Wild venison, blue cheese and mushroom pie

hunters kitchen spread

I am a professional chef and amateur hunter. I have spent time hunting in most of the North Island ranges but do most of my hunting in the Tararua’s. Working as a chef has sent me to several locations in the world and I have worked in New Zealand, Malaysia, Cook Islands and the Maldives. I first started out hunting rabbits and possums with my old man when I was a kid before moving on to goats and deer as I grew older. As a chef I like to use the best produce available. Hunters when killing humanely and taking only what they need can end up cooking with not only the most ethically harvested meat but when dealt with properly, the best quality also. I think it’s really important to know where your food comes from and how best not to waste it, and that’s why I think hunting and cooking marry so well together and that’s what I hope to promote and achieve through sharing the recipes and techniques we use to cook wild game professionally.  

You can find a new recipe using wild game in every new edition of NZ Guns & Hunting Magazine. Here is the first recipe from The Hunter’s Kitchen from the May/June edition.

venison pie

Wild venison, blue cheese and mushroom pie
Serves 6
This recipe utilises Venison shoulder and is great dish for the colder months. Shoulder is a heavily worked muscle which means it requires a slow long cooking time to break down the connective tissue, the flip side is that the tougher cuts of meat have more flavour!
Write a review
Print
Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
3 hr 30 min
Total Time
4 hr
Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
3 hr 30 min
Total Time
4 hr
Ingredients
  1. 1kg Diced, trimmed Venison shoulder (or neck)
  2. 1/2 Onion
  3. 3cl Garlic
  4. 100g Blue cheese wedge
  5. 1 bottle Speights or any other ale beer
  6. 200ml Red wine
  7. Chicken stock (or water) – enough to cover
  8. 1 Sprig Thyme
  9. 1 Sprig Rosemary
  10. 50g Dried mushrooms (porcini best but can use shittake)
  11. 100g Mushrooms (buttons or flats)
  12. 2Tbsp Duck fat (or butter or cooking oil)
  13. 8Tbs Plain flour
  14. Salt and pepper
  15. 1 Pkt Puff pastry sheets
  16. 1 Egg (whisked with 1Tbs water)
  17. 2Tbs Melted butter
Instructions
  1. Crush the garlic and dice the onion. Roughly chop the mushroom stalks and dried mushrooms. Heat the duck fat in a pot and cook off the garlic, onion and mushrooms until nicely browned. Dust the diced venison in a little flour and in 4 or 5 batches, sear in a hot pan with a little oil until nicely browned. Combine all ingredients together in a deep oven dish (adding enough water or chicken stock so the ingredients are covered) and braise slowly at 150C until tender – about 2-3hrs. If the sauce is too thin then drain the liquid into a pot and reduce until nicely thickened, season with salt and pepper. Cool.
  2. Once cool grease several small (or one large) pie tins and line the base with puff pastry, fill with the pie mix and crumble some blue cheese on top. Place some puff pastry on top for a lid and crimp the edges with a fork. Trim off any excess pastry and brush the top with some whisked egg wash. Bake 1t 180C for about 12-15 mins or until the pastry is cooked and a nice golden brown.
  3. I suggest serving with some buttery mash potatoes and tomato relish.”
MacLean Fraser http://macleanfraser.com/

Leave a Comment

Filed under Blog, Recipes, The Hunter's Kitchen

Leave a Reply