Today – Venison meatballs with wild mushroom and chocolate sauce recipe
These richly flavoured venison meatballs celebrate all that is wonderful about late autumn and midwinter ingredients. They are a nod to the Nordic love of a good meatball. Then this intensely flavoured sauce marries brilliantly with gently spiced savoy cabbage and the punchy beetroot and potato horseradish mash. Delicious with a glass of red wine, or indeed a good British beer.
Ingredients
- 2 x packets of Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Venison Meatballs
- 1x 30g packet of by Sainsbury’s dried mushroom selection
- 1 small glass (125ml) red wine
- 1x 500ml packet Sainsbury’s signature beef stock
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 200 ml Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference creme fraiche
- 40g dark chocolate (at least 70%)
- 1tbsp grainy mustard
- 1 bunch parsley
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Vegetable oil for frying the meatballs
- 1x savoy cabbage, core removed and chopped
- 50g butter
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
Venison meatballs with wild mushroom and chocolate sauce recipe:
Start by placing a spoonful of vegetable oil in a medium-large frying pan and warming over a medium heat. Add the meatballs and fry until evenly brown on all sides for a few minutes. Meanwhile place the wild mushrooms in a bowl and cover with 250ml boiling water so they swell up. Once they’ve infused for about 10 minutes drain the mushroom liquid and reserve this for the sauce. You may want to add a clean J-cloth to a sieve before draining the mushrooms so you keep any grit from the liquid. Rinse the wild mushrooms to clean them of any grit as well. Chop them finely and keep for the sauce.
Remove the meatballs from the pan once they’ve been seared on the outside. Place in a separate bowl while you prepare the sauce. Using the same pan, add the red wine, the beef stock, the mushroom liquid, Worcestershire sauce. Reduce this over a high heat by about half. While this is reducing roughly chop the cabbage. In a separate saucepan, place 50g butter and the caraway seeds. Warm over a gentle heat. Then add the cabbage and the vinegar or lemon juice along with another tablespoonful of water. Cover the pan and wilt the cabbage over a medium heat, checking every few minutes to stir the cabbage.
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Next add the creme fraiche, dark chocolate and mustard to the pan with the mushroom liquid. Keep simmering for a couple of minutes. Check the seasoning – it should have a rich, deep savoury flavour. If need be add sea salt and black pepper to balance out the flavours. You can add a little more dark chocolate if you wish, or indeed more creme fraiche.
Once the sauce is the right flavour for you, add the meatballs and chopped mushrooms. Gently simmer for a few minutes over low heat. Serve with Sainsbury‘s beetroot, potato and horseradish mash.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Venison meatballs with wild mushroom and chocolate sauce recipe. Do check out our other recipe posts too.
[This autumn, Sainsbury’s has teamed up with Scandinavian chef and author Signe Johansen to celebrate the UK’s new found love for hygge. Hygge (pronounced hoo-GAH) is about taking the time to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. Together, Signe and Sainsbury’s have created this recipe to demonstrate how you can bring these principles into the kitchen to cook fresh, wholesome, delicious Scandinavian-inspired dishes using familiar ingredients. Driven by an appreciation of exciting and innovative taste combinations, Signe’s exclusive recipes take quality British produce, like wild Scottish venison meatballs (available from Sainsbury’s), and combines them with classic Scandinavian flavours to embrace the hygge values of comfort and warmth.]
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