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Ingredients  

  • 800 g piece of venison haunch
  • 50 g butter
  • 50 ml good olive oil
  • 1 fresh bay leaf
  • 3 cloves of garlic, lightly bashed
  • 1 sprig of fresh thyme
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp French mustard
  • 2 tbsp chopped chives / parsley / thyme / rosemary (heavy on the parsley and chives, light on the thyme)
  • 200 ml red wine
  • remaining sauce from red wine casserole if you are making both, if not good quality beef / venison stock

Instructions

  • Season your piece of haunch and bring it up to room temperature before cooking.
  • Preheat a frying pan you know you can trust over a moderate heat – ideally one that can go in the oven – if not, have a separate baking sheet handy. Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees.
  • Add the oil and butter to the hot pan and allow to melt, add the venison and do not move it immediately! Add the thyme and fresh bay and garlic, allow everything to calm down a little as the herbs will spit on contact with the hot fat. Then, after a minute or two you may turn the meat to start sealing the next side, repeat until the meat is nicely browned all over.
  • Place the whole thing in the oven, either in the pan or transferred to an oven tray and roast for around 16 minutes –  a little less if the piece is long and thin, more if the piece is short and stout.
  • After this time remove the meat from the oven and allow it to rest for half an hour on a warmed dish or even in the pan or on the tray you cooked it in.
  • Finely chop the chives, parsley, rosemary and thyme, drain off any fat from the pan to a small bowl and mix the mustard with this.
  • Brush the roasted meat liberally with the mustard mix and then scatter over the chopped herbs, remove the rested joint to a suitable cutting board for slicing.
  • Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, reduce the red wine by 2/3rds and add the reserved sauce, simmer this and add any resting juices from the venison roasting tray or pan, season, add a knob of butter, turn off the heat – taste and season if required– if the sauce is a little thin you can either reduce it further or thicken its lightly with cold water and cornflour - a teaspoon or two of each mixed together and poured into the boiling sauce as you stir it should be ample.
  • Slice the meat, serve with the pie, the sauce and whatever sides you think suit your event the best.  As with all roasts bringing everything together at the last minute is the challenge – but to my mind this is far more practical and well suited to the big day than the traditional bird of choice. Enjoy!