Venison in red wine casserole

A friend brought a huge hunk of venison at the weekend, so I used the ingredients I had at home to make this simple and really delicious casserole. Cooked slowly in the oven, the meat was tender and the gravy rich and dark. Very slyly we got away with the kids thinking that it was beef. 

Ingredients
Serves 6
Oil for frying
approx 1.5kg of venison, diced  (I used the shoulder cut off the bone)
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
a heaped tablespoon of plain flour
a bottle of red wine
3 heaped tablespoons of conserve, I used a christmas conserve with strawberries, cherry jam, cranberry or redcurrant sauce would work well too
4 or 5 carrots cut lengthways 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Heat the oven to 170ºC. Heat the oil in a heavy based casserole dish and brown the meat in batches. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon and when it is all browned fry the onion and garlic until cooked. Add the browned meat to the onions and spinkle in the flour to soak up any juices. Pour in the red wine until the meat is covered. Stir in the sweet conserve or sauce then season. Add the carrots, bring the casserole to the boil on the hob then transfer the dish to the oven for at least 3 hours. Serve the meat with some mashed potatoes and some green vegetables.