Venison, More Homemade Bread, and Madiran

Here’s something interesting I had been wanting to work on for quite some time - venison.  I enjoyed it in restaurants and I just really wanted to attempt it at home.  And my first observation is that venison apparently is far easier to find in a market than quail is.  Go figure.

Anyway, I heard that juniper pairs particularly well with venison.  It kind of does, except that I like the flavors of meats, especially game type meats.  So both gin marinade and crushed juniper berries for a crust were recommended to me, and I did try both.  It worked of course but next time I’d go without so much juniper.  The meat certainly is delicious though.  So all I really did was buy venison tenderloin (d’Artagnan product) and marinate it briefly in some Tanqueray (just a very small amount), and then crust it with crushed dry juniper berries.  I cooked it at probably around 350F.

The sauce on the venison was a drizzle of cooked blackberries with wildflower honey, sugar, and apple cider vinegar (with a sprig of rosemary) which after it cooked and cooled, I put it through a sieve.  It was good.

The side dish I made was another homemade loaf of bread which was fun and it seemed so much easier than the first time.  (See my quail dinner post for the first loaf of bread.)  This time I sauteed a small amount of finely chopped onion and added it to the bread dough, along with finely chopped fresh sage from my rooftop garden, and the crust was topped with grated Swiss cheese.  The bread, I think, was amazing.  I’d do that one again in a heartbeat, and of course I’ll keep learning new flavors too.

The wine I chose to pair was a Madiran - the 2008 Chateau Peyros Vieilles Vignes.  I love Madiran - they’re so wonderfully dry and rustic and expressive, and made of mostly Tannat, often with some Cabernet Franc.  It’s a very honest wine (with nutritional benefits - read up on Tannat and resveratrol!) - and it’s a great pairing with something gamey like venison.  (I like Tannat paired with lots of things actually, and regularly make excuses to do so.)

Anyway it was quite a learning experience and delicious.