Venison and sweet potato mash
Ingredients
- For the venison
- 2 venison loin steaks (about 180 g each)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp butter
- Salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary or thyme, or dried
- For the mashed sweet potato
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled & chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp 1–2 cream or milk
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- Sauce
- 1 cup frozen cranberries (or black blackberries)
- 2 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste)
- ½ cup orange juice (or water with a squeeze of lemon)
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional, for depth)
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- 1 Make the cranberry sauce
- 2
in a small saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, bayleaf, and orange juice.- 3
Simmer over medium heat until berries burst and the sauce thickens (about 8–10 minutes).- 4
Stir in balsamic vinegar if using. Set aside. You can use this as a chunky sauce, or blended smooth, hot or cold it works well with any game meat.- 5
Prepare the sweet potato mash- 6
Boil sweet potato chunks in salted water until soft (about 15 minutes).- 7
Drain well, then mash with butter, cream/milk, salt, and pepper until smooth. Keep warm. Here you can add some orange zest and lots of black pepper for a more gutsy mash.- 8
Cook the venison- 9
Pat the venison dry, season generously with salt and pepper.- 10
Heat olive oil in a pan over high heat.- 11
Sear the loin 1–2 minutes per side until browned. Add butter and herbs, basting for another 2–3 minutes, with the now herb flavoured butter- 12
Rest the meat for 5 minutes before slicing.- 13
To Serve- 14
Spoon mashed sweet potato onto the plate.- 15
Slice the venison and lay over the mash.- 16
Drizzle cranberry sauce around or over the top.- 17
Enjoy with sautéed greens - 2