Monday, May 29, 2006
Venison Patties with Red Wine Sauce
Some of you may have noticed that I disappeared for a full two weeks and then returned yesterday making a number of posts one after the other. This is not a sign of me having lost interest, all sense of time or even my mind. It just shows that sometimes life is not as straightforward as we wish it to be. A combination of a visit by my mum that I will tell you about in the posts that are coming up, an attack on my computer by a virus that took two days, 6 scanners and a whole lot of cursing before it was gone, and server problems at blogger prevented me from adding to Thought 4 Food. But now my mum is gone and I am back with a vengeance. But as I confused myself with my posts from Munich that had a date much different from that of the day described in them, I have opted to backdate the coming posts to make them easier to understand. So, now that all th
is is cleared up and I am well and truly confused, lets return to Monday, May 29th.Lofty and I had been invited to a barbecue on Saturday night, so I had bought some nice organic sausages and a couple of Finnebrogue Venison grill steaks in order to have something for everyone. But came the evening we decided against going. The weather was looking decidedly unstable and the venue was quite a ways away and neither of us are so big on parties that we would prefer travelling an hour each way for sausages in the rain to having fresh trout and a movie at home. But that left me with a fridge full of meat and only us two to eat it. I decided to go a bit posh just because it was Sunday and make the venison for Lofty. I had a fried egg instead. I'm not a big fan of venison, even the mild organically farmed kind we had. After not eating meat for such a long time I sort of 'lost' the taste of it and I am still not keen on any strongly flavoured meats such as beef or game and only enjoy pork and lamb in very small amounts. You could say that my taste buds are forcing my body to not eat any more meat than is healthy. One or two servings a week is all I like and even then the meat never takes centre stage. I need my vegetables and starch with it. And tonight these consisted of asparagus, runner beans, wild mushrooms and baby potatoes. The recipe below is only for one, I didn't think you needed help frying an egg.
For the venison:
1 venison grill steak (I think this is just a posh term for a burger patty, but if they want to make me believe that my off-cuts are something special, who am I to argue?)
2 tbsp oil
For the mushrooms:
2 tbsp oil
2 handfuls (wild) mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (I used chanterelles, morel mushrooms and shiitakes, but as per usual anything goes and the wilder and fresher the mushrooms, the tastier the dish)
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
For the gravy:
1 tbsp butter
½ red onion, chopped (white onion can be used, but the colour is nicer the other way)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
100 ml red wine
100 ml chicken stock (alternatively use vegetable stock)
1 level tsp cranberry or blackcurrant jelly
1 tbsp cream
salt to taste
To serve:
4 green asparagus spears, trimmed
2 runner beans, strings removed and sliced
4 to 5 baby potatoes
a small knob of butter (optional)
I also added some freshly sliced truffles to emphasise the earthy character of the meal, but a drizzle of truffle oil would work just as well
For the gravy, heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Add the onions, cover and sweat until golden, about 10 minutes. Turn up the heat to medium, add the garlic to the onion and continue frying for another minute. Slowly pour in the wine and bring to the boil. Add the jelly and stir until melted. Purée and return to the heat. Add the stock and simmer until thickened, about 10 more minutes.
Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan and just cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook until soft, about 15 minutes. When the potatoes have been boiling about 5 minutes, heat the oil for the venison in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the grill steak and fry until cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
At the same time, prepare the mushrooms. Heat the oil in a large shallow frying pan. Add the mushroom and fry until golden brown and tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.
For the vegetables, bring a large saucepan full of water to the boil. Add a good pinch of salt along with the asparagus. Boil until just tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Don't overcook it, soggy asparagus is not nice! The beans need even less time, about 2 to 3 minutes. You can cook the two in the same pan to make your life easier or, if you have lots of space and a dishwasher, just heat two smaller pans of water and proceed as described.
Just before you're ready to serve, stir the cream into the gravy and heat up again. Do not allow to boil. Drain the potatoes and add a small dollop of butter. This is very much optional though. With the gravy keeping the dish moist, you do not need the butter. We just like a bit of it on our spuds. Serve everything together on a nice, big plate.
Christine at 9:27 pm
