Roasted Venison Stew

This is a great recipe to make on a Sunday afternoon. It fills your house with a mouth-watering aroma, and a taste that is wonderfully nostalgic-- comfort food at its finest. The browning/sautéing step deepens the flavours, and is a step that shouldn’t be skipped. The acidity of the wine, along with the long oven roast helps to tenderize the venison.  If you cannot find venison (we usually find it here), you could always substitute bison or beef stewing meat.

Roasted Venison Stew

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 lb venison stew meat, cut into bite sized pieces.

2 tbsp arrowroot starch/flour

2 tsp each dried thyme and rosemary

Salt and pepper to taste

---------

1 ½ cups chopped onion

4 large carrots, scrubbed and chopped into bite sized pieces

4 stalks celery, chopped

4 yellow potatoes, chopped into 1-2 inch cubes

1 ½ cups red wine

1 946 ml can of organic diced tomatoes (Eden comes in a BPA free can!)

2 cups of bone broth

Turn your oven onto 375F to preheat.

Toss the cut up venison with the arrowroot, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Heat the coconut oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the tossed venison, and brown. Don’t worry about cooking it right thru, it will finish cooking in the oven. You just want to create some nice colour and flavour. When it is nice and browned, remove to a plate and keep warm, leaving the pan on the burner.

Add the onions, and sauté for a few minutes. Add the red wine ½ cup at a time to deglaze the pan. Use a wooden spatula to loosen the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. The wine will reduce during this step, further enhancing the flavour of the stew. When the wine is all added,  stir in the chopped carrots, potatoes and celery, and sauté a few minutes more.  Add the tomatoes, bone broth and the browned venison and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil, put the lid on the Dutch oven, and place into the preheated oven  to roast for 1 ½ hrs. Remove lid and leave it off. Stir well and roast  for another ½ hour.

Remove from oven and serve hot.