Entertainment ideas, Weihnachten

Be keen for door # 15

von Greta am December 15th 2012 Tags: Adventskalender, Christmas, Food

Still looking for the perfect Christmas dinner – festive, delicious, wow factor and without much effort?

Then I will tell you here my absolute favorite recipe for culinary highlights: venison cooked at low temperature.

The greatest: You can prepare everything in the morning or early afternoon, then clean the kitchen and just serve the food when it suits your plans!

Recipe for 4 persons:

You need the following ingredients: 

• 1 kg saddle of venison (alternatively you can also take the shoulder but I think the saddle/back is much more tender)
• Venison spices (I like eg the Mexican Xocolatl mix from Herbaria or the fruity venison mix from 1001 Gewürze)
• alternatively you can create your own mix by grinding juniper berries with salz and pepper and then rub it into the venison
• 50 g bacon cubes
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots and 2 parsley roots
• some bones of the venison (in case you got the meat without the bones, ask the butcher to give you some of the bones for preparing the sauce)
• 1 kitchen spoon of tomate paste
• 1/4 Liter broth
• 1/2 Liter red wine
• 2 leafs of laurel
• 150 g sour cream, 1 teaspoon flour
• 80 g dark chocolate
• 1 kitchen spoon quince jelly (or any other sweet jelly)

And this way you prepare the delicious piece:

1. preheat the oven and a form to 80 ° C. (Please double check with the baking thermometer whether your oven actually heats up to 80 ° C when you set it to – many ovens do differ. My own heats only to approx. 70 ° C despite it displays 80 ° C and that is, the meat takes longer
2. Rub the saddle of venison with abundant Wild Spice or grind juniper berries, salt & pepper
3. Pan fry the venison in a pan with plenty of hot butter from all sides  (butter tastes much better than oil)
4. Place the saddle of venison into the oven-solid form and cover it with aluminum foil, then put the baking thermometer into the thickest part of the meat. Then put it in the oven.
5. The venison is in delicate pink (or medium) when it has reached a core temperature of 65 ° C. In order to reach this temperature, it certainly needs up to 4-5 hours. Schedule therefore ample preparation time. The great thing is that you can also prepare everything in the morning and can serve only at night, because thanks to the low temperature, it remains so juicy and will not be to well-done.
6. Cut the onion, carrots and parsley root sauce into dices. Fry onions along with the bacon, the bones of venison, and the tomato paste in the same pan like you used for the meat about 10 minutes on medium heat in a little oil or butter.

7.Then add carrots and parsley roots and deglaze with wine and broth

8. Add a few juniper berries and bay leaves, stir and let it simmer over low heat until the roast is done

9. 10 minutes before end of cooking time of the roast, filter the vegetables and bones through a sieve and drain the sauce back into the pan. In addition, pour the juices that cookes out of the venison from the oven dish in the sauce.

Add Chocolate and melt. Mix Sour cream and flour and stir into sauce with a whisk. Add the jelly, stir and season to taste with salt and pepper.

10. Cut up the meat and serve with the sauce on preheated plates

And these fit as side dishes:

We do love truffled celery puree which you can serve grilled mini pumpkins as it is easyly prepared. It does not only very pretty looks but tastes all deliciously .

Alternatively, you can also serve fine potatoe puree, Spätzle or dumplings. However, they are mostly connected with more effort.

And because we like having nothing to do on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, I am preparing the entire menu in the morning to avoid any kitchen stress.