Jono & Jules do food & wine

Venison and wild mushrooms are a perfect match. This is really quick and easy but such a treat!

Wild mushroom and venison stroganoff – to serve 2 (generously!)

• 200g white rice
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 300g venison loin, trimmed and sliced into finger-sized pieces
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 250g mixed mushrooms, wiped and torn into bite-size pieces
• a small bunch of flat parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped, stalks finely chopped
• a knob of butter
• a good splash of brandy
• zest of 1/2 a lemon
• 150ml crème fraîche or soured cream
• a few little gherkins, sliced

Heat a large frying pan on a medium heat and pour in a glug of olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes or until soft and golden. Spoon onto a plate.

Season the meat really well with salt, pepper and the paprika. Rub the seasoning well into the meat. Put the frying pan back on a high heat and add some olive oil. Fry the mushrooms for a few minutes until starting to brown. Then add the meat and fry for a minute or so before adding the parsley stalks and the cooked onion and garlic. Toss and add the butter and brandy.

Flame the brandy and when the flames die down, stir in the lemon zest and all but 1 tbsp of the crème fraîche and season to taste. Simmer for another few minutes but no longer or your venison will go tough.

Spoon the last bit of crème fraîche over, then sprinkle with the sliced gherkins and parsley leaves.

(Original recipe by Jamie Oliver, Jamie at home, Penguin, 2007.)

Wine Suggestion: match with something earthy and not too heavy like a pinot noir or nebbiolo. We drank something very good from Burgundy, a Chezeaux Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Suchots 2006 which was at a perfect point of youthful fruit combined with a little bit of age for the wine to mellow and be aromatically expressive. We did agree that we’d opened the wine a couple years too early but enjoyed it very well just the same!