In these days of high living costs it is always good when you see a bargain. None more than when you see a free bargain just begging to be picked up. Tracey and I have just been up to Scotland to see her Mother and enjoy a few  days doing even less than normal. I had planned on doing a little fishing up there as the fishing is usually good for a bit of  Sea Bass or Pollack, maybe  some cod if you're lucky. Anyway the weather this week has been absolutely atrocious so it didn't happen.

Anyway on our way home yesterday morning we are driving down the trunk road heading South when I got a glimpse of somthing lying in the ditch at the side of the road, I got Tracey to pull over and went back up the road to investigate. It was a young Roe Deer that had obviously been knocked down by a passing vehicle and left for dead. It was dead but I could tell from the state that it was in that it hadn't been there very long. No visible signs of damage, it smelled ok, no signs of  infestation.....It was mine....I'm taking it home.....

The problem with Deer is that you need to bleed and gut them pretty quickly after they have died, having no tools or knives to do such a thing with me, I couldn't do that so we had to place it in the boot of the car alongside our black Labradore who eyed it up with some amusement. Is this the biggest dinner I've ever had or what? Luckily I had an old blanket in the boot so I covered it up to keep old muttsy off it.

So eventually we arrive home and I set to work gutting, skinning and butchering our fantastic find. So now I have enough free meat to last me several months.

Vennison is probably one of the healthiest meats you can eat, very low in fat and takes almost no time to cook at all, in fact the quicker you cook it the better. I have made a saddle of Vennison with sweet potato and a red wine Jus, it will be tender juicy and better tasting because it's free.

I do this quite a lot, I am always on the look out for road kill. Providing that it is fresh, clean, undamaged, it makes perfectly good sense to use it, and even if it is damaged it makes excellent food for the dogs and cats.

It made the trip to Scotland even more worthwhile.