Valentine Warner's - Venison Salad

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Venison salad from What to Eat Next by Valentine Warner.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
  • 1½ teaspoons flaked sea salt, plus extra for seasoning
  • 400 g roe or fallow deer strip loin, trimmed of silvery sinew
  • sunflower oil, for frying

For the dressing

  • 20 g unsalted butter
  • 5 canned anchovies, drained
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce or Henderson’s relish
  • 2 tablespoons of the juice from a jar of pickled walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon English mustard
  • juice of 1 orange
  • 1 teaspoon soft brown sugar
  • ground black pepper

For the salad

  • 10 whole fresh chives
  • 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves
  • a few leaves of fresh lovage (optional)
  • 2 big handfuls of pea shoots
  • walnut oil, for dressing
  • a little fresh lemon juice
  • 4 cornichons, very finely diced
  • 3 pickled walnuts, thinly sliced
  • 1 medium banana (long) shallot, very finely sliced
  • 6 hot French Breakfast radishes, cut in quarters lengthways
  • a little grated fresh horseradish (optional)


Method

  • Get a frying pan nice and hot over a medium heat.
  • Chop the thyme leaves with the sea salt. Season the venison fillet all over with this then rub the meat with a little sunflower oil and fry, turning the venison when need be so it has good deep colouring all around. Turn down the heat, add a little more oil to the pan and continue to fry the fillet, turning often, for approximately 8 minutes. Times will vary, as a roe loin is smaller than that of the fallow. Sizzling should be heard at all times, but not so fierce as to burn the meat or thyme. The loin should be cooked to very pink.
  • When the meat is done, rest it on a board where it will relax and become tender. Reserve any juices that run from the meat.
  • While the meat is resting, make the dressing. Heat the butter in the pan used to cook the meat. Drop in the anchovies and very gently sauté them for around 5 minutes, until totally disintegrated. Pour in the Worcestershire sauce or Henderson’s relish and add the pickled walnut liquor, mustard, orange juice, reserved meat juices and sugar. Gently reduce until the dressing is just syrupy. Add a good grind of black pepper and allow the dressing to cool in a bowl.
  • When ready to serve, cut the chives in half and chuck them into a bowl with the herb leaves and pea shoots. Dress with a little walnut oil, lemon juice and sea salt.
  • Thinly slice the venison and lay it on a large plate. Scatter with a little crunchy sea salt. Flick over the venison with the walnut oil, thumb not totally covering the opening.
  • Sprinkle over the cornichons, pickled walnuts and shallot and place the radishes here and there in a random sort of way. Loosely arrange the pea shoots and herb salad over the meat, allowing them to fall freely and look buoyant.
  • Drizzle with the dressing, then grate over the horseradish lightly, if using, and serve immediately.

This recipe is from What to Eat Next by Valentine Warner, one of more than 1,000 cookbooks available in full to ckbk subscribers. Find hundreds more venison recipes on ckbk

 

 

 

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