VENISON SADDLE WITH CHERRIES, ALMOND, PURSLANE AND CHANTERELLES

Ready for a real showstopper? We admit, it does take a bit of work, but you’ll make a huge impression on your guests. And we’re not the most difficult people. If you don’t fancy boning it yourself, simply buy a beautiful piece of Veluwe venison saddle from a quality butcher.

Purslane cream
Set aside some beautiful purslane leaves. Purée the rest of the purslane with the yoghurt in a food processor. Spoon the mixture into a cheesecloth in a sieve and suspend the sieve over a bowl. Leave to drain in the refrigerator for 10 hours.

Granola

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Mix the honey, rolled oats, flaxseed, raisins, almonds and apple juice. Spread the mixture over a baking tray lined with baking paper and dry in the oven for 15–20 minutes, until the granola is nicely brown and crisp. Store in an airtight container.

Venison and gravy

Using a boning knife, cut the fillet from the venison saddle. Keep the fillet refrigerated until ready to use.

Gravy

Make a gravy from the carcass. To do this, chop the carcass into pieces with a cleaver. Heat the olive oil in a pan and brown the carcass pieces with the garlic. Add the carrot, onion, leek, celeriac, thyme and rosemary and fry briefly. Deglaze with the red wine and reduce until syrupy. Add cold water until everything is just short of submerged, then top up with the stock. Add the bay leaf, cloves and juniper berries. Bring everything to the boil and leave to infuse over low heat for 3 to 4 hours. Strain the stock and reduce until approximately one quarter remains. Whisk in the cold butter, cut into cubes (monter au beurre), and season with black pepper.

Cut away the tender skin and flesh from the fresh almonds and remove the skins from the almond kernels.

Carefully cut the cherries in half, leaving the stems attached. Remove the stones from the cherries.

Clean the chanterelles with a small brush, then clean them further first in warm and subsequently ice-cold water. Dry them in a salad spinner and place them between 2 kitchen towels.

Into the oven

Preheat the oven to 155 °C. Using a pastry brush, coat only the top of the venison fillet with egg white. Sprinkle the almond flour onto a plate and coat the egg-white side in the almond flour. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil in a roasting pan and fry the venison fillet over low heat. Fry the almond crust until it becomes nicely brown and crisp. Turn over and briefly brown the underside. Cook the fillet in the oven for 5 minutes, then leave to rest in aluminium foil for 15 minutes.

Spoon the purslane cream into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle. Pipe it into the stone cavities of the cherry halves.

Heat 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil and 10 grams of butter in a frying pan and fry the chanterelles with some finely chopped shallot for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Arrange the garnishes in overlapping layers on preheated plates: the granola, almonds, cherries with purslane cream and chanterelles. Place the reserved purslane leaves on top. Cut the venison fillet into 4 equal pieces with a carving knife and place them next to the garnish. Finally, pour the venison gravy over the top.

Working with Game
Peter Klosse, Theus de Kok and Peter Paul van den Breemen
Carrera Publishers
€ 34,99
Image: Saskia Lelieveld