Venison Stew With Pretzel Dumplings - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
800 g venison, cut into chunks
10 None shallots, halved
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
1-2 tsp sugar
500 ml dry red wine
500 ml meat or game stock
4 stalks thyme, leaves stripped
2 None bay leaves
1 tsp juniper berries
200 g stale pretzels
1 small onion, diced
125 ml semi-skimmed milk
2 medium eggs
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
3 stalks parsley, chopped
75 g cranberry sauce + 2 tbsp

Preparation

Heat half of the butter in a Dutch oven dish. Brown the meat in portions then set aside. Fry the shallots for about 4 minutes then add the garlic and tomato paste for about 1 minute. Add sugar and caramelize, then pour in 1 cup of wine, boil and reduce by half. Add the stock, remaining red wine, meat, thyme, bay leaf and juniper berries. Season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender.
Cut the pretzels in to chunks and place in a large bowl. Heat the rest of the butter in a pan, saute the onion to flavor the butter, then remove and save for later. Heat the milk in the pan to lukewarm then whisk in the eggs and season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Pour the milk over the pretzels and let stand for 10 minutes. Add the sauteed onion and parsley to the pretzels, then knead into a cylinder about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the cylinder tightly in plastic wrap, then in foil and place in a pot of boiling water for 30 minutes.
When the meat is cooked, stir through 2 tbsp cranberry sauce and season again with salt and pepper if necessary. Remove the pretzel dumplings from the water. Remove the wrapping and cut into slices. Serve the meat and dumplings together with a spoon of cranberry sauce on the side.