A myth-busting winter warmer

Garry Watson, chef proprietor of Gordon’s Restaurant in Inverkeilor, rustles up a hearty venison sausage casserole

Bangers are bangers, but there are some bangers that are extremely special – and venison sausages are positively five star, especially when you serve them braised slowly flavoured with herbs, shallots, chestnuts, root vegetables, juniper and red wine.

As it’s now getting cold and chilly we crave warm comforting food.

However, it doesn’t have to be fatty and high in calories. If you haven’t tried venison sausages then you must – they are very flavourful and juicy and it’s an absolute myth that venison products are dry with a strong game flavour.They are also lower in fat than an alternative beef or pork sausage.

You can attempt to make your own sausages at home but it requires a little specialist knowledge and equipment, so I’d recommend a visit to your local craft butcher.

Braised venison sausage casserole is a wonderful winter mid-week supper dish. It goes down well withih the h family f and, if anyone e is late, it’s happ py cooking a litt le bit longer. Yo ou can also pr repare ahead when you have

bit of spare tim me and freeze a bbatch.

Heat a casserole dish with a splash of oil and fry eight venison sausages until they are well browned then remove and set aside.

Add 50g of smoked bacon chopped into lardons and cook until well coloured. Peel and roughly chop 200g celeriac, 2 banana shallots, 100g leek, 2 carrots and 2 sticks of celery then add to bacon along with 1 tablespoon of tomato puree and cook for 2 minutes.

Sprinkle 30g of plain flour and stir for 1 minute to cook out. Add 250ml of full-bodied red wine with 5 crushed juniper berries, 2 bay leaves and a few sprigs of fresh thyme then reduce by half.

Add 250ml of game or beef stock then return the sausages along with any accumulated juices.

Cover and simmer over a medium heat for around 20 minutes until vegetables are tender tender. Adjust seasoning, rem move bay leaf and thyme sprigs.

Serve with either a whipped creamy mash potato o flavoured with a few spoonful ls of fresh basil pesto or perha aps som course grain Arran m mustard

Alternatively s erve with fresh tagliate elle, buttered and flavou ured with freshly cracked black b pepper.