A delicious alternative to a traditional roast, this dish features venison with a number of tasty and impressive sides
For Christmas we decided to serve Christmas dinner with a twist- venison, hasselback potatoes, stuffing balls, creamy leaks. We couldn’t help but also serve a couple of classic side dishes- red cabbage and honey roasted parsnips. Whilst this dish works well for a special occasion such as Christmas, it would also work equally as well for a Sunday roast or just a nice dinner for two.
Servings
2 + leftovers
Prep time:
30min
Cook time:
90min
Difficulty:
Easy
Ingredients
For the parsnips:
- 5/6 small parsnips
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 1 thyme sprig
- 1tbsp honey
- salt and pepper to taste
For the cranberry and pork stuffing balls:
- 150g sausagemeat
- 50g stuffing mix
- 4 streaky bacon rashers
- 1tbsp cranberry sauce
- 1tbsp olive oil
For the creamy leeks:
- 1 leek
- 3tbsp double cream
- 25g butter
- salt and pepper
For the Brussels sprouts with lardons:
- 200g Brussels sprouts
- 50g lardons
- pepper
For the venison steaks:
- 2 venison haunch steaks
- 25g butter
- 1tsp vegetable oil
Feel free to do serve as many or as few of these sides as you want. This post gives you the details for all the dishes with the exception of hasselback potatoes and spiced red cabbage– follow the links to see how to cook those side dishes separately.
The instructions below have been ordered to start with the dishes which take the longest amount of time to cook- the cabbage and the potatoes. By the time you cook the venison at the end, all the other dishes should be ready, and plus you’ll definitely have some leftovers!
Whilst these dishes are quite easy to put together, as there are many being cooked at once it does take some time and effort, but the below instructions should help.
We ordered our venison from Deer Box– the quality and taste was incredible, and we’d certainly recommend this company to others. Not only is venison meat healthy and lean, but this is also a significantly more sustainable option, and we’ll certainly swap out some of our other meat dishes for venison going forwards.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
First, start with the spiced red cabbage dish as this takes the longest to cook out of all the sides. Check out the recipe here. This dish cooks for 90 minutes, so you can put it on the hob and then prepare all the other dishes.
Step 2
The hasselback potatoes should be cooked next- see here for the recipe.
Step 3
Next are the parsnips- first peel them, then cut into quarters lengthways. Par boil for 5 minutes, then drain. Pour the olive oil into an oven dish, then toss the parsnips in the oil, sprinkle over the thyme leaves (remove these from the sprig), add the honey, salt and pepper to taste and mix everything. Once the potatoes have cooked for 20 minutes of their 60 minutes total cooking time, add the parsnips to the oven and cook for the remaining 40 minutes.
Step 4
Next, put together the pork and cranberry stuffing balls. In a bowl, make up the stuffing – pour 85ml of boiling water over the stuffing mix and wait 5 minutes. Then, add the cranberry sauce and sausagemeat and mix everything well. Split into four balls, then roll each ball in a streaky bacon rasher. Pour in olive oil into an oven dish, then place the balls into the dish, ready to cook- place into the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes.
Step 5
The leeks are next. Melt the butter in a pan on medium heat. Then, wash and finely slice the leeks. Add the leeks to the pan, salt and pepper to taste, and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes until the leaks are soft.
Step 6
Whilst the leeks are cooking, you can move onto the Brussels sprouts. First, remove any of the outer leaves of the sprouts which are dry or wilting. Then halve the sprouts and set aside. In a small pan, cook the lardons for around 5 minutes on medium heat then add in the sprouts. Add pepper to taste, stir everything to make sure the lardons are covered in the fat released by the lardons and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Step 7
At this point, go back to the leeks, add the double cream, reduce the heat slightly and cook for a final 10 minutes.
The dishes in the oven should be coming along well at this point, and there is just enough time left to cook the meat.
Step 8
Finally, cook the venison. First- pat dry the venison with paper towels to remove excess moisture, then add salt and pepper to both sides. Heat a medium-sized pan, add the butter to the pan, then pour on the oil onto the butter (this prevents the butter from burning). Cook the venison for around 1 minute on each side on high heat, then turn down the heat to medium and cook for a further 4 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and let the meat rest.
Step 9
By now, the oven dishes should be ready, and all the side dishes should be cooked and ready to serve. Enjoy!
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