Food plays a huge role in the annual Scottish Game Fair, which takes place in the grounds of Scone Palace from July 5-7.
The Food Theatre is always a big draw, and this year the focus is on sustainability and making best use of the bounty that is available from our glorious Scottish landscape.
Leading game chefs and professionals will be on hand to offer demonstrations, among them MasterChef winner Jamie Scott and Richard Dalgleish, from Gleneagles, to name a few.
Here, Richard, executive sous chef at Gleneagles, shares the recipe for one of the hotel’s favourite dishes: roast loin of venison with chocolate sauce, cherry compote and truffle granola, served with mashed potato, a venison bon bon and Savvoy cabbage.
Ideal for the home cook with some experience, it’s a showstopper for dinner parties!
Click here for more information about the Scottish Game Fair.
Roast loin of venison, chocolate sauce, cherry compote and truffle granola
Ingredients
SERVES 4
For the venison:
- 800g venison loins, all silver skin removed, trim reserved for sauce
- 100g unsalted butter
- 3 sprigs thyme
The method
- In a hot roasting tray, colour off the seasoned loin of venison in a little rapeseed oil.
- Ensure even colouring on all sides then add the butter and thyme and baste the loin to a medium rare (approximately eight minutes), turning regularly.
- Rest on a cooling wire and pour over the butter. Allow 10 minutes before carving into 16 pieces (four per person).
Braised haunch of venison bon bon and red wine chocolate sauce
The ingredients
- 500g venison haunch
- 50g chopped carrot
- 50g diced onion
- 50g chopped celery
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 750ml red wine
- 10g Guanaja chocolate
The method
- In a hot pan colour of the haunch with a little oil.
- Remove once caramelised all over. Add the veg to the pan and caramelise.
- Add the haunch and herbs back to the pan, cover with all the wine.
- Place a lid on the pan and cook in a 150°C oven for two hours.
- The meat should break apart easily when done.
- Allow the meat to cool in the liquour. When cool, pick off the meat and mix with some of the wine liquour.
- Season to taste, roll into 20g balls then breadcrumb to make a bon bon.
- Deep fry before plating. Use the rest of the wine liquor to make a sauce by reducing in a pan with the roasted trim.
- Grate the Guanaja chocolate into the sauce to finish.
Chocolate emulsion:
- 50g Guanaja 70% chocolate pistoles
- 18g cocoa powder
- 40g grapeseed oil
- 10g hazelnut oil
- Mix all together in a bowl and melt over a bain marie.
- Emulsify with hand blender.
Cherry compote:
- 250g sour cherries, pre-stoned
- 60g caster sugar
- 5g sherry vinegar
- 60g cherry puree
- Quarter the cherries and add to pan with sugar and vinegar and puree.
- Cook slowly until the cherries are soft and the base of the pan is dry.
Truffle granola:
- 10g ground almonds
- 5g smoked almonds, chopped finely
- 3g dried trompette mushroom, blitzed finely
- 1g celery seed
- 2g blue poppy seed
- 2g sunflower seed
- 4g truffle oil
- Mix together and bake on a tray at 130°C for 10 minutes.
Mashed potato:
- 300g mashing potato, peeled
- 400ml water
- 10g salt
- 75g butter
- Cook the potatoes in salted water; drain and allow the potatoes to dry out.
- Pass through a drum sieve (or mash really well).
- Whisk in the butter. Pass through the drum sieve again.
Cabbage:
- 1 head of savoy cabbage
- Slice the cabbage leaves finely. Blanch in boiling salted water.
- Once cooked, refresh in iced water.
- Drain thoroughly.
To serve
- With a pastry brush paint a single stripe of chocolate emulsion across the plate.
- Pipe 60g of mash potato on the top left of the plate and top with the haunch bon bon.
- Place the cabbage on the chocolate stripe and top with 4 slices of the rested venison loin.
- Quenelle the cherry compote on to the top right of the plate.
- Sprinkle one dessert spoon of the granola over the loin meat.
- Spoon the chocolate sauce tightly around the meat and serve.
- The cherry compote can also be blended to a puree as an additional option.