we have another snow day on our hands and what better way to spend the day than slurping up a delicious and nutritious venison stew?! this recipe is jason’s newest specialty, who fearlessly makes soups without written recipes, and due to his copious adding of spices, they always turn out to be excellent!

jason has made this stew twice so far, and included different vegetables in the pot based on what we had in the house at the time. i’ve asked him what exactly he added to these soups, and his response has been: “you know what i do, you know, earthy spices.”

in order to make this stew more manageable for those of you at home, i’ve put his description of just how he does it into my own words:

in an ideal situation, which means having all of the ingredients around that we want to use, this is what goes in our savory venison stew…

the ingredients:

• venison butt/rump roast (or any roast of beef that you would like to use, preferably with the bone or with any stew meat)
• one large onion
• 4 large carrots
• 3 large shafts of celery
• 5 or 6 medium-sized potatoes
• salt & pepper
• 5-10 garlic cloves and/or garlic powder, oregano, basil, paprika, 1-2 bay leaves
• red wine
• olive oil
• beef broth, chicken broth, venison bone broth (if you’ve made some in advance), or just plain water if you don’t have any broths in the house.

keep in mind that if you are missing any of these ingredients, you need not abandon ship yet! any other earthy spices that you have (such as rosemary, etc.) can be added/substituted and other vegetables can be included. for example, the second time jason made the stew, we did not have potatoes or onions. he instead added more celery and included our own sweet potatoes, which turned out to make a different and interesting soup!

some things to have prepared first:

• have your crock pot out and ready to go! if you do not have a crock pot, i recommend getting one, as it can be left on all day while you are at work without any risks associated. but, if you do not have one currently, you can certainly use a large pot and cook the recipe on your electric/gas stove on low/medium.
• set your meat out of the fridge for about an hour so it has time to warm up.

savory venison stew, 4 hours into cooking. yum!

and the directions:

1. cut onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes into medium-sized pieces.
2. rub a seasoning of salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, oregano, basil, and olive oil over the meat. pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
3. place cut vegetables (as well as whole garlic cloves, if you are using some) into a deep, large, casserole dish.
4. douse the vegetables with olive oil and generous amounts of all of the above-mentioned spices. add 1/4 cup of red wine over the spread.
5. place the meat on top of the vegetables and put in the oven for 10 minutes or until the meat is braised and brown and the vegetables have a roasted look.
6. once dish is removed from oven, transfer the meat and veggies to the crock pot and add 1/4 cup of red wine to the casserole dish and stir while scraping the bottom. this ensures that you get all of the little, roasted pieces of food and spices! add this mixture to the crock pot.
7. add 1 or 2 bay leaves. decide now if you want more spices added, based on your personal tastes and add them!
8. fill up your pot/crock pot with your choice of broth!
9. cook the stew in your crock pot on low for about 8 hours (longer wouldn’t hurt) or on your stove on medium or low until the meat can be easily shredded but before your vegetables are reduced to a pulp!
10. serve and enjoy!

.:.