Venison and Bacon Cassoulet
A perfect winter warmer- easy to pop into the slow cooker and a great combo of flavours using the under rated shoulder meat.
Ingredients
- 1 kg diced venison shoulder
- 0.5 brown onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 150 grams smoked bacon
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp tomato puree
- 1 glass white wine
- 400 grams tinned chopped tomatoes
- 500 ml tomato passata
- 1 tsp fresh oregano
- 12 cocktail cumberland sausages
- 1 Romano pepper
- 100 grams tinned chickpeas
- 100 grams tinned baked beans
- 100 grams tinned kidney beans
- 50 grams green peas
- 50 grams soya beans
- 50 grams sweet corn
- 150 ml oil
Instructions
- Heat a little oil in a pan, season the venison and fry off in small portions- allowing the oil to heat up before each portion- until sealed on all sides and browned slightly.
- Finely dice the onion and garlic and dice the bacon into larger chunks. Once all the venison is sealed off, add a little more oil to the pan, turn down and sweat off the onions and garlic.
- Once the onions are soft, add the bacon and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Then add the smoked paprika and cook for a further 6 to 8 minutes.Add the tomato puree and mix well. Chop the oregano and keep to one side. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and allow to reduce by half. Add the tinned tomatoes and the passata and bring to the boil.
- Add in the venison and half the chopped oregano and bring to the boil once more before placing into an earthenware dish with a lid. Cook in the oven at 160 degrees for 1hr 40 mins or until the meat is tender.
- Heat some oil in a frying pan and sear off the cocktail sausages to give them some colour, not allowing them to cook completely, then remove them from the pan. Cut the peppers into chunks and fry in the same pan for 3 to 4 minutes, then keep to one side with the sausages.
- Once the venison has cooked for 1hr 20 add in the sausages and the peppers. Once the venison has finished cooking, add in all the beans, peas, sweetcorn and the rest of the oregano. Correct the seasoning if needed and cook for a further 10 minutes. Serve with a slice of warm, crusty bread.
