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Ingredients.
Ragu.
•1 Muntjac carcass.
•1 2.5kg Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
•A bottle of Red wine that’s passed it (or a rubbish gift)
•1 Bulb of garlic roughly chopped in half
•2 Teaspoons Balsamic Glaze
•6 carrots (diced)
•Large white onion (diced)
•6 sticks of celery (diced)
•A few sprigs of rosemary
•1 Star Anise fruit
•3 tablespoons Tomato Puree
•Rapeseed oil
Béchamel.
•100 g mature Cheddar cheese
•3 medium leeks
•2 fresh bay leaves
•5 tablespoons plain flour
•1.25 litre semi-skimmed milk
•1 whole nutmeg, for grating
Method.
1.Start by breaking down your Muntjac carcass into manageable chunks; hang onto the shoulders and any bits and pieces that aren’t prime cuts.
2.Heat a large non stick pan with a couple of tablespoons of rapeseed oil, brown your Muntjac pieces roughly and transfer to your roasting tray, this might have to be done in a few batches. Deglaze the pan with a splash of your wine and transfer in with the browned Muntjac pieces.
3.In a pan soften your carrots, celery and onion. Once coloured and softened transfer into the roasting tray with the Muntjac.
4.Top the tray with the tin of tomatoes, wine, garlic bulb halves, balsamic glaze, star anise fruit, rosemary and tomato puree. The Muntjac should be as covered as possible, add more chopped tomatoes if necessary or if your not far away a splash of water. Season liberally.
5.Foil the tray tighter than a tiger and add to a preheated oven at about 160.
6.Forget about it for the next four hours. You’ve now got time to run a cheeky marathon, watch The Godfather or take a serious nap. Whatever floats your boat? No pressure.
7.Once you’ve done the above, remove the roasting tray from the oven, test the venison with a fork, it should literally fall apart into tiny fibres and be as soft as butter.
8.Let it cool down and get it in the fridge as soon as possible.
9.Béchamel time baby.
10.Slice your leeks finely; put them in a pan with a lug of rapeseed oil and the bay leaves. Give it a good stir and season liberally.
11.Turn the heat down and cook for half an hour, add a little bit of water if and when necessary. Add your flour and coat well, slowly add your milk, stirring the whole time. Bring the heat back up to medium and bring to the boil and then lower the heat and let it thicken for 5 minutes keep stirring!
12.Blitz the sauce until its nice and smooth. Add your cheese and grate in the nutmeg.
13.Time to tackle your meat…
14.Now you meat has cooled its time to remove the bones, garlic bulbs and star anise. (Make sure you find that bad boy, nobody is going to enjoying munching on that!)
15.Carefully sift through the meat and sauce removing anything hard and/or a bit minging looking. Whilst you do this the motion will combine the meat fibres and sauce into your Ragu. Simple. Give it one final taste and season as you like. You should be left easily with twenty portions from this method so divide it in half and freeze accordingly. You can use the Ragu another time with a different pasta dish.
16.Preheat the oven to 190ºC.
17.Time to build this baby, put a quarter of your Ragu into a large ovenproof dish, and spread it out across the bottom fairly neatly. Spoon roughly a quarter of your béchamel on top. Then break up your lasagna sheets to cover the sauce. Repeat the process until your all done. Finish with a layer of béchamel and chuck some cheese on top for good measure.
18.Stick it in the oven for three quarters of an hour and you are done.
19.Rome wasn’t built in a day, but this lasagne was so crack yourself open a cold one and take a pat on the back.
Ragu.
•1 Muntjac carcass.
•1 2.5kg Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
•A bottle of Red wine that’s passed it (or a rubbish gift)
•1 Bulb of garlic roughly chopped in half
•2 Teaspoons Balsamic Glaze
•6 carrots (diced)
•Large white onion (diced)
•6 sticks of celery (diced)
•A few sprigs of rosemary
•1 Star Anise fruit
•3 tablespoons Tomato Puree
•Rapeseed oil
Béchamel.
•100 g mature Cheddar cheese
•3 medium leeks
•2 fresh bay leaves
•5 tablespoons plain flour
•1.25 litre semi-skimmed milk
•1 whole nutmeg, for grating
Method.
1.Start by breaking down your Muntjac carcass into manageable chunks; hang onto the shoulders and any bits and pieces that aren’t prime cuts.
2.Heat a large non stick pan with a couple of tablespoons of rapeseed oil, brown your Muntjac pieces roughly and transfer to your roasting tray, this might have to be done in a few batches. Deglaze the pan with a splash of your wine and transfer in with the browned Muntjac pieces.
3.In a pan soften your carrots, celery and onion. Once coloured and softened transfer into the roasting tray with the Muntjac.
4.Top the tray with the tin of tomatoes, wine, garlic bulb halves, balsamic glaze, star anise fruit, rosemary and tomato puree. The Muntjac should be as covered as possible, add more chopped tomatoes if necessary or if your not far away a splash of water. Season liberally.
5.Foil the tray tighter than a tiger and add to a preheated oven at about 160.
6.Forget about it for the next four hours. You’ve now got time to run a cheeky marathon, watch The Godfather or take a serious nap. Whatever floats your boat? No pressure.
7.Once you’ve done the above, remove the roasting tray from the oven, test the venison with a fork, it should literally fall apart into tiny fibres and be as soft as butter.
8.Let it cool down and get it in the fridge as soon as possible.
9.Béchamel time baby.
10.Slice your leeks finely; put them in a pan with a lug of rapeseed oil and the bay leaves. Give it a good stir and season liberally.
11.Turn the heat down and cook for half an hour, add a little bit of water if and when necessary. Add your flour and coat well, slowly add your milk, stirring the whole time. Bring the heat back up to medium and bring to the boil and then lower the heat and let it thicken for 5 minutes keep stirring!
12.Blitz the sauce until its nice and smooth. Add your cheese and grate in the nutmeg.
13.Time to tackle your meat…
14.Now you meat has cooled its time to remove the bones, garlic bulbs and star anise. (Make sure you find that bad boy, nobody is going to enjoying munching on that!)
15.Carefully sift through the meat and sauce removing anything hard and/or a bit minging looking. Whilst you do this the motion will combine the meat fibres and sauce into your Ragu. Simple. Give it one final taste and season as you like. You should be left easily with twenty portions from this method so divide it in half and freeze accordingly. You can use the Ragu another time with a different pasta dish.
16.Preheat the oven to 190ºC.
17.Time to build this baby, put a quarter of your Ragu into a large ovenproof dish, and spread it out across the bottom fairly neatly. Spoon roughly a quarter of your béchamel on top. Then break up your lasagna sheets to cover the sauce. Repeat the process until your all done. Finish with a layer of béchamel and chuck some cheese on top for good measure.
18.Stick it in the oven for three quarters of an hour and you are done.
19.Rome wasn’t built in a day, but this lasagne was so crack yourself open a cold one and take a pat on the back.
