I felt really tired when I woke up – I am too old to go to bed at 2 am and then feel human the next day!  I wanted a green smoothie for breakfast to help revive me but it was raining too hard so I ate what was in the fridge instead: strawberries, banana, hazelnuts and almond milk.

It was a milk shake consistency smoothie which was refreshing and tasty.  Coupled with a cup of tea it did help revive me.

I had bought some lovely smoked haddock at Cranbrook’s Farmers Market yesterday and I used it to make a kedgeree.

I blogged about making a kedgeree before here .  I only had risotto rice so I used that and it worked very well.

We all love kedgeree so this was a very popular lunch choice.

After lunch the rain actually stopped and the sun shone brightly so I was able to snap a few pics of these beautiful tulips in my garden.

I got all excited about a walk with the dogs and then it rained again!

Another purchase in the market was some venison.  I actually went in search of lamb shanks.  I enjoy listening to Chris Evans’ breakfast show and he has raved about his wife’s lamb shanks several times.  I couldn’t find any though so I bought 2 venison shanks instead.

Slow Cooked Venison Shanks

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 can tomatoes
• Red wine, pour wine to the top of  the empty tomato can
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 2 venison shanks

Method

• Heat 1/2 the oil in a frying pan
• Add the onions and carrots and fry gently for 5 minutes
• Add the garlic and fry for another 5 minutes
• Add the tomatoes, wine, tomato puree, thyme and salt and pepper and bring to simmering point
• Pour in to the slow cooker and turn on to low

• Add the other 1 tbsp oil to the pan and heat
• Brown the venison shanks on all sides
• Place the venison shanks in to the sauce in the slow cooker
• Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours, occasionally turning the meat so all sides braise in the sauce.

I didn’t have any tomato puree so I blitzed a small jar of sundried tomatoes and used that instead which worked very well.

To serve with the venison I stir fried some broccoli and rainbow chard from the garden

and, as requested by Harvey, mashed potato.

It was good.  Lovely tender and falling apart meat with a rich sauce.

 

As an accompaniment I served some redcurrant and port jelly

and a large glass or red wine.

I hope you had a relaxing Sunday too.