Venison with pickled prune and horseradish salad
This recipe was created by Charlie Hibbert, who is the chef patron of Thyme, a culinary oasis in the Cotswolds, comprising the Ox Barn restaurant, 31 bedrooms, the Swan pub, the Baa Bar and a cookery school.
Ingredients
- 1 kg Venison leg or loin
- 4 Red onions, medium
- 6 Spring onions
- 1 bunch Flat parsley
- 1/4 stick Fresh horseradish (or use grated)
- Sea salt flakes
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- Oil
For the beetroot
- 400 g Beetroot, whole
- 1 head Garlic separated into unpeeled cloves
- 4 sprigs Thyme
For the prunes
- 350 ml Red wine
- 220 g Redcurrant jelly
- 75 ml Red wine vinegar
- 2 Bay leaves
- 200 g Dried Agen prunes, de-stoned
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, gas mark 6).
- Scrub the beetroot, skin on, and trim both ends. Place it on a large sheet of greaseproof paper, add in the thyme, garlic cloves and a good splash of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Wrap everything in the paper, then an equally large piece of tin foil. Seal and place into a baking dish. Bake for 1 hour, or until beetroot is soft, but take the garlic out after 50 minutes.
- Halve the onions, cut off the bottoms but leave the skin on. Put the onions into a baking tray, skin-side-up. Drizzle over with olive oil and salt flakes and pop into the oven for 35 minutes.
- You can cook both the beetroot and the onions at the same time. Once softened, remove from the oven, and keep aside.
- To prepare the prunes, put the ingredients into a wide pan, except the prunes, and bring to the boil. Add in the prunes. Allow everything to start boiling again for no more than half a minute, then take the pan off the heat.
- Leave the prunes to sit in the syrup.
- Turn the oven up to 220°C (200°C fan, gas mark 7).
- Rub a little oil, salt and pepper over the venison and place the meat in an ovenproof frying pan or cast-iron skillet. Heat upon the hob until the venison browns all over.
- Transfer the dish into the oven for 5-10minutes, then remove and allow to rest for another 10 minutes.
- Peel the beetroot, garlic cloves and the onion, then cut the beetroot and the onion into rough pieces.
- Slice the venison steak and arrange everything on a serving platter.
- Deglaze the venison cooking pan with 4-6tbsp of the prune cooking liquid and drizzle over the salad.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. Roughly chop the spring onions and scatter over the salad with the parsley and a good grating of horseradish.
