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Serves 4
Venison and elderberry is a delicious combination, especially delicately spiced with cloves and cinnamon. The elderberry syrup is also delicious poured over ice cream or made into a hot drink with lemon juice and boiling water – the best remedy I know for late autumn colds! If you don’t want to go foraging for elderberries to make the syrup, substitute with locally-made elderberry jelly and a pinch of ground cloves.
1 kg venison haunch or saddle, cubed
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 small celeriac, peeled and cubed
50g butter
1/2 glass red wine
100ml good beef stock
4tbsp elderberry syrup (see recipe below)
- Mix together the coriander, cinnamon and oil and massage into the venison cubes. Put into a sealed container and refrigerate overnight.
- About an hour before you want to serve, take the venison out of the fridge and thread onto 8 skewers –the meat should return to room temperature before cooking.
- Put the celeriac into a saucepan of boiling salted water and cook for 30 – 45mins until tender. Drain and mash with the butter, a pinch of salt and a generous grind of white pepper.
- Season, then pan-fry the brochettes over a medium-high heat for about 1 ½ minutes on each of the 4 sides until medium rare. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
- Increase the heat of the pan and add the wine. Bubble until reduced by half before adding the stock and syrup. Continue to boil, stirring until reduced by a third. Taste for seasoning.
- Spoon or pipe the celeriac mash into the centre of the plates, add 2 brochettes per person and drizzle the sauce around or serve alongside in a sauce boat. Steamed, shredded kale makes a lovely seasonal addition to the dish.
Elderberry syrup
- Pick a bagful of ripe elderberries on a dry day. Wash well, strip the berries from their stems and simmer in a saucepan with just enough water to cover until the berries are soft (about half an hour).
- Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin & measure the juice. Add 450g sugar, 10 cloves and 1 cinnamon stick for every 600ml of juice.
Stir to dissolve the sugar over a low heat, then boil for 10 minutes. Pour into clean bottles and carefully screw on lids whilst hot. |
