Slow-cooked Game Stew

Ingredients

• 3 TBL or more of duck fat for searing
• 2 ½ lbs. stew meat, elk, venison, antelope…
• 16 whole garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 ½ -2 TBLS cracked tellicherry peppercorns ( put  black peppercorns in a zip lock or waxed paper and smack with something heavy)
• 4 cups canned diced tomatoes with their juice (we used whole San Marzano tomatoes squished by hand into small chunks)
• 2 or so cups red, full-bodied wine
• 1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves or ¼ cup dried basil

Directions

Heat the duck fat in a heavy bottomed pan over high heat; brown the meat well on all sides, working in batches. (Set browned meat aside.) After browning meat, add tomatoes to empty pan scraping up all that good stuff stuck to the bottom and sides of the pot. It’s called fond and adds a lot of flavor for any stew. Transfer to a Crock-Pot and add the garlic, pepper, wine and basil. Cook on low for 10 hours. Start in the AM and when you get back from skiing, cook up some mashed potatoes, polenta or pasta… dinner.

Salt to taste.

Open a bottle of the Meleto Chianti or Negroamaro to serve with it!