Loin of venison with chilli & chocolate jus & celeriac purée

Jenny says: “We use the loin of venison for this dish. A portion is about 200g per person. Venison is a lean piece of meat so doesn’t need much cooking time. A chilli and chocolate jus is the perfect sauce for the gamey flavour of venison. The sharpness of the chilli combined with the rich smoothness of dark chocolate gives a rounded flavour to the dish.”

SERVES 4

1 Add a tbsp of oil to a hot pan, seal the entire cut of meat on all sides for 2 minutes. Add 4 sprigs of rosemary, 2 cloves of garlic (lightly crushed to release the flavour), 4 sprigs of thyme and a splash of red wine.

2 Place it in the oven at 160°C for 15-20 minutes for this size of meat (800g) for medium rare. 3 Allow to rest while you prepare the jus. Keep the cooking liquid to make the sauce.

4 For the chilli and chocolate jus, you will need ½ a fresh red chilli, 750ml beef stock, 50g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa), and 50g butter.

5 Add the chilli (with seeds) to the venison cooking liquid and the stock, then simmer until reduced to about half the volume.

6 Add the chocolate and whisk in a knob of butter to thicken the reduced jus. Strain before serving to remove the chilli. 7

For the celeriac purée, you will need 1 celeriac, peeled and diced, 1 litre of milk, ¼ grated whole nutmeg (½ tsp ground nutmeg), a pinch of cinnamon.

8 Boil the celeriac in the milk until soft. Strain away the milk, keeping it to the side to loosen the purée later if required.

9 Blend the celeriac until smooth and mix in the nutmeg and cinnamon. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with a slice of the rested venison, chilli and chocolate jus.

Note: I like to pair this with Tenderstem broccoli simply blanched, some toasted hazelnuts, and maybe a nice fondant or garlic potatoes.