Not your Mother's Venison Stew

Ok, so upfront apologies for no photograph to go with this recipe. My husband and I were slightly hungry and enjoyed dinner before I could snap a picture. I hope you understand.

One thing that is great about going home is that we have friends and family that happily share their stores of venison with us. This means we have a freezer full of assorted steaks, roasts and homemade sausage. It makes us very happy!

Stew is one of those dishes that I love this time of year. It is improved with cold weather and transforms humble vegetables. This stew recipe has some surprises to make the flavor pop and have your family scraping their bowls clean. My two secret weapons are cloves and Dijon mustard. They especially cut the potential gamey nature of the venison. All in all my husband and I decided that this will become a winter classic in our house.

Venison Stew

2 lbs. of venison, cut into 2" pieces

1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper

2 TBS of olive oil

2 14oz cans of low sodium diced tomatoes

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

4 celery stalks, chopped

4 medium carrots, cleaned and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup of dry red wine

2 TBS of Dijon mustard

1 TBS of tomato paste

2 bay leaves

3 whole cloves

In a large skillet heat the oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the pieces of venison. Brown the venison on all sides in the skillet. Once done add the meat and all the drippings of the pan to the insert of a crockpot. Add the remaining ingredients to the crockpot and combine well. Cook on low heat for 10 hours.

Serve over roasted rosemary potatoes, enjoy!