venison with red wine chocolate sauce

Photographer: Kate
Serves 4

This is a really simple recipe that doesn’t take a lot of time but you can plate it up and impress your guests with the intriguing combination of sweet and savoury. You are essentially deglazing the pan with red wine and port as you would to make a jus, but the addition of a sprinkling of deep, dark, grated chocolate really adds another dimension to the dish.

I served it up with mashed potatoes and spiced braised red cabbage which was really beautiful and perfect for a chilly Dunedin spring day.

INGREDIENTS


4 pieces venison tenderloin, ~200g each
Salt and pepper
Olive oil for frying
20g butter


100ml port
50 ml red wine
350ml beef stock
40g butter
20g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), grated
Salt and pepper

METHOD


Preheat oven to 180 ˚C on Bake
1. Season venison pieces
2. Heat a little olive oil in an oven-proof frying pan over a high heat.
3. Sear the venison pieces for 1 minute on each side.
4. Add butter to pan before placing in oven for 5 minutes (medium rare), remove and cover with tin foil. Rest in a warm place while you make the sauce. (You will need the pan and juices for the sauce.)
5. Place the venison pan over a medium heat, deglaze with port and red wine.
6. Reduce liquid by half before adding beef stock.
7. Reduce liquid again by half before whisking in butter.
8. Finally, whisk in chocolate immediately before serving. Season to taste.