A rich, elevated twist on a classic. This hearty recipe brings together deep, savoury flavours and a focus on nutrient density, transforming a humble ragu into a wholesome, satisfying dish that’s as nourishing as it is delicious.

Now that the official intro is over, it’d be valid to let you in on why this recipe exists.
The brief tale begins at a luxury care home (yes, the ones for old folks, except this one is more like a 5* hotel), where I was tasked with helping older folk become healthier.
This statement may seem normal but it is nothing short of revolutionary.
The general landscape of feeding our elderly in a care setting is very much centred around just providing enough calories. Except calories do not make us healthy. They merely keep us alive.
Luckily, this revolutionary new luxury care home group let me work my magic by fully embracing the notion of wellbeing through food.
There was just one “little” issue: Having thoroughly researched this topic (via scientific reviews, not Googling), what I sadly realised is that in order to feed our over 75s the required amount of nutrients, we would pretty much have to ask them to put away 3 trays worth of food per day.
A minor curveball, some might say.
Undeterred, I carried on my research to land on venison and other British game meats. These underappreciated sources of food seemed to boast a better nutrient profile.
By further adjusting the content of meals via other highly nutritious ingredients, I could considerably reduce the size of meals but keep them, amazingly, just as nutritious.
This ragu is one such example.
A beautifully tasty dish that scores very high on the chart of essential nutrients.

If you enjoy “spag bol”, then trust me, you will get on with this recipe too.

A plate of venison ragu with parmesan cheese and fresh basil

Ingredients (makes 4 portions)

300g wild venison mince
1 organic chicken liver, 30g - 40g approximately
1 medium carrot
1 medium onion
1 stick of celery
1 clove of garlic 
400g passata or chopped tomatoes 
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 sprig of fresh oregano
2 sprigs of fresh thyme 
Good quality extra virgin olive oil (I used Positively Good For You’s EVOO) 
Sea salt  
Freshly ground black pepper  

To serve: 
A handful of fresh basil leaves 
Parmesan cheese (optional) 
350g of pasta, cooked al dente

Method:

1. Peel and dice the onion, celery and garlic.
2. Finely grate the carrot.
3. Pick the rosemary, thyme and oregano leaves from their stems. Roughly chop the herbs to release their flavour.
4. Put the onion and celery in a casserole-style dish or a wide-brimmed frying pan.
5. Drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil, turn the heat to medium and allow the onion and celery to sauté for 5 minutes until they are starting to turn translucent.
6. Turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the carrots, garlic, rosemary, oregano, thyme and venison mince to the pan. Stir and break up the venison mince. Cook for a couple of minutes to lightly brown the venison.
7. Add the passata to the pan. Turn the heat down to medium. Season with sea salt and black pepper and allow it to simmer gently for 10-15 minutes. You may need to turn the temperature down to low.
8. While the ragu is simmering, trim the chicken livers and dice them finely.
9. Add the chicken liver to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes.
10. Check the seasoning and season again if needed.
11. Stir in the pasta to coat it in the sauce. Add a splash of the pasta’s cooking water to loosen the sauce and stir again.
12. Serve with fresh basil leaves scattered on top and a generous portion of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

There are so many reasons to cook more wild venison.

First, it’s hugely nutritious, boasting higher protein levels than other red meat sources and more of the hard-to-find minerals zinc and selenium.
It is also very lean, meaning we don’t need to worry about saturated fats. (FYI - I don’t worry about saturated fats.)

Second, it is actually sustainable.
Yes, sustainable red meat exists. Venison is perhaps on top of that list.
The thing with deer in the UK is they don’t have a natural predator. Thanks to this, coupled with an abundant supply of food and the introduction of non-native deer species, we have somehow ended up with a few too many of them on our shores.
Sadly, they love to munch on trees which is damaging woodlands and all the lovely woodland-dwelling species that live in those environments.
In a nutshell, too many deer means fewer trees, which is bad news, so we cull deer each year.
Cue a supply of sustainable, highly nutritious protein.

Last but not least, venison is delicious.
I may be biased but this recipe is super tasty.
Think a rich ragu with chunks of meat that cooks in 30 minutes flat.
In fact, you don’t need to cook venison all that long full stop, thanks to its low fat content.

Top tip: check the recipe notes after the methods section if you aren’t familiar with “chefy” terms.

Ingredients to feed 2

300g of diced wild venison (it’s in many supermarkets now)
1 onion, finely diced
1 stick of celery, finely diced
5-6 chestnut mushrooms, roughly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely diced
1 large carrot, blended into a puree (blending the carrot makes a sweeter, thicker sauce)
1 bay leaf
300ml passata
1 glass of good quality red wine. I used an organic Italian Primitivo.
Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning
Any good quality oil for cooking, I used cold-pressed rapeseed oil

Pasta & greens to serve.
I used pappardelle pasta and kale.

Method

1. Add a couple of tablespoon of oil to a large saucepan on a medium-low heat.
2. Pop in your onions & celery immediately and allow them to saute until they are soft. Approximately 10 minutes.
3. Turn the heat up to high.
4. Add the venison and cook for a couple of minutes until it is beginning to colour. You’ll need to give the pan a good stir to stop anything from catching.
5. Pour in the wine and let it cook until almost all of it is gone. It’ll bubble away quickly.
6. Stir in the mushrooms and garlic.
7. Turn the heat down to low, add the carrot puree, bay leaf and passata and season it well with sea salt and black pepper.
8. Let everything bubble away slowly on a low heat for 20 to 30 minutes until the sauce has reduced and the meat is tender. If the sauce is looking too dry then add a splash of water.
9. Taste the sauce and add more salt & pepper if needed.
10. Serve with pasta and a side of greens.

Recipe Notes

Finely diced onion & celery = the smallest squares you can humanly chop onions & celery into.

Passata is a “sieved” version of chopped tomatoes. Think smoother chopped tomatoes. Available from most supermarkets and usually lives next to chopped tomatoes.

If you need to feed more than 2 people, simply multiply the quantity of ingredients.

Pureeing a raw carrot adds natural sweetness to your ragu. If you can’t be bothered to wash a blender (or don’t have one) then dice the carrot and add it to your pan at the same time as the onions/ celery.