Venison casserole recipe please

[Minidoghugs]

I ideally want something I can make in advance and freeze, then transport to a family party and reheat with good results.
The other thing is I need it to be gluten and dairy free and no alcohol. Some family members don't drink at all and they won't like wine or beer in it even if it the alcohol has burned off.

[TeddyIsaHe]

My favourite venison casserole recipe is:

Dust venison in seasoned gluten free flour, sear on a very high heat until browned all over. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add a touch of oil to the pan and in with some smoked bacon lardons. Fry until crisp and the fat has rendered out and then add 4/5 finely chopped shallots (banana ones) or baby pearl onions, sauté until they are starting to soften add in whole baby mushrooms and a big splodge of tomato purée. Cook down for around 10 mins or so until the purée is rust coloured.

(Now I would add red wine and cook off but you can leave this out)

Back in with the venison, and then some really good beef stock - fresh if possible or at a push the stock jellies aren’t too bad (check they’re gluten free) It depends on how much you’re making to how much you add in but it should be quite liquid.

Lid on, but leave it cracked slightly to let steam out and into a really low oven, around 150 - 160 for 3-4 hours. It needs to be really low as venison is so lean it can become stringy very easily. Check it after 3 hours, pop it back in for longer if it’s not super tender.

It’s really simple and delicious, the veg is best served on the side rather than in it as the long cooking time tends to turn them to mush. It freezes and reheats beautifully!

[kateandme]

soften in a pan some onion celery carrots.add some mushrooms.and some bacon lardons towards end of softening.put into a dish. in same dish to cook veg (fat and scraping are flavour here) toss gluten free flour to your venison in a bag.add to pan and fry slightly til browned.put onto side.in the pan put the veggies back and add stock.bisto powder.tinned tomatos(dolmio works well instead)Worcester sauce,spoon of tom puree.bubble until the stuff is soften completely and looking right sauce consitancy.add venison back in oven cook low until tender and sauce is right for you.approx 90 mins.
then you could always take it back to hob to boil down sauce.

[kateandme]

pearl barley works great in it too.if your planning on freezing I would think about the amount of liquid.then whether you will want to add more once on location or need to boil it down more.also if you want it all done it might be an idea to add your potatos to the pan so it really is a on pot dish.putting starch ie rice.potatos or barley etc in it will also help thicken it.good luck let us know how it goes.
remember to get good cook and cut of ur venison.if you get It from butcher ask there advice on cooking times.as its a tough bugger if u don't get it nice or right.xx

[Rinceoir]

I made a venison cacciatore a few months ago, it was delicious. There’s loads of recipes online- any cacciatore recipe should work with venison. Can be done without wine, substitute a little red wine vinegar if needs be.

[Minidoghugs]

Thanks very much everyone. These sound great, all the recipes I found online contained large amounts of red wine or beer which was no good for us.
I won't be making it for a while but will report back.

[PoisonousSmurf]

I use a slow cooker, but you can also add redcurrant jelly and pre-peeled and cooked chestnuts for a Xmas vibe .

[semideponent]

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1935/succulent-braised-venison

I've made this twice recently and it's very good. I did soak a few dried mushrooms and added them in, finely chopped, with their soaking water.

[kateandme]

instead of beer what about cider vinegar.and in wines place something like grape juice or balsamic/Worcester/lea Perrins. just to give the same depth. or even mushrooms or sundried tomatos to give it that extra depth the wine or beer does.

[Minidoghugs]

Thanks Kate I forgot to say one of my relatives doesn't eat beef which is one reason I went for venison. What do you think would be the best type of stock to use chicken or maybe lamb? I'm leaning towards the stock jellies but I might make my own if I can get the bones. I dont know if I could get venison bones, would that better if I could?