Red Wine Venison Stew with Dumplings

[NEEDS PIC]

En's friends and co workers go hunting every year, and sometimes we will get a nice hunk of venison. When this happens I love to make venison stew. For the wine, I like using Cono Sur. It is my go to cooking wine (good to drink, good to cook) and is wonderfully inexpensive. Other reds are not so forgiving in a stew.

My parents are not really big on stews that are not Guyanese (i.e. heavy on potatoes and thyme), and to them, dumplings are duff, the Guyanese torpedo shaped boil and fry bread, but they did find this yummy.

Now that I'm pregnant and going on my second maternity leave, wine based cooking isn't an option (for the next few years), but this will come back once the kids are a little older (5 seems reasonable). Then again, I haven't had any venison delivered lately. This does work just as well with boar, bison, or even beef.


Ingredients - Stew:
* 1.5 kg trimmed venison meat, cut into 3-4 cm chunks
* 750ml good red wine
* 6 cloves of garlic
* 3 juniper berries crushed
* 1tsp thyme
* 4 bay leaves
* Vegetable oil for frying
* 60g butter
* 2 onions, finely chopped
* 3 tbsp plain flour
* 1/2 tbsp tomato purée
* 1 1/2 litres dark meat stock
* Sea salt & fresh black pepper

Ingredients - Dumplings:
* 1/2 cup plain flour
* 1tsp baking powder
* 60g butter
* 1tbsp chopped parsley
* 1tbsp finely chopped celery leaves
* 1/2 tsp ground celery seeds
* Water to mix
* Sea salt & fresh black pepper


Directions:

* Marinate venison in stainless steel or ceramic bowl in the fridge for two dayswith the red wine, garlic, thyme, juniper and bay leaf.
* Drain meat , reserve marinade, and dry the pieces on some kitchen paper.
* Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy frying pan, lightly flour the meat with a tablespoon of the flour, salt and pepper and fry the meat on a high heat, a few pieces at a time, until nicely browned.
* Heat butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and sautee onions until soft.
* Add flour and tomato purée and stir over a low heat for a minute.
* Slowly add the marinade, stirring constantly to avoid lumps forming. Bring to the boil and simmer until it has reduced by half.
* Add meat stock and venison, bring back to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer gently for about 11/2 hours until the meat is tender.
* It's difficult to put an exact time on cooking braised meats: half an hour extra may be required.
* The sauce should thicken sufficiently. If not, dilute a little cornflour in some water and stir into the sauce and simmer for a few minutes.
* Meanwhile, make the dumplings. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add half a teaspoon of salt.
* Mix in the butter, parsley and celery leaves and ground celery seeds, then add enough water to form a sticky dough.
* Flour your hands and roll the dough into 12 little balls.
* Poach the dumplings directly in the stew for the final 15 minutes of cooking. They will float in the  stew when cooked..