Jaime Oliver, from his early Naked Chef days won my heart over instantaneously thanks to his witt and his down-to-earth simplicity. From his silly little lisp, blond baby curls that frame his face to his enthusiasm for life and celebration of food he is a personality that is incredibly infectious and absolutely impossible to ignore.
Apart from resonating vivacious character and imparting a sense of culinary adventure in his viewers world-wide, knitting together people from Birmingham to Bombay, his simple yet brilliant recipes are easy to follow, reliable and oh-so-good!
While mushrooms and stroganoff are synonymous with each other, venison being a game meat, and mushrooms predominantly growing on the forest floor, the substitution of beef fillet with venison loin takes the satisfaction of a good dish to being great, no correction - to a higher plane of superior awesomeness!
Ingredients: Extra virgin olive oil; 1 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped; 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely sliced; 300g venison loin, fat and sinews removed, trimmed and sliced into finger-sized pieces; Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon paprika; 250g mixed exciting and robust mushrooms, wiped clean, torn into bite-sized pieces; Bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped, stalks finely chopped; Knob of butter; Good splash of brandy; Zest of 1/2 a lemon; 150ml crème fraîche or soured cream; Few little gherkins, sliced
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Method: Heat a large frying pan on a medium heat and pour in a glug of extra virgin olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes until softened and golden. Remove from the heat and spoon the onions and garlic out of the pan on to a plate. Keep to one side.
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Season the meat well with salt, pepper and paprika. Rub and massage these flavourings into the meat. Place the frying pan back on a high heat and pour in some more olive oil. Add the mushrooms and fry for a few minutes until they start to brown. Then add the meat and fry for a minute or two before adding the parsley stalks (you can do this in two pans or in batches if your pan is not big enough) and the cooked onion and garlic.
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Toss and add the butter and brandy. You don’t have to set light to the hot brandy, but flaming does give an interesting flavour so I always like to do this. Once the flames die down, or after a couple of minutes of simmering, stir in the lemon zest and all but 1 tablespoon of the crème fraîche and season to taste. Continue simmering for a few minutes. Any longer than this and the meat will toughen up – it doesn’t need long as it’s been cut up so small.
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Serve your fluffy rice on one big plate and your stroganoff on another. Simply spoon the remaining crème fraîche over the stroganoff, then sprinkle over the sliced gherkins and parsley leaves. Eat at once!
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