit mixture. Top the pie with remaining pastry. Brush with melted butter. and prick the top all over. 

Bake in 190 degree oven for 45mins to an hour, you want the pastry to be puffed and golden all over. Remove from oven and resist cutting in for five to ten minutes. Serve with crusty white bread and a green salad. 

So many sausages

Sausages are what's been sparking in my kitchen lately. 
The man of the house has been getting a LOT of this wild pork of late. Mainly because we are the only ones with a deep freeze to house it all. He's also decided that sausages are his thing. I mean, really, who doesn't love sausages? Especially good home-made meaty ones. So far he has experimented with a few flavours, including a fennel and a chilli one, which were both rather successful. Tonights batches included a Monteiths Barrel Aged Porter with Rosemary and Pepper, and a Spicy Louisiana sausage. 

The first thing you need to know about making sausages is that there needs to be a good ratio of fat to meat. Unfortunately, or luckily, depending how you think about it, wild pork is very lean, so we minced a packet of pork belly and trimmed a side of pork crackling to remove the skin. Both of these were minced to yield about 1.5kg of pork fat to go with the rest of the meat. 

The wild pork was boned and minced to create 6kg of mince, this was combined with the fat, then split into two batches for the sausages. 

The second thing is that the meat needs to be kept cold. Particularly if using home-kill or wild meat. So when not mincing or mixing be sure to keep it chilled in the fridge or freezer if only for a short while. 





Monteiths Barrel Aged Porter with Rosemary and Pepper

3.25 kg of Minced pork and fat mixture (see above, or use pre bought mince) 
1/4 of fresh rosemary, finely chopped. 
3 tbsp of freshly ground pepper
3 tbsp salt
1 cup of Monteiths Barrel Aged Porter beer (or your other favourite rich malty beer) 




Spicy Louisiana 
3.25 kg of Minced pork and fat mixture (see above, or use pre bought mince) 
2 tsp cayenne 
1 1/2 tsp chilli pepper
5 tsp salt
1 large onion, finely diced
2 tsp black pepper
4 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tsp allspice 
1 cup cold water
2 tsp thyme 


Follow the same method for both sausage flavours. 

• Mix mince with other ingredients, working it with clean hands. 
• Remove the mincer blade from the mixing machine, attach the sausage casing, feeding it all onto the machine (see picture), slowly begin feeding the mince into the machine, pausing as it begins to reach the end, now tie the end (this avoids getting air stuck). 
• Continue feeding the mixture through the machine. Keep filling (don't fill too tight as you will need to twist them after). 
• Once filled leave one end untied and twist three turns to make each sausage the desired size. Finally tie the end. 
• Seal sausages in vacuum bags (or wrap tightly in cling film and zip-lock bags). 
• Freeze or chill immediately. 
• and most importantly. ENJOY. 

Honest Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Recently I made a feast of BBQ pulled pork (find the recipe here), where one of the main ingredients & condiments is BBQ sauce. 
The BBQ sauce recipes I found however, mostly consisted of the base ingredient ketchup... why would I use a sauce to make another sauce? Doesn't seem to make sense to me, so I made my own one up, using more of the delicious Old Mout Scrumpy Cider that I'd cooked the pork in also.

I made this sauce quite quickly and it has a lovely slightly chunky texture. i think had I cooked the vegetables down longer it would have gotten smoother and would probably keep in the fridge longer. I don't think this will be a problem though. We did a blind taste of this sauce, vs. a shop bought bbq sauce, and thankfully my homemade one won!
My friend however did suggest that my label ought to have two chilli's rather than one. 

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp rice bran oil
• 1 onion diced
• 1/2 red capsicum
• 1 300ml jar tomato puree
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup Old Mout Scrumpy Cider 
• 1/4 c Molasses 
• 1/4 c raw sugar
• 4 tbsp smoked paprika
• 3 tbsp dried oregano 
• 1 tbsp salt 
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper 

Method

In a large pot heat oil on a low heat. Add onion, garlic and capsicum, cook stirring for 5 mins till softened. 

Add paprika, oregano, cayenne and salt. Stir again before adding tomato puree, apple cider vinegar and cider. Next add sugar and molasses. 

On low heat simmer, uncovered for 30 - 40 minutes, stirring occasionally till sauce has thickened and reduced. 

Taste and add more vinegar, sugar, salt or spice if required. 

Allow to cool slightly before pouring into a food processor. 

Blitz till smooth (or desired consistency) 

Bottle in sterilised jars. 

Will keep for 4 - 6 weeks in fridge 

Spark'n Barbeque'n Pulled Pork

Thanks to friends who have a love of hunting, my freezer is full of legs of wild pork. Initially I cooked this as per my friends instruction in an oven bag with a tin of pineapple. It was pretty good, but as always I was keen to try something new this time. It seems the craze in some of the new restaurants around town is BBQ Pulled Pork... so I figured I would give it a go for myself. 

It turns out that the sauce is made and stirred through separately, so the meat itself if much like any other slow cooked meat. I was planning to use a slow cooker, but the leg wouldn't fit, so I did it in an oven bag in a really low oven all day instead.

I wanted to make sure it had the added sweetness that the pineapple gave as pork, particularly wild pork, can be quite rich, so I cooked it with Old Mout Cider, I choose their Scrumpy because it's got a slightly higher alcohol content and  has a strong apple flavour. 

The BBQ sauce recipes I found however mostly consisted of the base ingredient ketchup... why would I use a sauce to make another sauce? Doesn't seem to make sense to me, so I made my own one up, using more of the delicious Scrumpy, See Here for yourself.

Apple Cider Pulled Pork served with Buns, Coriander and Lime Rice, Coleslaw and BBQ sauce. (See below for Rice and Coleslaw recipes)

Ingredients

• 1 leg free range or wild pork 
• Large oven bag or slow cooker - my leg of pork wouldn't fit in the slow cooker
• 1 1/2 c Apple Cider - I used Old Mout's Scrumpy 
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 tbsp smoked paprika 
• 2 tbsp ground cumin - I toast the seeds in a dry pan, then grind in a mortar pestle for the freshest flavour
• 2 tbsp oregano 
• 2 tbsp salt 
• 1 cup of BBQ Sauce

Method

Trim the meat of any large chunks of fat. Mix onion, spices and cider, put in bottom of oven bag. Add pork, spooning some of the mix on top so it's at least been coated. 

Seal oven bag and place in 120 degree oven for 6-7 hours. Meat should fall off the bone. Don't worry you can't really overcook it, so if in doubt, leave it longer. 

If using a slow cooker, just put all ingredients in on low for 7 hours. 

Once cooked, allow to cool slightly then put meat, bones, and cooking liquid into a large tupperware and chill overnight. 

The next day skim any fat from the surface (the liquid should be jelly-like now that it has cooled, this is what you want, just skim the solid orange/white fat from the surface if there is any) remove the meat and bones from the liquid. Put  jelly/liquid into a heavy pot and simmer on a low heat for 30-40 mins until nearly completely reduced, stir occasionally so it doesn't stick. 

Meanwhile, shred the pork meat using two forks. Discard any bones. 

Once the cooing liquid has reduced, allow it to cool, then stir it through the shredded meat. Stir through 1 cup of BBQ sauce. Then set aside. 

To serve, gently reheat meat on the stovetop, on a low heat. 

Serve with more BBQ sauce, Coleslaw, Buns, and the Coriander Lime Rice. 

Coriander and Lime Rice

This rice makes a great side dish full of aromatic mexican flavours. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/4c Brown Rice
• 1/4c of Black Rice 
• Zest and Juice of 1 lime 
• 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves

Method

Rinse rice and soak in a pot with 3 cups of water, lime zest and coriander seeds. Leave covered 2-3 hours.

Remove lid, place on high heat till simmering, stir gently, cover, reduce heat and leave for 20-25 mins, till water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and leave 10 mins. 

Remove lid, fluff with a fork, add lime juice, olive oil, salt and fresh coriander. 

Serve warm or cold. 

Coleslaw

I make coleslaw with a light vinaigrette, you can use mayonnaise if you prefer, or just serve with mayo on the table like I do. For ease, I also make coleslaw in the food processor, a good old knife will do fine if you don't have a processor. 

Ingredients

• 1/4 red cabbage
• 1/4 white cabbage
• 3 carrots peeled 
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 3 tbsp olive oil (or vegetable oil of your choice) 
• Juice of 1 lemon or lime
• 1 tsp salt

Method

Peel Carrots. Chop vegetables so they will fit into the hole in the top of the food processor. 

Using the large slicing blade process the cabbages. 

Next use the grater attachment and grate the carrots. 

Place all ingredients into a large serving bowl, toss together with chives, oil, salt and lemon juice.