Venison comes in a number of guises, from large antelope to birds and rabbits.  Now is a great time to be eating venison, and in honour of the season, Wickedfood Cooking School will be running a venison information evening on Sunday 22 August.  Rabbit is one of the healthiest meats to eat, it is very lean and extremely tasty if cooked correctly.  The recipe below is based on one from Raymond Blanc‘s autobiography, A Taste Of Raymond Blanc.  At the end of this article, we have also included a variety of rabbit dishes from some of the top publications around the world.  Enjoy.

Mustardy Braised Rabbit With Carrots, click on the picture for the recipe (Photo - Andrew Scrivani - New York Times)

1 whole rabbit (±1.5kg), cut into  pieces – click here to see how

4 pinches sea salt

2 pinches black pepper

1 heaped tbsp Dijon mustard

1/4 cup plain flour on a plate

3 T butter

1/2 white onion cut in 6

6 cloves garlic, skin on

I tbsp white wine vinegar

1 glass white wine (’150ml), boiled for 30 seconds

1 glass water (150ml)

6 whole black peppercorns

2 sage leaves

1 sprig of tarragon

1 bay leaf

For garnishing:

1T chopped parsley or chives (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C.
2. In a large bowl, season the pieces of rabbit with the salt and pepper, then mix in the mustard until each piece is coated by a thin film. Dip each piece of rabbit into the flour. Pat off excess flour from each piece.
3. In a thick-bottomed, 25-30cm ovenproof casserole dish on a medium heat, melt 2T  of the butter, then sear and colour the rabbit pieces on each side for 7—8 minutes. Season a little after 2 minutes. Remove and set aside.
4. Add the remaining butter and over a medium heat sweeten the onion and garlic.
5. Return the rabbit, add the vinegar and reduce  the liquor to a syrup.
6. Add the wine, water, pepper and herbs, cover with a lid and cook in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
7. When the rabbit is cooked, transfer to a serving dish. Allow the liquid in the casserole dish to reduce on a high heat by a third, then stir in some chopped parsley, chives or your favourite soft herbs. Pour the sauce over the pieces of rabbit and serve with French beans, Swiss chard, braised lettuce or any other seasonal vegetables.

Serves  4 to 6

VARIATION

Of course, any of your favourite herbs and vegetables can be added to the dish. Olives and wild mushrooms would be lovely. And once you understand the technique, you can use chicken.

Other rabbit recipes

Rabbit recipes – Saveur magazine

Rabbit with mustard sauce (Lapin à la moutarde)

Rabbit with Mustard Sauce

Braised Rabbit with Mustard and Summer Savory

Braised Rabbit with Dijon Mustard & Rosemary

Braised Rabbit

Q: Thank you for the newsletter and the website. I absolutely love it. I am planning a dinner where I want to serve ostrich steaks. I have never done this before and I have gone through your site and have not found anything about ostrich. Please assist me with a recipe.

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: How do I cook a simple fillet of venison without all the fancy stuff?

A: Venison is a rich and flavourful and very low fat, but must be served rare, otherwise it becomes tough and dry. South African venison is generally meat from impala, kudu, eland, gemsbok, springbok, blesbok and wildhog. Venison fillet has a lot more flavor than beef fillet, and therefore at Wickedfood Cooking School we like to keep it as simple as possible. As an alternative, marinade the fillets in a mixture of approximately 1T coriander seeds, 1T black peppercorn, both crushed , with 2T olive oil and 2T brandy, for approximately three hours or overnight, then follow the recipe below, leaving out the brandy.

4 x 200g – 300g venison fillets
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/4 cup brandy
1/2 cup cream

1. Trim the fillets of any excess sinew.
2. Rub the fillets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat for a heavy-based pan and once searingly  hot, fry and the fillets for approximately 3- 5 minutes on each side, depending on thickness, taking care not to over cook.  Remove to a plate and keep warm.
4. Add the brandy to the pan and flame to burn off the alcohol.  Remove from heat and stir in the cream, then  the meat, together with any juices, and serve immediately.

Serves 4

For more on venison see the Wickedfood Cooking School entry Venison from May last year which has a variety of delicious venison recipes.

Roast kudu fillet

Roast venison

Red wine sauce

Ostrich neck casserole

Guineafowl

Venison pie

“A venison stew, prepared in the old-fashioned, frayed sort of way, requires nothing more than a soup plate and the appetite of a connoisseur,” comment by renowned author, poet and gourmet C Louis Leipoldt.

Venison is a rich and flavourful and very low fat. South African venison is generally meat from impala, kudu, eland, gemsbok, springbok, blesbok and wildhog.

Springbok contains 54% of the calories found in beef, has five times less saturated fat and 80% of the cholesterol) and it’s free of hormones and growth stimulants. In many areas, the culling of game helps to sustain conservation efforts and a bonus venison is very tasty, juicy and succulent, if it is prepared and cooked properly.

For a taste of some of today’s more trendy game dishes, Wickedfood Cooking School team went knocking on the door of some well known restaurants to get some inspiration for future cookery classes.

Woe of the most important tips we discovered is that venison should be served rare, not be dry and over-cooked as we are inclined to do so in South Africa. Serve it rather the European way, underdone and succulent.

Here are a few venison other recipes that the Wickedfood Cooking School team enjoyed tasting:

Fillet of venison

Roast kudu fillet

Roast venison

Red wine sauce

Ostrich neck casserole

Guineafowl

Venison pie

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood Cooking school runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Any venison pieces can be used for this venison pie. We use venison steak in our cooking classes for this pie at Wickedfood Cooking School.

800g venison steak
Roast venison marinade – see Roast venison

3T cooking oil
1/2 bunch celery
1 punnet baby carrots, cleaned and trimmed
6-8 small pickling onions, peeled
1x410g can lima beans, drained
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1x250g packet frozen peas
2 cups red wine sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 packet commercially bought puff pastry or make your own

Eggwash
1 egg beaten with 2T milk

1. Place the meat in a large container and pour marinade over. Marinate for 24 hours.
2. Drain and discard the marinade. Cut the meat into 2cm cubes.
3. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and brown the meat.
4. Add the onions and fry until lightly browned.
5. Add all the vegetables and beans.
6. Add the red wine sauce, season to taste, cover and simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes or until the meat is tender. Remove from stove and cool.
7. Turn the mixture into an ovenproof pie dish. Cover with puff pastry. Cut some leaves from the off-cuts and decorate the pie. Brush with eggwash.
8. Bake in a preheated oven of 180°C for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Serves 4-6.

For more information on venison click here

Here are a few venison other recipes that the Wickedfood Cooking School team enjoyed tasting:

Fillet of venison

Roast kudu fillet

Roast venison

Red wine sauce

Ostrich neck casserole

Guineafowl

Venison pie

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood Cooking school runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.