deer pot roast

yesterday certain some had taken a deer roast from freezer to thaw. wasn't sure how i was going to prepare it, but then found inspiration in anna olson's cookbook and mom's old designer pot







before doing anything else put the oven on to 170C, then take out your veggies.

for this dish i used 4 carrots, a parsnip, 7 medium size potatoes, 2 yellow onions and 10 cm bit of root parsley (that's the white veggie on onions, if you can't find any, used stems of regular parsley, or forget about it). you could easily make your own combination of veggies, i happen to like these, but any root vegetable will work, you just need to figure out which size you chop each veggie so that they all be cooked at the same time







the deer roast, actual name of the animal is roe deer, this is the hind part of it







all veggies chopped up







take 1 chopped carrot, half of parsnip, 1 onion and the root parsley (save the rest of veggies for later, put potatoes in cold water to avoid them turning brown)







heat pot on high, add 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil and brown the roast on both sides, remove from pot







add 1 chopped carrot, half of parsnip, onion and root parsley, turn them around in pot for a minute







add approx 6 dl of boiling stock (either real stuff or from boiling water and beef fond), scrape off any brown bits from bottom of pot, then add 2 bay leaves and ½ tsp dried thyme (or 2 sprigs of fresh thyme if you have it)







place browned roast on top, put lid on and place the pot in the preheated 170C oven for 1½ hrs, remove from oven after 45 mins and turn the roast, return to oven for another 45 mins







this is how mine looked after 1½ hrs







take out the roast, place on a plate, strain the veggies and reserve the stock. these veggies will go to compost, they've given out all flavor (this part is from anna)







place the reserved veggies to pot, pour stock back to pot







place roast on top, put lid on and return pot to oven for another 40 to 60 mins







this was mine after 45 mins, roast removed to rest before cutting. i didn't peel the potatoes because they looked so pretty with jackets on... not really, they keep their shape better with longer cooking with skins on, and you always need all the fiber you can get







my portion plated, serving this from a soup plate is from anna as well, the stock was so rich and flavorfull, i put spoons out as well. poured some stock on a slice of bread, so good!







made an apple pie for dessert but more on that tomorrow...

ps. happy father's day, dad!