Rich, comforting and ridiculously easy.
Give your usual Bolognese an autumn upgrade with wild venison mince. Slowly cooked with tomatoes, red wine, herbs and vegetables until beautifully rich, this is the sort of dinner you can put on in the morning and look forward to all day.
Venison is naturally lean, so slow cooking it in a rich tomato sauce is a brilliant way to keep it succulent while allowing its deep, savoury flavour to shine.
Serves 4–6 | Prep: 15 mins | Slow cook: 6–8 hours
Ingredients
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1 onion, finely diced
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2 carrots, finely diced
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2 celery sticks, finely diced
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2 garlic cloves, crushed
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2 tbsp tomato purée
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400g tin chopped tomatoes
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250ml beef stock
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150ml red wine
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1 tsp dried oregano
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2 sprigs fresh rosemary
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2 bay leaves
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1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
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1 tbsp olive oil
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Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
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400g pappardelle or tagliatelle
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Parmesan, to serve
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Fresh parsley, to finish
Method
1. Brown the venison
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the venison mince and cook until nicely browned, breaking it apart as it cooks. Transfer to your slow cooker.
2. Build the flavour
In the same pan, gently cook the onion, carrot and celery for around 5 minutes until beginning to soften. Add the garlic and tomato purée and cook for another minute.
Pour in the red wine and let it bubble for 2–3 minutes, scraping up all those flavour-packed bits from the bottom of the pan.
3. Into the slow cooker
Add everything to the slow cooker along with the chopped tomatoes, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, rosemary and bay leaves. Season well.
Cook on LOW for 6–8 hours or HIGH for 3–4 hours, until rich and beautifully tender.
If the sauce is a little loose towards the end, remove the lid and cook on HIGH for another 20–30 minutes.
4. Serve
Cook the pasta until al dente, reserving a splash of the pasta water.
Remove the rosemary stalks and bay leaves from the ragu. Toss the pasta through the sauce, adding a splash of pasta water if needed.
Pile into bowls and finish with plenty of grated Parmesan, freshly cracked black pepper and parsley.
Make it your own
For an even richer autumn ragu, add finely chopped mushrooms alongside the vegetables – they're brilliant with the earthy flavour of wild venison.
Not a pasta night? Spoon the ragu over creamy mashed potato or soft polenta, use it to make a venison lasagne, or batch-cook and freeze portions for quick family dinners.
Why we love it: It's familiar enough for the whole family, but the wild venison gives an everyday pasta dinner a richer, more seasonal flavour. The perfect introduction if you've never tried venison before.
