Recipe: Shepherd's Pie with venison

Shepherd's pie is an old tradition in the British kitchen. Like many other traditional dishes, it originates from a time when it was necessary to be economical with food and to not waste anything you could make use of. In this dish, the meat leftovers are utilized by covering it with mashed potatoes. Today we're putting a spin on this traditional dish by making it with venison.

This is what you need:

For the venison sauce: 
- 500g venison in small cubes 
- Bacon in cubes 
- Olive oil 
- 2 large onions, chopped into large pieces 
- Mushrooms, chopped into large pieces 
- 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce 
- Freshly chopped herbs 
- 1 dl red wine 
- salt/pepper 
- 2 tablespoons flour 
- Browning color
- Cumin 
- 1/4 liter of cream 
- Potato water to dilute the sauce

For the mashed potatoes: 
- 1 kg potato, peeled and halved 
- 75 g butter
- Milk 
- 2 tablespoons parmesan, freshly grated 
- salt/pepper 
- Nutmeg 
- 2 egg yolks 

For pointed cabbage salad: 
- ½ pointed cabbage, finely chopped 
- ½ avocado, in small cubes 
- 1 apple, in cubes
- 50 g pine nuts, roasted 

For dressing: 
- 1 organic lemon, juice and finely grated peel 
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard 
- ½ cucumber 
- 1 avocado 
- 1 handful of broad-leaved parsley 
- salt/pepper 

Here's how you do it:

Start with the dressing:
Put all the ingredients for the dressing in a blender, including lemon juice and a little finely grated lemon peel and blend into a delicious creamy green dressing. Season with salt and pepper. 

Continue with the sauce and mashed potatoes:
Brown the venison and bacon in olive oil and season with salt, pepper, chopped herbs and cumin. Add red wine, Worcestershire sauce and let it simmer. Add mushrooms and onions and let it simmer a little more. Sprinkle the flour over and stir well. Add cream, a little potato water and browning color and let it simmer. Season with salt and pepper. 

Cook the potatoes for 20-25 minutes until tender. Mash them together with butter, egg yolks, milk, nutmeg, salt, pepper and grated parmesan to a smooth mash. 

Put the venison sauce in a fireproof dish, spread the mashed potatoes in an even layer so that everything is covered and top with grated parmesan. Make a few holes in the mashed potatoes so the steam can come out.  Put in the oven at 175 ° for 25-30 min.

Good luck and have a tasty meal!

Text and photo: René Jantzen

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