Slovenian National Dish

Recipe:

Venison with Vegetable Sauce and Štruklji Dumplings

Serves 4:

For the venison:
1.2 kg shoulder of venison
5 tbsp sunflower oil
5 juniper berries
2 carrots
2 parsnips
2 onions
5 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp mustard
400 ml red wine
300 ml broth
salt and pepper
parsley
thyme
marjoram


For the Štruklji:
100-150 g butter
150 g cottage cheese
150-200 g bread crumbs
2 eggs
200 g semolina
100 g salt

Season the shoulder of venison with salt and pepper and brown it on both sides for 15-20 minutes in sunflower oil in a large pot. Crush the juniper berries and add to the meat. Chop the carrots, onions, parsnips and garlic cloves and add them with the bay leaf, thyme and marjoram. Pour in the broth and red wine. The meat can also be prepared without wine - just replace it by the same amount of broth. Cover the pot and simmer the meat for 1 1/2 hours.

During that time prepare the Štruklji. Mix butter, cottage cheese, eggs and salt. Pour in the semolina and knead it all together. Let the dough stand for 20 minutes. Then form it into 4 rolls and cover with bread crumbs. Put the dough rolls in a damp cloth and steam for 20 minutes. Take the cooked Štruklji out of the cloth and garnish with melted butter and roasted bread crumbs.

Remove the meat from the pot and puree the vegetables. Arrange the meat, vegetables and Štruklji on a warm plate and serve. As an additional garnish, sauté canned pear-halves in butter and fill with cranberry jam.

Dober tek – Enjoy your meal!