Viva Lewes Issue #134 November 2017

RECIPE
Venison, Stilton and ale pie
Here’s a lovely winter warmer, perfect for those lengthening nights,
from Melanie of the Sussex Wild Food Co
We’re a small family business, based near
Bodiam Castle, selling all sorts of game
throughout the year – as long as the animal
is in season, of course! My daughter Emma is
the butcher, my husband John and I sell the
meat in markets and wholesale to pubs and
restaurants in the area.
We have regular suppliers who bring us all
sorts of animals they’ve shot in the wild,
from deer (in season in the autumn and
winter) to pigeons (all year round). We sell
pheasant, partridge, dusk, rabbit, wild boar,
etc. Game tends to have a richer taste than
farm-produced meat, and of course it’s much
leaner. You can trust the fact that the animals
have lived a natural life and eaten exactly what
they’re meant to have eaten, from the wild.
This recipe uses a buck fallow deer; the does
[females] come into season on November
1st. Venison can be used for pretty much
everything you can use beef for: I often make
a venison Bolognese, for example. Where
possible I source all the other ingredients
locally. This recipe used Tom Paine Ale from
Harvey’s: the sweetness of the Stilton offsets
its bitterness really nicely.
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
Put three tablespoons of flour, seasoned with
salt and pepper, in a bowl and mix with 500g
or so of our chopped venison meat until the
chunks are covered in the flour. Brown the
meat in vegetable oil in a large frying pan, and
set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 160° (fan oven 150°).
Chop two medium-sized onions, and four
cloves of garlic and fry in vegetable oil
in a casserole dish for five minutes or so
till softened. Add the meat, mix well, and
keep stirring occasionally for five minutes
or so. Add one bay leaf, one tablespoon
of Worcester sauce, a couple of generous
pinches of mixed herbs, half a cup of passata,
sprinkle in a cube of organic beef stock, and
pour in a 550ml bottle of Harvey’s Tom Paine
Ale (though any ale or stout will do).
Put in the oven for at least two hours, adding
ten or so halved chestnut mushrooms twenty
minutes before you take it out. Leave to cool.
Meanwhile make enough short-crust pastry
to make a lid for your pie. Pour the cooled
stew into an oven-proof dish, plop in 130g
of Stilton, roughly chopped (I use Brighton
Blue) lay the lid on the top of the dish and
cut off the excess around the rim with a sharp
knife. Use a fork to create a frill around the
edge. Brush the pastry with beaten egg. Slice
an air vent in the lid. Put the dish in the
oven for half an hour or so until the pastry is
cooked and golden brown.
Serve with seasonal vegetables: in this case
carrots and spinach beet, from Ashurst
Organics. Make sure they are organic: you’ll
taste the difference! Serve with another bottle
of ale. Enjoy. As told to Alex Leith
Melanie and John sell game from their SWFC
stall at the weekly Friday Market throughout
the autumn and winter and the fortnightly
Lewes Farmers’ Market all year round.
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