Cooking for Pleasure: Venison stew

Perfect to warm up with after shoveling and plentiful for leftovers, "if you can restrain yourself."

Venison stew. (Photo by Patty Schied)

By Patty Schied

Now that we are in the throes of the most difficult winter Juneau has seen in decades, the best meal right now is a nice slow-cooked stew. Although I was fortunate in getting some lovely venison for this stew, if you don’t have venison, beef will work just as well.

This stew has the usual vegetables but is made in the French style, cooked with herbs and wine. The result is very flavorful. It can be eaten the same day or refrigerated for up to three days, if you can restrain yourself. This particular recipe is made with two pounds of meat and feeds three people with leftovers. Just adjust the recipe ingredients if you are using a larger amount of meat. 

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of venison, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes 

• Flour for dusting 

• One each carrot, celery stick and onion (cut into small dice) 

• Two cloves of garlic, finely minced 

• Dry red wine (about one cup) 

• Beef broth (about one cup) 

• Bay leaf 

• Two sprigs of fresh thyme, or one teaspoon dried if not available 

• Oil for braising 

• Potatoes, carrots and onion cut up in large pieces for cooking in the final stages of the stew 

Preparing for the stew. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Directions 

Carefully pat the meat cubes dry, season with salt and pepper, then dust them with flour. 

In a large cast-iron or ceramic-lined pot such as Le Creuset, heat two tablespoons of cooking oil. Brown about half of the meat in the hot oil, turning to get a nice sear on each side, adding more oil if necessary.

Remove pieces of meat from the pan as it browns. Do not crowd the pan or there will be too much moisture released from the meat to get it brown. 

Remove browned meat from the pan. In the oil that remains, add the diced onion, carrot and celery, stirring to soften. 

Then add the minced garlic, being careful not to burn it. This is called a mirepoix. The diced vegetables melt into the stew, deeply flavoring the sauce. 

Return the meat to the pan and add one cup of red wine and enough beef broth to cover the meat. Bring to a simmer, then add the bay and two fresh thyme leaves. Cover and simmer for about two hours, checking periodically to see if more broth or red wine is needed. 

Each time you check, taste the liquid for seasoning. When the meat is tender, add the cut-up carrots, onion and potatoes and simmer until just done. Remember to keep tasting the sauce for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed. 

• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and has written a cookbook. Cooking For Pleasure appears every other week in the Juneau Independent's features. She welcomes recipe ideas and questions about her column at patschied@yahoo.com.