Remember, remember the fifth of November the Portuguese way - a roast of venison and chestnuts to warm up your Fall


And here I am, once again, making it a point of participating with a recipe of my own at Marta's table. This month - and as I had already predicted 😉 - the ingredient Marta chose is chestnuts. Well, it so happens that I don't really appreciate chestnuts... my son loves them, he goes crazy for a few roasted chestnuts and has been indulging like crazy for the past week. But me, meeeeh, not so much. Not at all, quite frankly. There's something far too sandy in them for my liking, far too gritty and grainy. They're also far too dry, and the falvour is not up my alley.


Unless they're drenched in juices. Game juices. Roast a handful of chestnuts with some boar, or fowl, a pheasant or a partridge, roast them with lamb and pork, even, and I will eat them. Yup, I will eat them because they will taste of the meat juices, and I will love it. I usually have a roast once a year where I do use the chestnuts and I don't shy from them, it's actually a pleasure to eat them like this. Most game will work, except for hare or rabbit, meat is too lean. Duck and goose, they agree well with the chestnuts, I think. But there's one type of game I would rather have over anything else, everytime, and that's venison. I'm not picky when it comes to it, as long as it's roasted, I'll have it no matter with what, but I do like my chestnuts to roast in those particular flavours.


So my contribution for Marta's table this month is indeed the proverbial roasted venison with chestnuts - with a healthy dash of apples, and carrots and tatters, of course! You will need:
  • 1,5 kg joint of venison - on the bone
  • 400 gr chestnuts
  • 2 big carrots
  • 200 gr brussel sprouts
  • 1 big onion
  • five medium apples
  • five smallish potatoes - or sweet potato, if you prefer
  • thyme, rosemary, juniper berries, salt, pepper 
  • olive oil
Turn the oven on at 150º. Drizzle a glug of olive oil onto an oven trey. Peel and slice an onion, scattering it over the olive oil. On top of that, place your joint of venison, seasoned with salt, pepper, juniper berries, thyme and rosemary. Rinse the chestnuts and slash a cut on the surface of the shell, scatter them around the venison and season with salt. Drizzle olive oil over them and the meat, cover with foil and place in the oven, letting it cook for a couple of hours. After this amount of time has elapsed, peel the carrots and the potatoes, dice them, dice the apples, hakve the sprouts and toss them in a bowl, seasoning them with the thyme and rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil. Bring your tray out of hte oven and remove the foil. Scatter the freshly seasoned vegetables around the meat and chestnuts and place the tray back in the oven. If you notice the meat looking a little dry, bast with the juices. Turn on the temperature to 200º and allow it to cook for another hour and half, give or take. As soon as you see the potatoes are cooked, then bring it out of the oven and let it rest for fifteen minutes. Carve and serve, with a glass of red on a chilled Autumn night!!



Comments

  1. Olá!
    Tem tão bom aspeto!!
    Tenho de começar por confessar que nunca comi veado...yep...nunca...o que me deixa ainda mais curiosa com esta tua receita! :) Já provei castanhas com coelho, galinha, peru, porco, mas veado não. Nunca. Mas se o aspeto falasse, ele diria muito bem desta tua receita :)
    Outra coisa que também não costumo fazer é cozinhá-las com a casca... neste tipo de receitas normalmente descasco-as.. tenho de experimentar assim também...
    Minha linda, sei como foi uma prova de esforço imenso participares este mês na rubrica, porque sei o quanto NÃO gostas de castanhas, lol, o que torna a tua participação ainda mais especial, e me deixa ainda de coração mais cheio....
    Obrigado.
    Beijo enorme!!
    Marta

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Acho que ias gostar de veado, Marta, tens de experimentar!! A cena da casca deve-se a uma única coisa: preguiçaaaaaaaaa!!!

      Delete
  2. Adoro!
    Está tudo com óptimo aspecto!
    Sou perdida por castanhas e fiquei aqui a imaginar a combinação com as maçãs :)
    Deve ficar mesmo bom.
    Um beijinho

    ReplyDelete
  3. (ando sem conseguir comentar o teu blog :( )
    Eu adoro castanhas, mas eu adoro coisas secas xD Uma perguntinha: tu pões as maçãs ao mesmo tempo que os legumes? não ficam empapadas?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Empapadas? Tipo mushy apples? Depende. Normalmente ficam a atirar para o caramelizado e um pouco mais cozinhadas que as cenouras ou as batatas, se as cortei em tamanho médio, mas eu gosto é das maçãs assim, pois ficam ainda mais doces, e com os temperos faz um contraste que eu adoro. Mas se cortei os legumes bem pequeninos, nope, ficam normais.

      Delete
    2. Ah claro! é o tamanho com que se cortam! Não me lembrei desse pormenor x)

      Delete
  4. oh god, sinto me o homer a babar "ooooohmmmm ". que bom aspecto!

    https://rrriotdontdiet.blogspot.pt/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pá acho tão dificil fotografar assados e ficarem com bom aspecto!!! Eu sei que estava bom, delicioso até, mas acho que pela imagem tem tão mau ar que ninguém quereria comer isto ahahahah

      Delete

Post a Comment