Slow Cooker Venison in Port...(amongst other thing)

I was lucky enough to be given a Venison leg from my friend Shelley.  Her husband is licenced to shoot them, so this was straight from the shoot to my friend's freezer - she had texted me a pic of said deer earlier, and luckily enough I'm not squeamish about these things.  I believe as a meat eater you need to be realistic?

It had been in my freezer for a couple of weeks whilst I decided what to do with it.  Having consulted several cookery books I didn't really warm to any 1 of them, so cobbled together my own version.

I can honestly say this was the freshest meat I can ever remember cooking with, the fact that the cats were going crazy is testament to that fact!

Serving it up with good old mashed potatoes, as the snow is falling, it was a perfect meal for a cold, cold night.  *And* of course, did I say how low in fat it is, what's not to love :)

A little olive oil for browning
750g Venison cubed (I had a leg)
Enough flour to coat
250g shallots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
120g shitake mushrooms

6 juniper berries crushed (herb aisle in Sainsburys)
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Grated nutmeg
100ml Port
300ml lamb stock (most recipes said beef)

I took the meat off the bone and cubed.  Rolled in the flour and seasoned with plenty of black pepper.
I browned the meat in batches and moved to the slow cooker.  I then added the the rest of the dry ingredients and fried for a few minutes.   I then added the port and stock, brought to the boil, then added the whole lot to the slow cooker.  I stirred, then left to cook for around 8 hours.

The result was a mouth-watering meal, the venison was so tender in a beautiful rich gravy.  Will definitely be serving this at my next dinner party.   Which I must arrange by the way, but for which victims guests?

Enjoy
Annie x