Venison braised in verjuice with chestnuts and pine mushrooms

I am ridiculously excited about this recipe; it's a real amalgamation of some of my favourite autumn flavours. Plus, it uses almost entirely local (to us) ingredients. Braising the venison in verjuice delivers a light, tangy casserole. The chestnuts are also sweet and creamy and the pine mushrooms offer a wonderful addition of texture, flavour and colour. If you can’t source venison, veal or beef shin or shoulder would also work a treat.

• serves

  6

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  6:15 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 kg deboned venison shoulder, cut into 4cm pieces
• 55 g (¼ cup) plain flour
• salt and pepper, to season
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 handful of picked woody herb leaves (such as rosemary, thyme and bay leaves)
• 375 ml (1½ cups) verjuice (see Note)
• 250 ml (1 cup) veal stock
• 3 cups thinly sliced pine or brown mushrooms 
• 10-12 chestnuts, baked, peeled
• creamy potato mash, to serve

Instructions

Preheat oven to 120°C. Toss the venison with the flour and season with salt and pepper. Heat half of the olive oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Add the venison, in batches, and cook for 5 or until browned all over. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the remaining olive oil. Add the onion, carrot, celery and herbs, and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent and the vegetables are soft.

Add the verjuice, stock and mushrooms. Return the venison to the pan, add the chestnuts and cover with a lid. Cook in the oven for 4-6 hours or until the venison is tender. Serve with the potato mash.

Note

• Verjuice, also known as verjus, is unripe grape juice. Available from delis.

Recipe from Local is Lovely by Sophie Hansen, with photographs by Sophie Hansen.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.