Roast Venison loin with chestnut and juniper puree, cep, fig and cime di rapa (turnip tops)

Ingredients

• 1 x Aged Saddle of Venison – Fallow deer/Sika deer
• 12x ceps
• 8 x fresh ripe figs
• 1kg cime di rapa (turnip tops) or other bitter greens
• 1kg whole chestnuts or 250g vac pac
• Juniper berries
• Sherry vinegar
• Beef dripping
• Garlic cloves (skin on)
• Thyme
• 3 tsps golden caster sugar
• squeeze of lemon juice
• a few drops truffle oil

Method

Get your pan hot on the stove and add a tablespoon of beef dripping. Season the venison loin well with salt and pepper. Once the pan is smoking add the venison and carefully colour the loin all around moving the meat regularly. Once evenly coloured add a tablespoon of butter, some crushed garlic cloves, truffle oil and thyme. Let the butter foam and baste the venison with this. Remove the meat from the pan and cook on a trivet in the oven at 140C for around 12-15 mins (medium rare). Take out the oven and leave to rest for 10 mins .

Sauce:

In an oven roast the venison bones until they are evenly caramelised at 160C. Meanwhile in a sauce pan colour the Venison trim in oil and finish with lots of foaming butter. Strain the butter off and and deglaze the pan with some red wine and water. Add the bones and cover with water. Gently cook the stock for 8 hours. Strain and refrigerate. Scrape off any set fat and reserve. Reduce the stock down to sauce consistency and mount with butter.

Chestnut and juniper puree:

In a wide bottom sauce pan add 3 spoons of sugar and a tablespoon of water. Cook on a high heat and make a light caramel. Once you have the desired colour add chestnuts and 8 crushed juniper berries. Pour 2 tablespoons of Sherry Vinegar to the pan and keep cooking for a minute. This will deglaze and loosen the sugared chestnuts and burn off a little of the acidity from the vinegar. Cover with water and cook the chestnuts for about 30 minutes on a medium heat. Once they are soft, strain and reserve the liquid. Add the chestnuts to a blender pouring back in some of the liquid and adding a tablespoon of butter. Check seasoning and pass the puree through a sieve or chinois to make it silky smooth.

Cime di rapa bring a lovely mild bitterness to the dish. Simply pick the leaves down and remove any hard stalk. Wash them well and sauté quickly in butter at the last minute.

Ceps served two ways, roasted in lots of salted butter and then thinly sliced raw. Finished with a little lemon juice and truffle oil.

For the figs, wash and cut into 6 pieces, serving three slices per portion. These provide a lovely sweetness and slight acidity to the dish.