Sherwood Forest venison with blackberries and Stilton dumplings
Ingredients
(Serves 4)
For the mash
400g Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
75g crème fraîche (you can use oat-milk-based crème fraîche if you wish)
75g butter (or butter alternative)
Freshly grated nutmeg
For the dumplings
100g self-raising flour
50g beef suet (or a vegetarian alternative if you prefer)
50g Stilton, crumbled (½ for the mix and ½ to sprinkle on top of the dumplings)
4 tbsp cold water
Salt and pepper
For the venison
4 x 150-175g pieces of venison loin, trimmed
50ml red wine
500ml venison or beef stock
12 blackberries
Method
For the mash
Boil the potatoes until just cooked, drain and mash thoroughly.
Add the crème fraîche, butter and nutmeg.
Season and place in a piping bag.
For the dumplings
Reserve half of the stilton and mix all other ingredients together.
Roll into 8 balls and place into a shallow baking dish containing 100ml of the stock.
Sprinkle with the remaining stilton, cover with a lid and bake at 200°C for 20 minutes; for a crispier top take off the lid after 15 minutes.
For the venison
Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add a splash of oil.
Season the venison loin and then shallow fry for around 4 minutes on either side, depending on how you prefer your red meat cooked. For added flavour you can add some thyme stalks and whole cloves of garlic if you wish.
For additional flavour and richness add a knob of butter half way through cooking and baste the meat with the foaming butter, which will also keep the meat moist.
Once cooked to your liking remove from the pan and rest in a warm place.
Drain off the excess fat, add the red wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, ensuring you capture all the little crispy flavoursome bits that will have gathered in the bottom.
Add the stock and reduce by at least half to a nice sticky gravy consistency. Finally add the blackberries and season.
To serve
Pipe the mash onto a plate and place the dumpling on top.
Carve your venison into 4 or 5 pieces and arrange next to the mash.
Drizzle with sauce and blackberries.
I like to serve this with roasted carrots and celery which would also be an ingredient in the original old English stew recipe.
Finally, a good point to remember with recipes is they are just a good guide to a dish.
If you like more mash or gravy then just make more of them, remembering to adapt the quantities of the other ingredients like crème fraiche or wine accordingly.
Vegetarian or vegan alternative
For a vegan alternative use the non-dairy alternatives listed in the recipe and replace the venison with roasted ¼ of cauliflower and a vegan gravy.
You would also need to omit the Stilton and either leave out cheese entirely or replace with a vegan alternative (the vegan feta currently on the market would be a nice salty substitute).