Strange deer but true deer...

Some people are a bit anti-venison, I've never understood this. Local, seasonal and blooming tasty, I fail to see what there is to dislike. Perhaps, they just don't know how to prepare it. I tried this recipe the other day for the first time and it was scrumptious.

This next recipe is not really for every day dinner (although it can easily be made for under 50 sek per person). However I think it offers a super dinner party, sittning or special supper meal. Of course the port can be replaced with red wine or perhaps extra stock and a good few dashes Worcester sauce. It comes for the fabulous Abel and Cole
cookbook.


Venison with Kale, Port, Stilton and Olive Sauce

Ingredients

Butter
1/2 mug of shallots (about 6)
1/2 mug of port (or the substitutes)
1 mug beef stock
Venison Fillet (enough for 4 people which really depends on how big or hungry your people are!)
A bunch of kale
1/2 mug crumbled stilton (about 40g)
1/3 mug of chopped black olives
1 tbsp thyme

Method

• Heat the butter in a heavy based sauce pan and saute the shallots for a few minutes
• Add the port and stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by half.
• Meanwhile sear the venison fillets in a very hot pan with a little oil before cooking in the oven for about 5-10 minutes (depending on the thickness of the meat, you are aiming for medium rare)
• Rest for the meat for 10 minutes and carry on with making the sauce and kale.
• Steam the kale for 5 minutes, and then mix with lots of salt, pepper and butter whilst still warm.
• Drain any juice from the venison into the sauce, add the stilton, olives and thyme and stir until mixed.
• To assemble, cut the venison into 1 cm slices and place on top a pile of kale. Then pour the sauce over the top.

This recipe serves 4 and I served it with some tasty oven-roasted root vegetables.

Kale-icious

Feeling peckish but a little guilty about reaching for the bag of potato crisps?

Leafy green Kale (grönkål pa Svenska) is the delightful and much underrated member of the cabbage family that, surprisingly, makes chips tasty enough to rival even the most MSG-addled bits of potato.



They are ridiculously easy to make and take only ten minutes or so, which means it is quite feasible to whack some in the oven in the commercial break between 'House' episodes.. or while you wait for that movie to download/buffer/stream/purchase off amazon/itunes/etc. They are also perfect to bring to parties, although on first impressions the other guests may think you are either wonderfully quirky or a little bit crazy depending on who you are socialising with.

Here's how you do it step by step:
1. Turn on the oven to around 200 C
2. Remove the kale leaves from their thick stems and tear into bite size pieces.
3. Arrange the pieces on a baking tray and coat with olive oil, salt (I like to use chunky sea salt) and chilli flakes to taste. An alternative is to sprinkle them with a little parmesan cheese.
4. Stick them in the oven for ten minutes or so, when the edges start to brown but not burn!

Tip: I have a tendency to burn kale chips on the first try as there tends to be about thirty second gap between 'perfection' and 'overdone'. Keep an eye on the oven!