Cooking recipes

Venison Cottage Pie

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Hearty and delicious, shepherds pie has always been a favorite. We thought wed try using venison instead of lamb. If you dont use lamb, the right terminology is "cottage" pie. Ive stumbled across a few forums  about this... lets just say, some English people get a little hostile if you dont use the right word.

1. Peel and cut potatoes into equal sized pieces. Boil in salted water until tender.

2. Trim venison, removing all silver-skin. Dab with paper towel. Cut into small cubes. Note: I have small hands. 

3. Season venison cubes with sea salt and pepper to taste.

 4. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a deep 10-12 in. pan, preferably a dutch. Cook the shallots just until theyre about to turn color. Add the venison and brown.

5. Add onion, carrots, and garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until veggies soften, stirring frequently. You can add peas if you want. But dont add it now. We shouldve waited. See step 11.

 6. Add Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste and rosemary. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
 
 7. Pour in red wine and let it boil until nearly completely reduced.






8. Stir in flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. This cooks out the flour taste. Then, slowly pour in beef stock while stirring and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes, or until the venison is tender and sauce thickened.


9. Meanwhile, drain potatoes well and return to hot pan. Mash in butter, Parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste.


10. Beat in egg yolks. Its important to do this last, to let the potatoes cool a little. You dont want scrambled eggs in your mashed potatoes.Stir in parsley. Set aside. 
11. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. 60 seconds before the venison mixture reaches the right thickness, stir in the peas. Dont worry if youre using frozen peas. It will get plenty of heat in the oven. Spoon mixture into a baking dish. 




12. Spread mashed potatoes over the venison mixture, starting from outside to middle. With a fork, fluff peaks into potato. Sprinkle with black pepper and drizzle with olive oil. 




13. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until hot and bubbling and top turns golden brown.






14. Enjoy with ice cold beer. :-)












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