Fozia Ismail’s Hibiscus and Xawaash Venison with Creamy Parsnip Mash
Game recognises game, or: how to eat autumn (with a touch of summer thrown in)
Welcome to Vittles Recipes! In this weekly slot, our roster of five rotating columnists share their recipes and wisdom with you. This week’s columnist is Fozia Ismail.
If you’ve been enjoying the writing then please consider subscribing to keep it running. Subscribing will give you access to the whole Vittles back catalogue – including Vittles Restaurants, Vittles Columns, and our archive of cookery writing. A Vittles subscription costs £5/month or £45/year.
Fozia Ismail’s Hibiscus and Xawaash Venison with Creamy Parsnip Mash
Game recognises game, or: how to eat autumn (with a touch of summer thrown in)
A few years ago, I got a call about some ducks. My friend Edwina had been to lunch at Wilson’s, a restaurant in Bristol run by Jan Ostle, where the food is always exceptional and surprising. It turned out a guest had brought a brace of ducks that he had shot into the restaurant (this is the West Country after all), but Jan didn’t have space for them. Jan offered them to Edwina, who then offloaded them onto me.
I hung the ducks in the shed and then the next day – after an incredibly noisy night with the foxes screeching in frustration – I plucked and butchered them. It was hard work, but worth it; you only get a real sense of just how disconnected we all are from the origins of our food once you have plucked and butchered your own meat – or at least some wild ducks given to you by a stranger. Moments like these seem so incongruous with big-city living, but that’s the magic of Bristol: we’re surrounded by countryside and have access to some of the best produce and game, even if you might get it in an unconventional way.
Now that we’re in the depths of autumn – one of my favourite times of the year – I’ve been thinking about those ducks, and about how game brings a sense of season into the kitchen. Something about its rich flavours is so soothing as the weather turns. Initially, to satisfy my craving, my plan was to get some pheasant, but when I went to my local butcher (Dalton’s on Gloucester Road) I got distracted by some amazing-looking venison steak, so I opted for that instead.
In England, venison is often paired with heavy root vegetables, a touch of spice, or the sweetness of English autumnal fruit. I wanted to do something that played on all three. I remembered that I had some hibiscus flowers left over from a project I did with Lucy Badrocke and a group of women from the refugee charity Ashley Community & Housing. We had been tasked with designing a drink for a garden at Chelsea Flower Show inspired by migration routes across Europe. One of the women, from Sudan, was keen to use hibiscus, which is often brewed as a tea across the country. The resulting hibiscus, rose, and thyme cordial was delicious. I thought that the fruity sharpness of hibiscus might go well with the venison – it’s sort of like cranberry, after all.
For the spice, I took the time to make my own xawaash from freshly ground cumin, cinnamon, clove, coriander, pepper, and cardamom. I love slow cooking on a Sunday, so I spent a few hours making chicken stock to serve as a base for a sauce. The xawaash added a nice earthy flavour, which feels grounding, although you have to be careful not to overuse it. I served the venison and sauce with a parsnip mash and cavolo nero, but wild mushrooms or dried wild mushrooms would also work and could add an extra level of depth to the dish.
The historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto once said, ‘We’re never more intimate with the environment than when we actually eat it.’ With this dish, you are eating autumn (with a touch of summer thrown in). It’s a wonderful way to root your eating in the seasons and in the land.
Hibiscus and xawaash venison with creamy parsnip mash
Serves 4
Time 50 mins plus resting time