Game

Crispy Partridge Saltimbocca

Crispy Partridge Saltimbocca

Walking through the garden I suddenly realised that our Sage was growing precociously.  And precocious sage means one thing – Saltimbocca!  What could be better than Saltimbocca?…….. Saltimbocca with extra crispy sage! Classic Saltimbocca alla Romana is not surprisingly thought of as a Roman dish.…

Porcini seasoned pan roasted loin of venison

Porcini seasoned pan roasted loin of venison

We are enormously fortunate in having a good friend whose family has access to venison but doesn’t like it!  We therefore help out when we can!  This week we were given a piece of venison – I suspect from a roe deer.  It was a…

Venison and Vegetable Bourguignon

Venison and Vegetable Bourguignon

There are no authentic ‘Venison Bourguignon’ recipes in the same way as there are no authentic  ‘Vegetable Bourguignon’.  In food terms Bourguignon is a classic beef dish.  That has not stopped us playing with ideas for a similar tasting, but vegetarian dish.  We first published…

Slow cooked venison ragù and fresh tagliatelle

Slow cooked venison ragù and fresh tagliatelle

Well I have to say, having been given a full day tutorial by our next door neighbour in Italy on making tagliatelle I always feel guilty when I don’t make my own!  For once though I don’t feel guilty but rather pleased I have bought…

Pheasant Breast in a creamy parmesan sauce

Pheasant Breast in a creamy parmesan sauce

We have been slowly trying to clear things from the freezer and came across some frozen pheasant breasts.  A little out of season for the UK, but that doesn’t take away from the beauty of the produce or its free range pedigree!  Hunting round for…

Italian rabbit with peppers

Italian rabbit with peppers

Over the last few years when travelling in Tuscany I have been tempted on a few occasions to buy and cook a rabbit, Italian style.  Only having the Mini BGE with us I have been reluctant, as casseroling on a 10 inch Kamado never seemed…

Rabbit, peppers and gnocchi

Rabbit, peppers and gnocchi

If cooking during the pandemic has taught me anything it has to be about simple innovation using ingredients you have to hand. Similarly, it is about using one dish/recipe as the basis for another similar, but distinctively different dish. This dish is a good example…

Haggis stuffed Red Deer Haunch

Haggis stuffed Red Deer Haunch

This is a very simple reinterpretation of our earlier recipe for haunch of venison – available here. The haunch is the top of the hind leg running into the rump.  We were fortunate to be given the meat by friends who don’t enjoy venison!!  The…

Pheasant and Chestnut Terrine – not just for Christmas

Pheasant and Chestnut Terrine – not just for Christmas

I do wonder why we tend to reserve so many lovely things for Christmas eating when they are so good for other times too!  Whilst this one was chosen as our Christmas terrine it would work really well throughout the whole of the ‘game season’…

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

We had called into Charlotte’s Butchery to pick up some minced pork for some autumn sausage making.  One of the real joys of Charlotte’s is that in addition to fabulously consistent meat, the meat display often has something unusual to tempt you away from your…

Venison, Chestnut and Porcini Casserole

Venison, Chestnut and Porcini Casserole

Venison is such a lovely meat to casserole on the Big Green Egg.  The EGG seems to overcome that one problem you can have with venison – its tendency to dry out.  To be able to combine this with a seasonal ‘bounty crop’ was just…

La Scottiglia revisited – how close had we got in recreating this dish?

La Scottiglia revisited – how close had we got in recreating this dish?

We were very lucky to be able to go back to the restaurant La Scottiglia in Pescina near Seggiano in Tuscany.  Last year, 2018, we wrote about the wonderful dish La Scottiglia that the restaurant has been named after since 1972.  This year we arrived…

Roast boned leg of Venison (red deer)

Roast boned leg of Venison (red deer)

We are very fortunate in having friends who have access to wild venison but don’t like it!  This means that we are sometimes recipients of generous pieces to cook.  On this occasion it was a

Venison leg and Onion Jam

Venison leg and Onion Jam

We were given a venison joint by a good friend!  The details of the beast from which it came were a little unclear – the cut was in doubt too (but probably boned leg)!  It was thought to be Roe Deer but we did not…

La Scottiglia

La Scottiglia

For some years now we have visited a delightful restaurant in Tuscany called La Scottiglia in the village of Pescina on the side on Monte Amiata.  We have always been looked after exceedingly well there and it is a place we frequently recommend. They do…

Red Deer Osso-Bucco

Red Deer Osso-Bucco

We had very much enjoyed the Osso-Bucco we made on the Big Green Egg last year (see here) so when we came across some Red Deer shin cut in the same way as veal for Osso-Bucco it seemed too good an opportunity to miss.  The…

Smoked Venison Ragù

Smoked Venison Ragù

We had planned to make a very rich casserole using some cubed shoulder of wild venison that we had picked up just before Christmas.  With all the festive excitement it had been popped in the freezer.  Once defrosted I was a little disappointed to see…

Our Christmas Terrine

Our Christmas Terrine

Having finally come to the conclusion what we were going to include in the Christmas Terrine it was time to put it all together!!  The one thing we have learned this year making terrines is that

Game Terrine – getting in practice for Christmas

Game Terrine – getting in practice for Christmas

We had fun making terrines on the Big Green Egg over the summer when on holiday in Tuscany.  So now it was time to put some of that experience together as we get ready for Christmas.  

Rabbit served Tuscan style

Rabbit served Tuscan style

This is really a footnote to the recipe “Slow cooked rabbit with boozy apricots”.   Slow cooked meat dishes with a rich sauce are often served in the same way that the Tuscans serve their rich soups,

Slow cooked rabbit with boozy apricots

Slow cooked rabbit with boozy apricots

Rabbit has been a European staple for certainly the last 3000 years and was introduced into Britain by the Romans in the first century AD under the Emperor Claudius.  Its popularity throughout Europe has remained strong but in the latter half of the last century…