If you can also persuade your mum to go and buy you some venison sausages from a specialty butcher then this is the recipe for you! Warming and filling, this is the perfect winter recipe, which makes sense seeing as it’s from Delia Smith’s Winter Collection.
(Originally published 13/05/2023)
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hours
Makes: 3 servings
Ingredients
450g Venison Sausages
1tbsp olive oil
225g diced pancetta or bacon
2 garlic cloves
1 large onion
1tbsp juniper berries
275ml red wine
1tbsp fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
175g mushrooms
1 heaped tsp plain flour
1tsp mustard
25g butter
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
1. Oh deer….
Heat up the one tbsp of oil in a heavy bottomed casserole dish if you have one, then add the 450g of venison sausages and brown them all over. While they are browning, chop your onion – even better if you have a fellow gasper to help you multitask.
Once the sausages have sizzled in a pan, one’s gone pop and another’s gone bang, take out them out and add put on a plate to rest. Chuck in the 225g diced pancetta or bacon, crush in 2 garlic cloves and chopped onion and brown these too.
Crush the 1tbsp juniper berries lightly without breaking them, chop your 1tbsp of thyme and use your new foraging knowledge to gather your two bay leaves.
Once the bacon & co. are nicely browned add in your juniper berries, thyme, bay leaves. Return the sausages and pour over 275ml red wine. Crack in some salt and pépé and bring to a simmer. Once simmering turn the heat as low as possible and place on the lid. Let him cook for 30 minutes.
2. There’s not mushroom in this pot
Add the 175g of mushrooms, trying to push them under the liquid if your sausages aren’t already taking up all the room. Cook for another 20 minutes, this time without the lid.
Meanwhile, mix together your thickening paste. That is 1 heaped tsp plain flour, 1tsp mustard and 25g butter. Pro tip, melt the butter first to mix them better.
Once the 20 minutes are up, remove the sausages and mushrooms once again and whisk the thickening paste into the cooking liquid a little at a time.
Lastly, whisk in the 1tbsp of redcurrant jelly (preferably your Grandpa’s homemade redcurrant jelly) or should I say the Philosopher’s stone – destroying Voldemort’s chances of eternal life and making a delicious meal in the process.
Add the sausages and mushrooms back in and give everything a stir together
Dink and sink!
Food for Thought
Lizzy says: “I have had chicken sausages and beef sausages, but never a venison sausage. They were a very firm meaty texture and this dish ended up being intensely rich (probably because of all that wine). I loved the mushrooms especially; we didn’t use little shallots, but I can definitely see that they would be perfect for this recipe – the an unhoused pie. I think this would be perfect during winter, and very quick to make! It was definitely what we needed after a hard day foraging and eating too many leaves. 8/10″
Kate says: “I found Delia’s ‘Winter’ cookbook in a charity shop in Germany and immediately was drawn to this recipe. It does, however, happen to be the wintery-est winter recipe that exists, so by the time we got round to making it at the beginning of May perhaps it wasn’t best suited… But, after a long day of foraging, this was nevertheless a great hearty meal to come home to. I loved the sweetness that comes from the redcurrant jelly, and also the floral notes from the juniper berries but it is an exceedingly rich and heavy dish. I’m pretty sure you could also sub out the venison sausages for pork ones which would be much easier to find. 8/10 but if I’d had this in the depths of winter I’m pretty sure it would have been a 9″
8/10 Gasps
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