Venison Cawl

It's not been the best trip away in the van this one as Mrs Larry and the Little Larrys have been poorly with this dreadful lurgy that's traversing the UK at the moment. What they need is a good hearty stew and as we are in Wales I'm serving them up a Welsh cawl using some venison saddle. I think cawl is Welsh for soup, which makes sense because it is a very thin stew. Sometimes the gravy is served as a soup to start but we are going to mop it all up with some crusty bread, and keep some of it to use as stock for dishes later this trip.

Ingredients:

500g Venison saddle, cubed
200g Bacon lardons
1x Large onion, diced
2x Leeks, sliced
3x Carrots (300g), peeled and sliced
500g Swede, peeled and chopped up
3x Potatoes (600g), peeled and thickly sliced
Chicken stock, 1 litre

Method:

1. On a high heat brown the lardons in a big frying pan then transfer to a casserole dish.
2. Season the venison cubes and lightly brown in batches in the bacon fat. Add them to the casserole dish.
3. Turn the heat down to medium low and sweat off the onions in the frying pan for 10 minutes.
4. While the onions are cooking add all the remaining veg to the casserole dish.
5. Mix the onions into the casserole dish then pour in the stock.
6. Bring the casserole to a boil on the hob then transfer to the oven on gas mark 1 and cook for 2-3 hours.
7. Serve with some lovely crusty bread to mop up the gravy.

Mwynhewch eich bwyd!