Cured venison with pickled garden vegetables, blackberries and nasturtium leaves
This cured venison dish is a perfect autumnal starter showcasing wild venison served with delicately pickled vegetables.

Ingredients
For the Red Wine Brine:
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Red Wine 175 ml
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Venison loin 800 g
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Water 150 ml
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Light Brown Soft Sugar 15 g
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Honey 15 g
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Salt 20 g
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Black peppercorns 2 g
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Juniper berries 2 g
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Star anise 2 g
For the Marinade:
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Banana shallots 90 g
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Caster sugar 50 g
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Star anise 4 g
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Salt 20 g
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Black peppercorns 5 g
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Bay leaves 2 g
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Thyme 4 g
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Orange Zest 9 g
To Finish the Venison:
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Black peppercorns 4 g
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Pink peppercorns 4 g
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Rapeseed oil 10 ml
For the pickled vegetables:
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White wine 250 ml
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White wine vinegar 75 ml
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Lemon juice 40 ml
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Caster sugar 75 g
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Black peppercorns 4 g
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Baby Fennel 200 g
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Baby Carrots 200 g
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Baby Turnips 200 g
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Radish 200 g
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Mustard seeds 5 g
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Star anise 5 g
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Salt 40 g
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Olive oil 75 ml
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Coriander seeds 5 g
To Finish the Dish:
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Nasturtium leaves 20 g
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Blackberries 150 g
Preparation
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For the Red Wine Brine:
- Place all the ingredients in a pan.
- Bring to the boil and whisk to ensure everything is incorporated.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool before immersing the venison in the brine for 24 hours.
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For the Marinade:
- Remove the venison from the brine and dry with a kitchen towel.
- In a food processor, blend the caster sugar, salt, star anise, all spice, whole peppercorns, thyme and bay leaf marinade together.
- Add the shallots, KNORR Garlic Puree, orange zest and blend until a rough paste is formed.
- Rub the marinade onto the venison and place into an appropriate size container and push cling film down on top to seal then leave overnight in the fridge.
- Rub and gently wash the marinade off the venison then dry with kitchen paper. Set aside.
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To Finish the Venison:
- In a pestle and mortar grind the black peppercorns and pink peppercorns and place on a tray.
- Heat the rapeseed oil in frying pan and seal the pieces of venison all over for 1-2 min.
- Brush the venison with COLMAN'S Mustard and roll the venison in the ground peppercorns and wrap tightly in cling film and chill until required.
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For the pickled vegetables:
- Peal the baby carrots, cut the baby fennel in half and quarter the radishes and baby turnips.
- Place the vegetables into a large bowl and mix with the salt. Allow the salt to draw the moisture from the vegetables for 1 hour.
- Wash the excess salt off the vegetables and dry. Place the salted vegetables in a small deep tray and set aside.
- Bring all the other ingredients to the boil and pour over the vegetables, cover and allow to cool.
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To Finish the Dish:
- Cut the blackberries in halves and set aside.
- Slice 5 thin slices from the cured chilled cured venison loin and arrange on a cold plate.
- Remove the vegetables from the pickling liquor and arrange around the plate with the halved blackberries and nasturtium leaves.
- Drizzle some of the pickling liquor over the dish and serve.