Pan Fried Venison Steaks  served with Craisins and Beef Jus

Venison is a very low fat meat that is absolutely delicious and perfect for a special occasion without snapping the purse strings.

Many moons ago Tanah worked along side German, Swiss and Austrian chefs in scenic Queenstown. From them, she learnt about the use of dark forest berries to lift the gamy flavours of meat that come from the likes of deer that roam wild in the New Zealand bush.

These days farmed Venison is available in most large supermarkets. Venison is often marketed as Cervena. (Alternatively, you could choose a similar cut of lamb).  Craisins can be found in the dried fruit section.

For this recipe Tanah used Venison Leg Steaks.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Venison steaks

1/3 cup Ocean Spray Craisins – sweetened dried cranberries

2 medium carrots – finely diced

2 onions – finely diced

2 celery sticks – finely diced

½ cup good red wine

1 cup beef stock

3 or 4 bay leaves (optional)

1 cup finely sliced shallots or stem part of 2 spring onions finely sliced

3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar (optional)

butter for frying

1 ) First soak Craisins in small amount boiling water for 10 minutes.

2 ) In your best heavy based fry pan gently saute till golden carrots, onions, celery  all cut into very fine dice.

3 ) Then pour in red wine and beef stock (bay leaves optional) and reduce by 2/3rds.  This is the first step of your jus, set aside in separate bowl to cool.

4 ) In the same heavy based fry pan melt a knob of butter and fry Venison steaks  on each side for about 1 and ½ minutes.  Tip: Because it is low fat, Venison should be served medium rare OR rare so as not to dry it out.

5 ) Remove venison from pan onto warm plate, cover with tin foil and a couple of tea towels on top of that, leave to rest in warmish area.

6 ) In the same fry pan melt a knob of butter and quickly fry shallots.   For a savoury note - pop in red wine vinegar (optional) .  Now into the pan pour in the jus  you made earlier. Bring this to the boil. Strain water off the Craisins and drop in to your jus.

YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR CRAISINS AND BEEF JUS.

7 ) Slice your Venison on the angle, arrange artfully on a plate and pour your Craisins and Beef jus over.

8 ) For a colour lift you could dot around some Craisins straight from the packet.

Serve with your favourite vegetables or salad, we made a creamy polenta, wilted spinach and baby carrots.

Try a glass of Ocean Spray Cranberry Classic, a bold red wine or a black beer for a classic match to this dish.