Venison Two Ways in Two Days

What a feast we've been having!  The venison roast we brought back from New Zealand was certainly too much for two people - if we'd attempted to polish the whole thing off in one sitting it would have meant a food coma for sure.  Instead we paced ourselves and enjoyed two delicious, nutritious and quick meals.



Roast Venison

This is the recipe I modified from epicurious (best cooking app/website ever)

INGREDIENTS

• 3 pound Denver roast of venison, cut into 6- by 3-inch pieces
• 2 heads garlic, cloves separated and smashed
• 1/2 cup savory or thyme leaves, lightly crushed  (I'm very confident they don't mean 1/2C!! - must be a typo)
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, slightly cracked
• 1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt

METHOD

Toss venison with garlic, savory, wine, allspice, peppercorns, and 1/4 cup oil in a sealable bag. Marinate, chilled, turning bag occasionally, at least 8 hours.

Bring venison to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 230°C with rack in middle.

Discard marinade and pat meat dry. Sprinkle on all sides with 1 tablespoon kosher salt, then 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper. Heat remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then brown meat on all sides in 2 or 3 batches, 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Transfer to a shallow baking pan.

Roast until venison registers 50°C on an instant-read thermometer (inserted 2 inches horizontally into meat) for rare, 5 to 8 minutes (depending on thickness of meat). Let stand on a cutting board 10 minutes before slicing across the grain.

Epicurious Cooks' Notes:

• Venison can be marinated up to 24 hours.
• You can substitute a 3-pound trimmed and tied center-cut beef tenderloin roast for the venison (do not cut into pieces). Follow recipe above, roasting until beef registers 120°F, 25 to 30 minutes for medium-rare.

My Notes:

• I used a roast and definitely not 1/2C of thyme (about 2t perhaps?)
• I didn't have allspice so used mixed spice instead
• I had my roast in the oven for 30 mins and then rested for 10 mins - it was still very rare (still kicking) so it went back in the oven for another 10 mins.

Served with roasted eggplant strips, couscous and a red wine and mustard sauce

The following night was even better.


Roast Venison WrapsINGREDIENTS

• Cold roast venison, sliced thinly
• Hummus (homemade, roast garlic - yum!)
• Roasted eggplant strips (left overs)
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Burrito wraps

METHOD

There is no method - throw it all together in what ever quantity you prefer and enjoy!  Sander wrapped his, I had mine in lettuce cups (didn't have enough burritos in the pantry).