Yummy weekend lunch

Now just for a non-recipe interlude.... I had to take a picture of the scrumptious lunch that we had whilst on holiday in Motueka over Easter....

Tasman Bay mixed fresh herbs, cherry tomatoes and cucumber from the holiday house owners, locally grown white radish, celery, Nelson feijoas, a bit of shop bought ham, coleslaw and buns, and some sauted cajun chicken...... YUMMM!

Tim's Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients:
-  200g penne pasta
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 20g butter
- 1 onion, sliced thinly
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
- 3 Teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 Tablespoons dijon mustard
- 500g mixed mushrooms
- a few rashers bacon (opt)
- I can brown lentils
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 3/4 cup stock (we use chicken or veggie)
- 1 cup sour cream

Cook pasta. Rinse under cold water.
Meanwhile, heat oil and half the butter in a large saucepan. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring until onion softens. Add paprika and mustard, cook stirring for 1 min. Stir mushrooms and remaining butter. Cover, and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add wine and stock to pan. Cook uncovered for about 5 minutes until liquid is reduced slightly. Add lentils and sour cream, and simmer gently, uncovered for 5 minutes. Serve over pasta.

On-the-spot Venison, Mushroom and Lentil Stew (Slow cooker)

I have a whole bunch of venison cuts in the freezer, from a colleague at work who hunts....

Ingredients
- Wild venison steak, roughly 250g, chopped into chunks
- 1 can brown lentils
- Roughly 5 large or 10 small mushrooms (a mix of types)
- 1 Onion
- Couple of cloves of garlic
- 2 cups stock, + 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup red wine
- A dash of kaitaia fire (chilli sauce)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 10cm sprigs fresh rosemary (or whatever herbs you desire)
- 2 Tablespoons corn flour mixed with a bit of cold water (for thickening)

First I sauted the onions and garlic, and put them in the slow cooker. Then I seared the venison pieces, and put them in. Then I put in the mushrooms, red wine, and rosemary, soy sauce, molasses, kaitaia fire, and stock so that everything was just nicely covered. I put the slow cooker on low, and went to work!!...
Then when I came home from work I sieved the casserole to separate the juice, which I boiled up for about 30 min until it started to reduce. I also added the cornflour mix. Then once the sauce had thickened a bit, I poured it back into the casserole, along with the lentils. And 'voila', a super delicious casserole!!

I served it with mashed potato. I would also recommend a green veggie, like green beans.