Venison ragu with polenta
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- over 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 4
- Dietary
- Egg-freeGluten-freeNut-free
Ragu and polenta is the ultimate Italian comfort food – rich, creamy, buttery bowl food!
Ingredients
For the venison ragu
- 1kg/2lb 4oz venison shoulder, cut into 3–4cm/1in pieces
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 celery sticks, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 350ml/12fl oz red wine
- 2 x 400g tins whole plum tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 large rosemary sprig
- 3 juniper berries, crushed
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the polenta
Method
To make the venison ragu, season the venison with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a lidded casserole pan and fry the venison until coloured, this will take about 10 minutes.
Add the onion, celery and garlic and cook until golden. Add the red wine and cook until reduced by half.
Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, rosemary and juniper berries. Cover and simmer for 2 hours or more.
Pull the meat apart with spoons to keep it chunky and rough textured.
To make the polenta, add the milk, 500ml/18fl oz water and the Parmesan rind to a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Whisk in the polenta, cook for 2–3 minutes, stir in the Parmesan and add salt to taste. Stir in the butter just before serving with more Parmesan.
Serve the polenta onto a serving plate and top with the venison ragu.
