Recipe, The Little Geranium – Saddle of Venison with Chocolate Jus & Blackcurrants
Recipe: Saddle of Venison with Chocolate Jus & Blackcurrants
Cooked for Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Ingredients for 4
- 1 loin of venison fillet or 4 x 250g venison steaks (available in some good supermarkets, AlCampo and Corte Ingles)
- 50g dark chocolate
- 1 tablespoon cacao powder
- 500ml red wine stock made from beef stock*
- 50g unsalted butter
- 1 glass of red wine for the sauce1 small punnet of fresh black currants or red currants
- Fresh basil leaves to finish
- Maldon salt and black pepper
Method
At The Little Geranium we make a venison stock from the bones but you can use regular beef stock from a basic stock and then add the cooking juices of the venison for similar results.
It is important to get the sauce right so make the stock well and add lots of red wine.
Reduce the stock on a high heat and, while reducing, season the venison well with salt and pepper. Seal the venison on all sides for 2 minutes in a hot frying pan, then set aside.
Pour the juices from this pan into your red wine stock and whisk in the butter and red wine.
Now add the chocolate in cubes, continuing to whisk. Taste and add the cacao powder little by little until you have a distinct chocolate flavour but not sweet. Reduce the sauce vigorously
Put the venison back in the pan or pre-heated oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes for a 1kg piece (or four minutes if using 250g steaks). Check that the meat is cooked medium-to-rare and cut into 1cm slices. Season it again well with Maldon salt and pepper.
Serve the venison with a little of the sauce, sprinkled with the blackcurrants and a few leaves of fresh basil.
More recipes from Steven Saunders, The Little Geranium, La Cala de Mijas, Spain.
