Vegetables For Marinade

Asked by sigmaliquoricemaplesyrup. Answered on 19th March 2018

Full question

In Nigella's recipe Venison in White Wine in How to Eat, should I chop up the vegetable marinade ingredients? The recipe doesn’t appear to instruct me to but it looks a bit odd, especially since the large whole onion isn’t entirely covered by the liquid and I’m thinking the exposed surface area must be the same as just a couple of small bits of onion? Many thanks.

Venison in White Wine

By Nigella

Our answer

Nigella's recipe for Venison In White Wine (from HOW TO EAT) is a stew of caramelised onions and tender venison. The venison is marinated in white wine and vegetables, to add flavour, and the marinating liquid (minus the vegetables) is used in the stew. The carrots, celery and onion can be cut into chunky pieces for the marinade. We would avoid cutting them too small as you need to separate out the meat from the vegetables before cooking and if the vegetable pieces are too small then this becomes very fiddly. We would suggest peeling then halving or quartering the onion (depending on size), the carrots can be cut into 2-3 pieces (no need to peel but make sure they are well scrubbed) and the celery stalks can be halved.

LIke most stews, it is particularly good if made a day or so in advance and then reheated. The stew can also be frozen after cooking. Cool the stew as quickly as possible and refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze in airtight containers for up to 3 months. If frozen, thaw the stew overnight in the fridge. Remove from the fridge an hour before serving, to remove the fridge chill, then reheat in a casserole dish (dutch oven) in an oven preheated to 180C/350F for 40-50 minutes or on the stove over a low heat for about 30 minutes. Make sure the stew is piping hot before sprinkling with chopped parsley and serving.