Reindeer Stew (Reinsdyrgryte) with Thyme Dumplings

Serves 4

600g reindeer meat (preferably shoulder), cut into cubes
150g bacon, sliced
1 carrot, chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400ml game stock (or use beef stock)
½ bottle decent red wine
200g button mushrooms, sliced
3 juniper berries, lightly crushed
1 bay leaf
2tbsp plain flour

For the dumplings:

200g self-raising flour
105g butter
2tbsp thyme, chopped
a little water

1. Fry the bacon in a little olive oil in a suitable casserole pan. Add the carrots, onion, celery, and garlic and continue to cook gently until softened then remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.

2. Dust the reindeer meat with seasoned flour, add a bit more oil to the pan and turn up the heat. Brown the reindeer meat; you may need to do this in two batches.

3. Add the cooked vegetables back into the pan, along with the wine, stock, mushrooms, bay leaf and juniper berries and bring to the simmer.

4. Meanwhile, to make the thyme dumplings, place the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until you get a fine breadcrumb-like consistency. Now add a touch of water gradually, until you get a firm, but not too wet dough. Form the dough into golf ball-sized balls and float them on the top of the stew, cover and cook on a very low heat for 1½ – 2 hours. Serve with lots of buttered green beans.

(NordicNibbler.com)

Braised rabbit pappardelle

Serves 5

2 tbsp olive oil
1 wild rabbit , jointed (ask your butcher to do this for you)
4 rashers smoked streaky bacon , chopped
1 small red onion , finely chopped
1 carrot , finely chopped
3 garlic cloves , crushed
2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
150ml white or rosé wine
500ml chicken stock
500g pappardelle pasta
zest ½ orange
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
100ml double cream
small bunch flat-leaf parsley , chopped, plus a few leaves picked to serve
grated Parmesan , to serve

1.Heat the oil in a large pan. When hot, add the rabbit, brown on all sides, then remove from the pan and set aside.

2.Add the bacon, onion and carrot to the pan and cook for 10 mins until soft. Add the garlic, rosemary and tomato purée, stir for 1-2 mins, then pour in the wine and chicken stock.

3.Return the rabbit to the pan, season, cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for 1 hr until the rabbit is really tender.

4.Remove the rabbit from the pan and shred the meat using 2 forks. Be careful to remove all small bones. Meanwhile, increase the heat under the pan and boil the liquid for 5 mins until reduced by half. Add the shredded meat and reduce the heat to low. Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water following pack instructions. Drain, reserving a little pasta water to thin the sauce if necessary.

5.Stir half the orange zest, mustard, cream and parsley into the rabbit sauce. Add the cooked pasta to the pan, toss everything well to coat and heat through for 1-2 mins. Serve in bowls with grated Parmesan, parsley leaves and the remaining orange zest.

Nutrition per serving:
633 kcalories, protein 40g, carbohydrate 57g, fat 25 g, saturated fat 11g, fibre 2g, sugar 6g, salt 1.4 g

(Good Food magazine, October 2012)