Mussels in tomato white wine broth, Larded Turkey mallets,  Penne Nere Rigate and Black garlic butter 

Leg of venison with black garlic, root vegetables & mushrooms

For 4 persons

Difficulty Level:                               Difficult

Expenses:                                           25-30 Euro

Time Effort:                                       2-3 Hours

                                                               Preparation takes 0.5 – 1.0 hours

Tools

A sharp narrow knife – preferably a boning knife, gastro rubber gloves, a good pan (cast iron grill pan) and two more pans, a meat thermometer and enough bowls for the other ingredients

Ingredients

• One leg of deer, approx. 1,8 – 2,5 kg
• ½ celeriac ball (dice)
• 200g German Black Forest Bacon (dice)
• 12 onions (dice finely)
• 2 tubers black garlic / or 20-30 already peeled garlic cloves
• 2 red ripe plums (dice)
• 2 apples (sweet & juicy, cut into pieces)
• 4 parsnips (peeled, fine slices)
• 250g brown mushrooms (quarter the hats, chop the stems finely)
• 250g white mushrooms (quarter the hats, chop the stems finely)
• 1 stick of spring onion (slices of 3-5mm)
• 5 tbsp virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp goose fat
• ½ tsp Salt
• Coarsely ground black pepper (quantity and grind to taste)
• 3 bay leaves
• 0,3l port wine (to deglaze)
• 1 tbsp sugar

Preparation

At the beginning it is important to set the venison legs to room temperature, unpack them and, if shrink-wrapped, dab them and put them aside. Until the meat is sufficiently tempered, we have enough time to prepare the remaining ingredients.

We start by cutting the celeriac, the bacon, the onions and the red plums into cubes and placing each of them into the bowls provided for later use. Then we peel the tubers of the black garlic or put the already peeled cloves in another bowl ready for larding.

Now we can prepare the washed apples – is an apple divider at hand fine, if not please remove the core, cut the washed and unpeeled apples into pieces and also put them into a bowl as well. Now peel the parsnips and cut them into fine slices, as well as the stick of spring onion – put both in bowls aside.

There should still be enough time to clean the two kinds of mushrooms (Attention, only with a fine brush dry from the soil and remove impurities, never with the help of water!). Then turn the hats off the stems and quarter them – chop the stems finely and put them aside in a bowl.

The meat should now be ready for larding – I recommend to salt it beforehand and season with plenty of pepper. Now take the boner and the bowl with the cloves of black garlic and start with the larding. For this, fine channels are cut into the meat with the boner and before the knife is pulled out again, the flat side of the knife is used to push the garlic easily into the meat (if necessary, you can help by using some drops olive oil).

Be careful not to prick too deep, maximum to the centre of the meat. If you have placed the 20-25 cloves – of course you can also divide them – evenly “sunk” into the meat, the meat is sufficiently prepared.

OK, we are ready and can start cooking now.

First, we start to prepare the root vegetables. For this we put some oil in a pan and as soon as it is hot enough, the cubes of celeriac. Let them brown on a low flame, then add the parsnips and seasoning the taste of the mixture with some salt and pepper.

At the same time, we take a second pan and fry the Black Forest Bacon – as soon as it has got its roasted aromas, we take two spoons of it and add them directly to the root vegetables – the rest comes back to the side in a bowl.

In the same pan – where there should still be enough fat of bacon – fry the diced onions. As soon as they have a light brown, add the finely chopped mushroom stems. After 2-3 minutes add the sugar to the mixture so that the onions can caramelize easily. Then add 3 tablespoons of the onion-champignon mixture to the root vegetables and “store” the rest again in a bowl.

Now add the apple pieces as well as the plum to the root vegetables and at a slightly higher flame ensure that the apple also gets its browning – always season to taste with salt and pepper if necessary.

Meanwhile, fill the empty pan with the quartered brown and white mushrooms and fry them vigorously. If the remaining fat is not enough, a little olive oil or goose fat can be used. As soon as the mushrooms start to develop roasted aromas, please add the already fried bacon and onions. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Then deglaze with the port wine and simmer on a very low flame.

Heat the cast-iron pan with 1 tablespoon goose fat and fry the larded leg of venison hot from all sides as soon as the temperature is right. Depending on the thickness of the meat, the cooking time may vary, so we recommend using a meat thermometer to ensure that “the deer” does not dry out. The core temperature should only reach a little over 80°C for a short time, so that the larded leg remains slightly pink and juicy inside when it is carved on the plate.

As soon as the meat is ready, let it rest for 3-5 minutes before slicing. During this time, we add the slices of the spring onion to the root vegetables and make sure that our mushrooms are well seasoned and enough liquid has remained – so make sure that it really simmers only, otherwise the result is too dry (if necessary, the flame can be switched off in between).

Now stir the root vegetables again and switch off the stove completely, put root vegetables and a slice of larded leg of venison on the plates and put a good tablespoon of mushroom pan on top – ready, enjoy your meal.

Always cover the rest of the leg of venison well so that it doesn’t dry out – this always happens quite quickly with venison and can be avoided – because even the second portion should still be juicy!

If necessary, potatoes, dumplings or rice can be served with this dish – but since we wanted to “circumnavigate” carbohydrates, we have decided against it this time.