When I’m supposed to be marking, I faff around making things like this instead.
\o/ Pear flower! 
This is a really delighful dish of venison, named after the region it originally came from: Baden-Baden in Germany. The recipe was very kindly translated for me by ‘BlackForestJules’ on the BBC food boards who happens to live in that area of the world.
I had bought a venison haunch steak that I was looking to find a new recipe for. As usual the internet was yielding very little and I was feeling a bit uninspired but I remembered that dish had been mentioned on the message boards so I went looking for it and then Jules translated a version for me.
Ingredients:
(4 Persons)
1 kg saddle of venison
100 g smoked Black Forest Ham, sliced thinly
3/8 l sour cream
3 Williams pears
125 g redcurrant jelly (the jam, not the dessert)
salt
freshly ground pepper
cinnamon
lemon juice
10 juniper berries, crushed
Method:
Skin the saddle of venison. Rub the meat with salt, pepper and the juniper berries. Cover with the smoked ham. Preheat the oven to 180 C° (top and bottom heat). Put the venison into a casserole and put into the oven for 30 mins. Add the sour cream and put back into the oven for 15-20 mins. In the meantime, peel, half and core the pears. Rub the cut side with lemon juice and cinnamon. Stew the halved pears until they are soft, but take care so they don't fall apart. Take the venison out of the oven and put it on a serving platter. Check if the sauce needs seasoning and pour it over the meat. Arrange the pears around it, cut side up, and fill a dollop of redcurrant jelly into the hollows.
Serve with Spätzle (broad, fresh egg pasta is nice with it, too, though), Brussels sprouts or other seasonal veg.
I altered this slightly to suit my haunch steak. Instead of roasting the meat, I griddled it until rare. I fried up some bacon to put in with the cabbage that I used to accompany the dish and added the pan juices from both these meats to some sour cream for the sauce. I ended up using some beef stock in the sauce too. The pears were done in the same way as the recipe suggests but, as you can see I messed around with the presentation a little.
I wanted to try making spaetzle but it was a Sunday evening and the small stores that were open didn’t have any eggs, so that was out of the question. It had to be fresh tagliatelle tossed with lots of butter and parsley instead.
Like I said, I spent lots of time faffing with the presentation, which was a bit annoying because as soon as Goon got his plate, he just dumpled a load of tagliatelle over it and started munching. 
His looked prettier than mine too!
Anyway, this is a great way to serve venison - I really recommend it. Tenderloin or saddle would be even better to use if I could afford it, but for now I’ll just have to stick to whatever I can buy!
When I’m supposed to be marking, I faff around making things like this instead.
\o/ Pear flower!
This is a really delighful dish of venison, named after the region it originally came from: Baden-Baden in Germany. The recipe was very kindly translated for me by ‘BlackForestJules’ on the BBC food boards who happens to live in that area of the world.
I had bought a venison haunch steak that I was looking to find a new recipe for. As usual the internet was yielding very little and I was feeling a bit uninspired but I remembered that dish had been mentioned on the message boards so I went looking for it and then Jules translated a version for me.
Ingredients:
(4 Persons)
1 kg saddle of venison
100 g smoked Black Forest Ham, sliced thinly
3/8 l sour cream
3 Williams pears
125 g redcurrant jelly (the jam, not the dessert)
salt
freshly ground pepper
cinnamon
lemon juice
10 juniper berries, crushed
Method:
Skin the saddle of venison. Rub the meat with salt, pepper and the juniper berries. Cover with the smoked ham. Preheat the oven to 180 C° (top and bottom heat). Put the venison into a casserole and put into the oven for 30 mins. Add the sour cream and put back into the oven for 15-20 mins. In the meantime, peel, half and core the pears. Rub the cut side with lemon juice and cinnamon. Stew the halved pears until they are soft, but take care so they don't fall apart. Take the venison out of the oven and put it on a serving platter. Check if the sauce needs seasoning and pour it over the meat. Arrange the pears around it, cut side up, and fill a dollop of redcurrant jelly into the hollows.
Serve with Spätzle (broad, fresh egg pasta is nice with it, too, though), Brussels sprouts or other seasonal veg.
I altered this slightly to suit my haunch steak. Instead of roasting the meat, I griddled it until rare. I fried up some bacon to put in with the cabbage that I used to accompany the dish and added the pan juices from both these meats to some sour cream for the sauce. I ended up using some beef stock in the sauce too. The pears were done in the same way as the recipe suggests but, as you can see I messed around with the presentation a little.
I wanted to try making spaetzle but it was a Sunday evening and the small stores that were open didn’t have any eggs, so that was out of the question. It had to be fresh tagliatelle tossed with lots of butter and parsley instead.
Like I said, I spent lots of time faffing with the presentation, which was a bit annoying because as soon as Goon got his plate, he just dumpled a load of tagliatelle over it and started munching. His looked prettier than mine too!
Anyway, this is a great way to serve venison - I really recommend it. Tenderloin or saddle would be even better to use if I could afford it, but for now I’ll just have to stick to whatever I can buy!
