This one is for you Dad – Happy Birthday!

My dad loves to go hunting. Deer hunting, pheasant hunting, duck hunting…you name it. When I was young, he went moose and elk hunting and came back with large amounts of meat. My youngest brother and I still joke about how we had to sit at dinner one night, while eating moose rump roast. We were a little tired and talked a lot about the rump. Honestly, I am not really a game person. I like venison sausage, ground venison chili and even venison tenderloins once in a while. But for some reason, sometimes I just can’t stomach it.

This year my dad came back from hunting this year and gifted a couple different cuts to us. This time we got a venison tenderloin and a neck roast. Not knowing what to expect with the neck roast, Paul thought he could just jerky it. Turns out, when he defrosted it and looked at the cut of meat, he decided that would be impossible. So we starting hunting for a good recipe to make this gamey meat taste delicious. Which lead me to this recipe.

Venison Neck Roast Slow Cooked

3 – 4 lb Neck Roast
2 tbsp olive oil
2 slices thick cut farm bacon
2 cups red wine (I used Merlot)
1 8oz container of mushrooms
1 large onion
1 lemon, zest only
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 stalks of celery
3 garlic cloves
2 rosemary stalks
6 small sprigs of thyme
2 tbsp fresh sage – 10 leaves
8 sprigs fresh parsley
salt & pepper

Heat up olive oil in a highsided saute pan. Salt & pepper the roast and brown on all sides. While browning, cut up onion, mushrooms & celery. Zest lemon (I used the entire peel) and cut up bacon into small bits. Transfer browned roast into your slow cooker. Cook bacon next. Once bacon is browned, add to slow cooker. In leftover fat, cook onion, celery and mushrooms for 3 minutes. Add in zest, cinnamon, garlic, rosemary, thyme, sage leaves & parsley sprigs. Cook for another 2 minutes and add to slow cooker. Pour wine over everything and put the lid on. Cook on low for 4 – 6 hours. Take the meat out to a seperate plate and cover. Remove the lemon peel, herbs (that you can find) and bay leaves. Pour everything else into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour back into a sauce pan and bring to a boil…this will thicken right up. Take meat and add back to sauce. Serve.

I served this with homemade gnocchi and Paul loved it.

Adapted from a recipe found here.