Back in May, when the sun shone for a whole week I spent the time on the east coast of Fife on a food trail organized by Christopher Trotter, Fife’s Food Ambassador, now there’s a job…
Besides running bespoke food trails, cookery days and team building sessions from his lovely home in Lower Largo, Christopher puts up with some good natured teasing about his vineyard. If they can make award-winning wines as far north as Yorkshire he reasoned, then with global warming, why not in Scotland too. Last year he planted 100 vines purchased from Ryedale Vineyards at Westow, near Malton, where by coincidence Helen did some grape picking last year.
Watch this space for our first Scottish wine tasting.
While we wait for his vines to mature, Christopher has sent us this lovely Scottish recipe for a rich venison stew.
VENISON CASSEROLE WITH HOT PEPPER JELLY
If you can’t track down Trotter’s Hot Pepper Jelly south of the border, we suggest a good quality chilli jam.
Christopher has used Fletchers casserole venison for this available by mail order, or you could use our local Round Green venison
900g diced shoulder
2 tbsp plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper
2 medium onions chopped
4 sticks of celery chopped
butter
225 g button mushrooms cut in half
½ bottle red wine
2 tbsp Trotter’s hot pepper jelly
2 tbsp olive oil
4 crushed juniper berries
bay leaf
salt and pepper
Heat a frying pan and add a tbsp olive oil. Toss the venison in the seasoned flour shaking off the excess and brown in batches in the hot oil. Place meat in a casserole.
Add the chopped onion to the pan along with the celery and soften, add to the casserole. Put about a tsp of butter in the pan and quickly fry the mushrooms adding more oil if necessary. Add to the casserole pour in the wine and bring to the boil scraping up the juices and pour over the meat etc in the casserole. Add the juniper berries bay leaf and hot pepper jelly. Bring to the boil and cook in a medium oven 190C gas 5 for a couple of hours
Serve with celeriac puree