This is a delicious and hearty Venison and Wild Mushroom Stew for a cold winters' day. It's also a great way to cook up the tougher cuts of meat. It comes out so juicy and tender!
I decided to do this recipe in a crock pot, you can do it on the stove in a pot and simmer it for a couple hours until the meat is very tender.
This batch of stew does not have potatoes in it because I am serving it at a card party and it will be served over potatoes. Add some cut up potatoes to it to make it a true stew.
And, you don't have to use wild mushrooms. Find whatever you like at the grocery store and use them. I like to sautee them a little first to give that extra bit of flavor. I prefer to roast my carrots in the oven with a little salt and pepper and tossed in olive oil. I add the carrots to the stew about 20 minutes before serving. You can add them in right from the start if you like.
Venison and Wild Mushroom Stew
Meet the players:
1-1 1/2 lb. cubed venison
3 garlic cloves minced
1 medium onion chopped
2 cups beef broth or beef stock
1 small can tomato paste
1 C. sliced wild mushrooms
3-4 Tbls. butter or pork fat (I used bacon fat here)
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt (I always use Kosher salt)
3-4 medium carrots cut in about 1" pieces
3 medium russet potatoes peeled and cut in 1" pieces
1/2 C. all purpose flour
1Tsp. Worcestershire
1 Tsp. smoked or regular paprika
Optional for Garnish: 2 green onions finely sliced
and a couple Tbs. of sour cream to dollop on top.
Note: you can make your own beef broth by using water and boullion cubes. If you do that, keep in mind that boullion has lots of sodium in it, so you may want to cut back on the salt in the recipe.
Put the flour into a bag with a sprinkling of salt and some fresh ground pepper.
While your pan is heating over medium high heat with the butter or pork fat, put the meat cubes into the bag and shake them up in the flour to cover them.
Remove the venison pieces from the bag with a slotted spoon shaking the excess flour off into the bag. Transfer to a plate until you are ready to brown them.
Brown the venison pieces quickly over medium high heat and stir them around so all sides get browned. You may have to add a little butter or fat.
While those are browning I add the rest of my ingredients to the crock pot reserving about 1/2 C. of the beef broth.
You can sautee your onions first if you like, but I think cooking it in the crockpot after doing that makes them almost disappear and melt into the stew after such a long cooking time.
Put the browned venison pieces into the crockpot.
Place the pan back on the stovetop and deglaze it by adding the reserved beef broth carefully. Let it simmer a little bit and stir it around getting all those little bits and pieces from the bottom of the pan. Then transfer all of it to the crock pot and stir everything up well.
You could also add a nice dark beer instead of the beef broth for some unique flavor.
Set the crock pot to low setting and let it cook for 7-8 hours. I stir it around a couple of times during cooking to keep the edges from getting dark.
Serve it up in a bowl or over pasta, or potatoes. Anyway you like. I added a little green onion for garnish, and I like to add a small dollop of sour cream on top.
