Venison and Blackberry Sauce

[Big Horn Posse]

Potatoes
Apples
Butter
Milk
Venison fillet
Salt, fleur de sel
Pepper
Mixed herbs


Method
Mash:
First make up the mash, starting with nice fluffy potatoes, a little bit over-cooked - to which I have added some apples, nicely stewed until they are soft. Add in butter and some milk.

Mash it all down with a fork and put the lid back on to keep it warm

Venison:
Coat the venison steaks with a little bit of olive oil. Instead of having the garlic cooking with them in the pan, I just want the taste of garlic, I don't want it too strong.

I just rub the venison all over with a nice fresh clove and sprinkle some salt over it, a quick grind of black pepper and straight into a hot grill pan.

Cook it just as you would a rump steak. I like it nice and rare in the middle, so I brown it on all sides, for four minutes or so.

When it's cooked for as long as you like it, take it out of the pan and let it rest. That is really important.

Sauce:
Then de-glaze the pan with some beef stock, giving it a good stir to pick up all the little bits stuck to the pan which will give the sauce its flavour.

Get the heat back good and high and add some herbs. It's a game dish, so I add juniper berries, rosemary, bay leaf and sage.

Over the heat, reduce the sauce and remove the herbs.

To make the sauce into a jus, I add some jam, which will make it lovely and sticky and sweet. You can use blackberry, blackcurrent or a jelly, to make a nice smooth jus.

Finally add some blackberries, currants or blueberries and poach them in the jus to make a lovely black sauce.

To Serve:
Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve with the apple and potato mash.