Venison Dishes

Venison and Chocolate Sauce
Posted by Administrator (admin) on Aug 27 2008 at 8:00 AM
Venison Dishes >>

The Chef says: "I love venison fillet, it is lean, tender, naturally reared and so low in fat. So why do I use chocolate with it? Because venison is full of flavours and it will support an assertive sauce. Try it…..see it for yourself, but please use a cooking French or Belgian bitter chocolate ( not a Mars bar ?!). Happy cooking"

Ingredients

4 x 250g/9oz pieces of venison haunch steaks ( from Alternative Meats)
50ml/2fl oz sunflower oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Marinade:
1 bottle 750ml/1¼ pint red wine
8 juniper berries, crushed
12 black peppercorns, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 strip of orange peel
1 medium carrot, diced
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 celery stick, chopped

For the Sauce:
1 tbsp tomato purée
350-400ml/12-14fl oz water
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
30g/1¼oz bitter chocolate, grated

For the Garnish (optional):
24 chestnuts, prepared and cooked

Method

1. Put the red wine in a pan and boil to reduce by one-third. Allow to cool down to room temperature. Place the venison in a large container and cover with the reduced wine and all the remaining marinade ingredients. Refrigerate and allow to marinate for 24 hours.
2. preheat the oven to 110C/225F/Gas¼. Drain the venison and the vegetables and pat them dry. Reserve the wine. In a non-stick pan, heat the sunflower oil until smoking and sear and colour both pieces of venison on all sides to a good deep brown. This operation will take about 10 minutes. Transfer the venison pieces to a cast-iron casserole.
3. In the oil remaining in the non-stick pan, colour the vegetables and seasonings lightly, about 5 minutes, then transfer them to the casserole with the venison. Add the tomato purée to the non-stick pan and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the reserved red wine from the marinade, and bring to the boil. Pour over the venison, vegetables and seasonings in the casserole, and barely cover with the water. Season lightly with salt. Bring to the boil for 1 minute, skim, then cover with a tight lid. Braise in the preheated oven for 3½ hours.
4. Strain the juices into a large saucepan and reduce on full heat to about 300ml/10fl oz. Reduce the heat until the sauce barely simmers, then add the redcurrant jelly. Correct the seasoning and finally, whisk in the grated chocolate.
5. Mix the venison and vegetables back into the sauce, and re-heat gently. Add the chestnuts if using. You may serve the venison from the casserole or transfer it to a nice serving dish. Serve to your guests.