Wildwest Venison

Jason Dell (Ngāi Tahu/Ngāti Wheke) Executive chef, Blanket Bay, Glenorchy, New Zealand.
Photographs: Phil Tumataroa

After an adventurous drive across to the West Coast from Dunedin, we arrived at the beautiful coastline of Bruce Bay (Maitahi). I'm informed the men of the marae went "bush" recently to ferret for a stag and hind leg meat would be the order of the day.

It's important to note venison is a very lean meat because there is little fat or marbling in it. Often we find wild deer has a very pronounced gamey, earthy flavour as opposed to the more commonly farmed variety. This is because of the beast's diet.

I always cook my venison pink and find it's best suited to high-temperature cooking. For today's feast, I cooked with the back steaks, but you could easily attempt these recipes using the denver leg cut, which is a secondary primal cut.

To supplement the menu, we were generously supplied with some wonderful West Coast whitebait, which again, simply cooked in patties, went down a treat with the carnivorous menu especially created for today's occasion.

BAKED ENCHILADA OF WILD VENISON
and bell peppers with avocado and sour cream

Serves 6 as an entrée

This recipe makes for a delicious lunchtime snack, or as in today's marae visit, a great fore-runner to a delicious lunch of wild venison. You can very easily substitute the venison for chicken/pork or any kind of red meat. If using chicken, make sure the strips are well cooked before rolling up the enchiladas.

Ingredients
600g	venison backstrap (or denver leg piece) trimmed into small thin strips
2 tbsp	ground cumin
3 tbsp	vegetable oil
	sea salt
1/2 cup	grated smoked cheddar cheese
1/2 cup	fresh chopped herbs
6	tortilla wraps
1/2 cup	hummus
1	red pepper roasted and skinned, cut into strips
1	yellow pepper roasted and skinned, cut into strips

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Season the venison liberally with the ground cumin and sear in a hot pan/skillet. Sprinkle the cheese and herbs over the sautéed venison strips, and then allow to cool.

Lay six tortillas flat on a clean work surface. Spread one edge of tortilla with al ittle hummus.

Evenly place the venison and bell pepper strips along the length, off centre of the tortilla.

Carefully roll up the tortilla, starting from the outside in, as if you were rolling sushi. Place the shaped enchiladas onto a clean baking tray, place in hot oven, and bake for five minutes.

Remove from oven. Cut once on the diagonal, then artfully arrange the enchilada on plate. For this occasion, I piped sour cream on the top surface of the enchilada and sat it on a small spoonful of smooth avocado puree, then garnished it with fresh coriander.

AVOCADO PUREE

Ingredients
2	avocados
2	lemons, juiced
a pinch	salt

Method

Blend all ingredients until smooth in food processor. If you don't have one, simply mash with fork.

HOROPITO-RUBBED VENISON STEAKS
with sweetcorn mash, wilted spinach and pickled cauliflower

Serves 6

Ingredients
1.5kg	venison backstrap (or Denver leg piece) trimmed into 12x 100g steaks approx
2 tbsp	horopito pepper
3 tbsp	vegetable oil
	sea salt

Method

Preheat oven to 220°C. Season the venison with horopito and salt. Set aside for 10 minutes. Heat oil in a pan, sear venison steaks evenly on all sides. (It's important not to overcrowd the pan by cooking too many steaks at once, otherwise you "stew" instead of sear the meat.) Finish cooking steaks in the oven until medium rare. Take out, rest for five minutes before serving.

To plate, place two steaks beside a serving of sweetcorn potato mash with the cauliflower and sautéed spinach to the side. Spoon some of the natural meat juices over top of the steaks.

BASIL SWEETCORN POTATO MASH

Ingredients
1kg	floury potatoes (such as Agria)
150ml	milk
50g	butter
	salt and fresh ground white pepper
1/2 cup	fresh basil, chopped
300g	sweetcorn kernels, cooked

Method

Boil the potatoes until soft and drain well in a colander. Return to the pot, add the butter and seasoning and mash well. Once smooth consistency is achieved, gradually incorporate the milk. Lastly stir through the corn kernels and chopped basil.

PICKLED CAULIFLOWER

Ingredients
1/2	cauliflower (cut and trimmed into small sized florets)
100g	sugar
100ml	water
100ml	white vinegar
1tbsp	pickling spices (whole cloves, cinnamon stick, fennel seed etc)
1 pinch	ground turmeric

Method

Bring sugar, spices, vinegar and water to boil in a non-corrosive pot. Place cauliflower into the boiling water, turn down the heat, simmer for five minutes. Take pot off the heat and using a slotted spoon remove cauliflower florets. Place cauliflower into small bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process. Carefully strain pickling liquid into clean bowl, discard spices. Allow the liquid to cool, then place the cauliflower back into the brine. Leave cauliflower in the liquid until ready to serve with rest of meal.

I like to serve beetroot with venison. It complements the texture and flavour of venison.

Wildwest Venison

BAKED ENCHILADA OF WILD VENISON
and bell peppers with avocado and sour cream

Method

AVOCADO PUREE

Method

HOROPITO-RUBBED VENISON STEAKS
with sweetcorn mash, wilted spinach and pickled cauliflower

Method

BASIL SWEETCORN POTATO MASH

Method

PICKLED CAULIFLOWER

Method

Hunters and Gathers