Venison with Caramelised Pears & Pickled Prunes

The rich abundance of autumn fare brings joy in conjuring dishes of game and fruit to warm and nourish. This is a splendid dish is inspired by Jeremy Lee's new book 'Cooking', available in our Gift Shop.

Difficulty:

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook time: 1.5 hours

Serves: 6-8

Venison with Caramelised Pears & Pickled Prunes Image 1

Venison with Caramelised Pears & Pickled Prunes Image 2

Related Tags

Game

Ingredients

For the Pickled Prunes

2 tbsp Tracklements redcurrant jelly
350ml red wine
350g Agen prunes, stones removed
6 bay leaves
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
Black pepper

For the Caramelised Pears

2 lemons
6 pears
3 tbsp caster sugar

For the Venison

1.2kg haunch of venison from our master butchers, bone removed and butterflied
5 tbsp Honest Toil olive oil
2 garlic cloves
6 sage leaves
1 tsp of thyme
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

Method

Pickle the prunes

Dissolve the redcurrant jelly in the red wine in a wide bottomed pot over a medium heat. Bring to the boil and add the prunes, bay leaves, vinegar and pepper. Stir well and remove from the heat
Once cool, it’ll store in a container for weeks

To caramelised the pears

Juice the lemons into a large bowl
Peel and core the pears, cut into wedges and roll in the lemon juice
In a wide heavy bottomed frying pan, gently dissolve the sugar over a medium heat, cook until a golden caramel form
Once the caramel is bubbling, add the pears and lemon juice (be careful as it will spit)
Once settled, cover the pears in the caramel, turning frequently until the caramel begins to bubble and thicken
Continue until the pears are tender, remove from the heat and tip onto a flat dish

To roast the Venison

First heat the oven to 220C, with a roasting tin inside.
Lightly oil the haunch and liberally season the skin side with salt before lowering into the roasting tin
Generously pepper the meat facing upwards, lightly cover with olive oil and place into the oven
Roast for 30 minutes, until the meat is cooked.
While the meat cooks, make the dressing. Peel and thinly slice the cloves of garlic. Grind together the dried and fresh pickled sage leaves, thyme then mix with the pepper.
Mix with the olive oil and red wine vinegar
Remove the joint from the oven. Spoon the dressing over the haunch
Cover with foil and leave to rest for 30 minutes
Lay an abundance of leaves on an ashet, then carve the meat into slices
Arrange the caramelised pears and pickled prunes around the sliced meat, add 4 tbsp of the pickled prune juices to the residue in the roasting tin, stir to mix, then spoon over the meat
Serve and enjoy!