Venison - The Game Larder Recipe (Shanks with baby beets and chestnuts)

Venison shanks with baby beets and chestnuts. A great Christmas recipe from the new edition of Venison - The Game Larder by Jose Souto, out now. 

The shank of any animal has lots of flavour since it is a muscle that works hard
and contains a lot of sinew which always gives good flavour and substance to
any sauce you are cooking. Slow cooked, shank meat will nearly fall off the bone
and be a delicious winter warmer.

INGREDIENTS
150g carrots
150g celery
100g leeks
3 cloves garlic
2 x fallow shanks
salt and pepper
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 litres of dark chicken or venison
stock
1 tsp chopped fresh sage
2 tsp grain mustard
12 baby beetroot
150g cooked chestnuts
25g butter

METHOD
Cut the carrots, celery and leeks into 1cm dice and roughly chop the garlic.
Season the shanks and fry in a frying pan to give them even colour all over.

Place the shanks in an ovenproof dish that has a lid, fry all the diced
vegetables in the pan you have used for the venison until coloured, then add
the tomato purée and cook for another 5-8 mins then add the stock and sage.
Cover the shanks with the stock and diced vegetables. Bring to the boil then
cook in the oven at 160°C for 1½-2 hours or until meat is tender. Larger
shanks could take slightly longer.
Remove the shanks from the cooking liquid and keep warm and covered so
they do not dry out.
Decant the stock into saucepan, passing it through a fine strainer to remove
diced vegetables – keep them warm with the shanks. Bring the stock to the
boil, stir in the mustard and reduce by half.
Drop the baby beetroots into cold water and bring to the boil until cooked
then refresh and peel.
Sauté the chestnuts in 15g of butter to warm through.
Reheat the baby beetroots by plunging into boiling water then drain and toss
in 10g melted butter.
Place the shanks in a serving dish and cover with hot sauce, then garnish
with vegetables, baby beetroots and chestnuts.