Thursday, 15 August 2013

The Self-Sufficient Challenge Days 13 - 14: venison

venison marinated Aug 13

Earlier this year we swapped some of our Tamworth pork for some wild venison with a friend who goes shooting. On Saturday it was time to get a leg of venison out of the freezer and on Sunday I started marinating it in red wine and spices. On Tuesday it came out of the marinade and I coated it in a paste of honey, spices and mustard. After that it went into the oven and a couple of hours later I was sitting down to a fantastic roast venison dinner. The joint was large so we had it cold in sandwiches for lunch and cold with new potatoes and freshly picked runner beans for dinner on day 14 of the Self-Sufficient challenge. The redcurrant jelly I made recently was a great addition to the menu.

venison dinner Aug 13

We have now used up what was left of our cereals so leftover boiled new potatoes, fried with an egg, made a superb breakfast on Day 14.

fried potatoes and egg Aug 13

cherry pie Aug 13

We did not consume many sweets, chocolates, cakes, biscuits and so on before the Challenge but that does not mean to say we never ever touched them. So 14 days into the Challenge and we were starting to feel the need at least for a sweet pudding. I found some cherries growing recently (2 months late this year) so I picked some of them and made them into a cherry pie. We can't use cream on the pie as we don't have the goats yet so I sprinkled freshly picked blackberries I found growing in a hedge on the allotment over the pie. An excellent combination. Since we are no longer buying fruit, and we have eaten all the fruit we had previously bought, we have found that blackberries (and cherries) are filling the gap.

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