Venison & Chocolate Porter Stew

I've been intrigued by this Meantime Chocolate Porter for some time. Not being an ale drinker myself I had to conjure up a recipe and a venison stew with dumplings felt like the perfect thing.

This hearty meal generously serves 6 hungry adults. For the stew you will need:

Olive oil

2 red onions, sliced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1kg diced venison

2 tbsp plain flour

2 x 330ml bottles of Chocolate Porter

1l beef stock

4 x carrots, 1 x swede and 4 x leeks all chopped into decent sized pieces.

1 x star anise

Start by preheating your oven to 120C.

Fry off the onion slices and garlic in a good glug of olive oil until they start to soften. Then add the venison and brown. Once the meat has started to colour sprinkle over the flour and stir in so you don't have any lumps. Add the ale and beef stock and bring to the boil.

Add in your vegetables (I've included the ones I used in the ingredient list but just use whatever wintery root veg you have to hand) and star anise, pop a lid on, bring back to the boil and then pop in your oven for 3 hours or until the venison is tender and the meat falls apart easily. In truth we left this stew for nearly 4.5 hours whilst partying the day away with a bunch of 3 year olds!

If you want to add dumplings to your stew you will need:

250g self raising flour

125g shredded suet

2 tbsp chopped parsley

200ml (or thereabouts) of cold water

Stir together the flour, suet and parsley and make a well in the centre. Slowly add the water, bringing the mix together until you get a soft, sticky dough. Using floured hands roll into 12 ping pong sized dumplings. Place on top of your stew, replace the lid and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

This venison stew and dumplings is delicious served with carrot and swede mash.