Tagliatelle with venison ragù

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C/gas 6. Season the venison well with salt and pepper, put in a small-medium roasting tin and drizzle with 3 tbsp olive oil. Roast for 1 hour until well browned outside and more or less cooked (it doesn’t matter if it’s well done or rare). Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin, reserving the roasting juices.
2. Heat a heavy casserole with a lid over a medium heat and add the pancetta, along with the remaining oil. Cook for 5-6 minutes until the pancetta starts to brown and crisp and the fat is released, then mix in the chopped vegetables, garlic, herbs, mixed spice and tomato purée. Turn the heat to low and cook gently for 20 minutes until tender but without colour.
3. Meanwhile, dice the roast venison into roughly 1cm cubes. Add the meat to the tender vegetables in the pan and mix together. Raise the heat to high and fry for 10 minutes until some of the meat starts to brown at the edges. Add the roasting juices, wine and milk. It may look curdled but it’ll come back together during cooking.
4. Bring to a simmer, cover with the lid slightly ajar, then cook gently for around 3 hours, stirring every so often. You can do this on the hob over a low heat or in the oven at 160°C/140°C fan/gas 3. It’s ready when the oil collects on the surface, the meat is very tender and the gravy has thickened. You may need to add a splash of water during cooking if it dries out too much or raise the heat towards the end if it looks a little wet. At the end of cooking, season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Bring a large pan of well salted water to the boil. Add the tagliatelle and cook until it’s still quite firm to the bite (leave it even more al dente than you like, as it will continue to cook in the sauce). Drain, reserving a little of the cooking water, then add the pasta to the ragù, along with the butter. Add just enough of the reserved cooking water to loosen the sauce slightly. Put the whole lot on a warmed serving platter or put in individual bowls, then top with lots of parmesan to serve.