Name: Venison Ragoût with Chestnuts, Port and Orange
Yield: Serves 5–6
Ingredients: 2 lb/900 g venison, trimmed and cut in chunks about 1 ½ inches/3.5 cm in size; 1 heaped tbsp plain flour; ¼ tsp salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper; Half a 15-oz/420-g tin of whole chestnuts in brine, unsweetened, or the same weight of vacuum-packed chestnuts (but not dried chestnuts); Grated rind and juice of 1 small orange; 2 tsp redcurrant jelly; ¼ pint/140 ml port; Oil in which to brown the meat (I use sunflower oil, about 1 tbsp to start with); A few drops of Balsamic vinegar; 1 pint/600 ml vegetable stock; 2 medium onions, skinned and sliced finely, or ½ lb/225 g small whole onions, skinned

Preparation info

Serves
5–6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Claire Macdonald Cookbook

By Claire Macdonald

Published 1997

About

This is a perfect dish for chilly weather. It both tastes good and is convenient in that, like all casseroles, it benefits from being made a day or two in advance. On the other hand, you can make it several weeks ahead and freeze it (it freezes beautifully). If you can’t get venison, you could substitute beef, but venison is now very widely available, and can be found in the butchery departments of many good supermarkets.