Wild Wapiti Venison Bolognese

Venison is a staple amongst our members and those in need who have received wild Wapiti meat courtesy of the NZDA & The New Zealand Food Network.

We have teamed up with Dariush from Cazador – Game food restaurant, who has put together this Venison Bolognese recipe for you to try at home!

Venison mince is amazing stuff! More depth of flavor than your average beef mince. It makes excellent burger patties, mince pies, kebabs, and meatballs.

This is a quick, super tasty bastardisation of an italian classic. Don’t overthink it, let your instincts take over and cook using all your senses.

Venison Bolognese (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 500g dried spaghetti
• 500g venison mince
• 30g butter
• 30ml olive oil
• 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
• 1/2 carrot (finely chopped)
• 1/2 stick of celery (finely chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tin of tomatoes (chopped)
• handful of italian parsley (chopped)
• splash extra virgin olive oil (optional)
• 50g parmesean

Method:

• Brown mince in a hot casserole with oil and butter.
• Cook the mince in batches if you have to – Don’t overcrowd the pan!
• The worst thing you can do is rush this step as you’ll end up boiling the meat.
• Remove the mince from the pan with a slotted spoon but leave oil and butter.
• Add onion, garlic, celery, and carrot.
• Stir with a wooden spoon to get all the caramelized bits off the bottom of the pan.
• Turn the heat down to medium.
• Cook until the vegetables have softened (about 5 minutes)
• Boil a big pot of salted water for your pasta.
• Add the spice and tomato paste to the vegetables and cook for a further 3 minutes stirring so it doesn’t burn.
• Add the tomatoes and mince back to the pan.
• Cook for about 15 minutes until the sauce is nice and thick. Turn the heat down if it’s bubbling too much. Taste the sauce for seasoning. Add salt and pepper if needed.
• Cook your pasta while the sauce finishes. When the pasta is just cooked, strain it and mix it into the bolognese sauce with the parsley.
• Serve and finish with good olive oil and parmesan cheese.
• Enjoy with good friends.

“More wild venison making its way to charity for our community! NZDA has been a big supporter of getting the wapiti meat harvested by FWF in Fiordland to needy families. Today we teamed up with NZ Food Network to move 3 huge pallets of organic, free-range venison mince to Auckland. NZDA members Callum and Courtney helped make this happen. Callum is a new National Executive board member and Auckland Branch President. Well done team (love that you guys are rocking the new logo on your t-shirts too!).

The NZ Food Network is an NGO founded just this year to provide people in need with healthy food, through sharing bulk surplus and donated food.

NZDA is passionate about our big game animals, sustainable game management, and sharing our vision with the public. This initiative ticks all the boxes!”

Fiordland Wapiti Foundation | New Zealand Food Network | Cazador Restaurant & Delicatessen | New Zealand Deerstalkers Association Inc