Celebrities are sharing their secret recipes

With around 500 deer in the park at Cornbury, venison not surprisingly features quite regularly on the menu,” says Lady Tanya Rotherwick, mistress of the estate near Chipping Norton.

Not many of us would be able to pop out to the back garden if we fancied a hunk of meat but we can follow the same recipe as the Rotherwicks.

Lady Rotherwick is sharing a family favourite in a cookery book being produced by property consultancy Bidwells as part of its fundraising celebrations to mark 175 years in business.

Make me, Eat me! contains 175 recipes from celebrities, clients, the charities Bidwells supports as well as their own supporters and workers.

All proceeds from the sale of the 3,000 copies will be donated to five children’s charities, including ROSY, based in Kidlington, which raises funds for respite nursing for Oxfordshire’s sick youngsters.

“We are very excited about the cookbook and enormously grateful to Bidwells for their tireless support,” says Lady Rotherwick, patron of ROSY.

As well as her recipes, there are offerings from fellow Oxfordshire dweller, celebrity chef Raymond Blanc, along with celebrities including singer songwriter Ed Sheeran (chicken wraps).

* Make me, Eat me! by Bidwells can be bought online for £10 plus £1.50 postage at bidwells.co.uk/recipe-book or in Bidwells Oxford at Seacourt Tower, West Way.

VENISON WITH MUSHROOM SAUCE

Ingredients
Serves four to six
* 1kg trimmed venison fillet

For the sauce:
*4 tablespoons olive oil
* 6 shallots, finely diced
* 1kg wild mushrooms
* 600ml red wine
* 300ml double cream
* Salt and pepper

Method
Cook shallots in olive oil and remove from the pan and set aside.

Add mushrooms to the pan by the handful, cooking a batch at a time, and then scoop all of them into a separate dish.

Return the shallots to the pan and add the wine. Simmer until reduced by two thirds, then add mushrooms, cream and seasoning. Simmer until the sauce thickens.

Heat olive oil in a pan and, when very hot, seal the fillets well on all sides. Leave to rest while eating starter. Slice the venison and serve with mushroom sauce spooned over it.

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