The Heart of the Hunter
Ethical hunting honours the life of the animal and our connection to meat
This is the perfect deer recipe to pull up when you have had a successful hunt. Though there are many parts to the recipe, nothing is complicated so it should be easy to manage. But this recipe cannot be done one step at a time as it all comes together quite quickly. Once the potatoes are cooking, start dealing with the meat, and once that is cooking pop the asparagus in and work on the leeks, as you want everything to be ready at around the same time.
Instructions
Ingredients
venison*, enough for 2 people
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 large leeks
a few knobs of butter
pinch of white sugar
bunch of asparagus
bunch of Italian parsley
4 medium or 8 small Yukon gold potatoes
olive oil
salt & black pepper
*Venison can be leg steak, backstrap or tenderloin. Your venison can be wild or farmed, and if farmed can be found at many butchers. Any species of deer works for this dish.
Method
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Boil potatoes in lightly salted water until fork-tender and strain. Add some butter and salt and gently crush potatoes with the back of a fork. (You want them to be chunky and textured, not mashed.)
Heat a pan on the stove. Rub venison with generous amount with oil, salt and black pepper on both sides. Sear the meat for a few minutes until crust is formed and turn over to do the same on the other side; this should take a few minutes on either side, but the cooking time will depend on the size of the meat. Allow to cool down and rest in the pan.
While meat is cooking, snap or cut the bottom of the asparagus and place on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pop in your hot oven until they are cooked through and start to brown.
Slice up the white and light green part of leeks and fry in butter with a pinch of white sugar and salt until they begin to golden and caramelize.
After the meat has rested for a few minutes, remove from frying pan. Then add balsamic vinegar and rosemary to the juice in the frying pan and put back on high heat and allow to form glaze. Put meat in quickly and roll around in glaze and then turn heat off. Briefly rest meat again and then slice on a bias to serve. (Note: you do not want your meat be hot or steaming when you slice it.)
Plate the potatoes in the centre of the plate, then asparagus with meat on top. Spoon leeks and any of their juice over the meat and potatoes. If there is any glaze left in the plan you cooked the meat in, you can drizzle it over the dish.
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