The main event of Christmas day for us was dinner in the evening. Quite unusually we had no fowl but venison. I had bought two large cuts at the Wells Food Festival and had these stashed in the freezer. I had paid a bargain price for two fresh neck fillets just around 1Kg each. I knew it was going to be a slow cook so decided to cook this in advance on the 23rd. It would be easy to seperate off what we needed on the day, with the balance being used for something else. Just in case we should come across a friend whom we met last minute and wanted to invite to share our meal with us, as we did last year, there was more than enough. In the event it was just the two of us.
The venison was cut up and cooked in a similar way to a beef ragout but with a little pot, wide strips of orange peel, home made damson preserve, juniper berries, celery, carrot, onions, lardons and port. We had the ragout along with jacket potatoes, sprouts and roasted carrots and parsnips. A great side was stewed cranberries and apples with rosemary.
Boxing day saw me make up four fabulous pies which went straight into the freezer. Exactly a week after we had the Venison ragu for our Christmas Lunch, we tucked into two for our New Year's evening meal.
A great hit has been Delia's Duck Liver Pâté with Armagnac, except that not having any armagnac, I used Brandy. Though after reading up about Armagnac, I think I ought to source a bottle and add it to the cupboard. Since these bottles last me years, it will be well worth trying it.
Not yet tried is a recipe that I also saw on Delia on Line. I've already printed off the recipe for Potted Pork. and the ingredients are on my shopping list. Many years ago I used to made potted meats as a cheaper and much tastier option to buying ready sliced ham etc. Now I am trying to not buy over processed foods and in any case it is great to avoid all the packaging.
