Venison loin with cranberry and fiddlehead
Ingredients
Cranberry sauce:
- 2 cups (470 ml) fresh cranberries
- 1-1/2 cups (350 ml) apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup (240 ml) sugar
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- 1 star anise
- 5 whole cloves
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 cup (240 ml) cranberry juice
- Pepper
Garlic scape and fiddlehead pancake:
- 1-1/2 cups (350 ml) all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 teaspoons (17.5 ml) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
- 1/8 teaspoon (.75 ml) white pepper
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) white sugar
- 1 cup (240 ml) milk
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) butter, melted
- 1 cup (240 ml) chopped garlic scapes
- 18 fiddleheads
- Oil and butter, to fry pancakes
Roasted venison loin:
- 2 venison tenderloins, cleaned
- Oil, for searing
- Salt and pepper
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) cold butter
- Flaky Sea Salt, to finish
Directions
- For the cranberry sauce, combine vinegar, sugar, lemon, anise, cloves, rosemary, cranberry juice, and pepper in a medium pot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
- Add the cranberries and cook another 20 minutes or until the sauce becomes syrupy.
- Remove from heat and rest at room temperature until ready to serve.
- For the garlic scape and fiddlehead pancake, in a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the milk, buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter, and whisk until smooth.
- Transfer to a blender, add the garlic scapes, season with white pepper and blend until green and perfectly smooth.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Trim the fiddleheads to be perfectly round and even, then blanch for two minutes.
- Shock in ice water to stop the cooking. Remove and pat dry.
- Heat a little butter and oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add a small round (2 in/5 cm) of batter to the pan. Let cook for one minute until the sides are just starting to dry.
- Press three of the blanched fiddleheads into the top of the batter without altering the round shape. Cook for another one to two minutes.
- Flip and cook for one minute until just firm and cooked through. Repeat to use all of the batter. Reserve for plating, keep warm.
- For the roasted venison loin, heat oil in a large cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Season the loins with salt and pepper and sear on all sides for one to two minutes, until nicely browned.
- Add butter, rosemary, thyme, and garlic to the pan.
- Allow the butter to melt and the aromatics to infuse. Then baste the venison constantly while flipping for three to four minutes until cooked to the desired internal temperature.
- Remove the loin from the pan. Transfer to sheet pan and add the butter and herbs over top. Let rest for four to five minutes.
- To serve, once rested, slice loin into 3/4-inch (2 cm) medallions, and season with sea salt.
- Place two medallions side by side on each plate.
- Place a fiddlehead pancake on the opposite side of the plate, leaving a little space between the two.
- Top both with cranberry sauce, and use liquid from cranberry sauce to decorate the plate.
