Three recipes to embrace game season and test your culinary mettle

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As the UK’s game season arrives, so does the chance to cook with some of the most indulgent ingredients our countryside has to offer—if you know where to look.

From early September to February, wild meats like venison, partridge, and grouse start appearing in the hands of skilled butchers and the savvier supermarket counters.

But if you want to experience game at its most refined, you look to the masters, like Ramiro Lafuente Martinez, executive chef at The Connaught Grill, a man who makes cooking with game feel less like a rustic affair and more like a private audience with culinary royalty.

Take his chicken liver parfait, for instance. It’s not just a starter; it’s a rich, velvety affair served with a bright, tangy blackberry emulsion and garnished with edible flowers that will have your guests thinking you’ve been moonlighting in a Mayfair kitchen. Or the venison and foie gras pithivier – a dish so decadent it should come with a health warning, but one bite in, you won’t care. And let’s not forget the smoked vanilla and whisky soufflé, a dessert that takes your basic French classic, adds a hit of boozy warmth, and lifts it to a realm of pure indulgence.

So, if you’re feeling bold this game season, why not bring a bit of Martinez’s Connaught magic into your kitchen? Sure, these recipes might test your culinary mettle, but trust me, the reward is worth every second.

Chicken liver parfait, blackberry emulsion, orange zest

Serves: 2-3 people

Ingredients:

For the chicken skin tuile:

60g chicken skin

For the liver parfait:

200g chicken livers

25g double cream

5g unsalted butter

10g confit shallots

1g thyme

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

10ml port wine

For the blackberry emulsion:

100g fresh blackberries

20ml red wine port

20ml orange juice

Honey, to taste

Garnishes:

Alyssum flowers

Orange zest

Method:

1. Create a tuile using chicken skin. Start by scraping off all the fat from the chicken skin. Then, roast it between two trays at 180C for approximately 10 minutes.

2. Make a classic liver parfait. Sauté the chicken livers in brown butter. Add shallots, thyme, salt and black pepper. Once the shallots are confit, add a glass of reduced port wine and cook the mixture for a few more minutes.

3. Serve the dish with a blackberry emulsion. Use fresh blackberries, a reduction of red wine port, orange juice and a touch of honey to make the emulsion. Garnish the tuile with alyssum flowers and orange zest.

Venison and foie gras pithivier, truffle mash potatoes, venison jus

(Supplied)

Serves: 2-3 people

Ingredients:

For the mushroom duxelles:

200g seasonal wild mushrooms, finely chopped

50g confit shallots, finely chopped

40ml olive oil

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

For the spinach layer:

300g fresh spinach leaves

Few spoons olive oil

Salt, to taste

For the foie gras:

30-40g, foie gras, deveined and slice

20g salt

5g sugar

2g thyme

For the venison loin:

140-150g venison loin

50ml olive oil (for marinating)

2g rosemary

2g thyme

1 garlic clove, smashed

5g black peppercorns, crushed

Salt, to taste

Oil (for searing)

For the pithivier pastry:

300g puff pastry

1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)

For the truffled mash:

400g potatoes

60g double cream

75g unsalted butter

10g black truffle, freshly grated

Salt, to taste

White pepper, to taste

Method:

1. The pithivier is layered with wild mushrooms, spinach, foie gras and venison loin. First, the mushroom duxelles are prepared by sautéing seasonal wild mushrooms and shallots until well cooked, ensuring all excess water is removed from the mixture.

2. For the spinach layer, fresh spinach leaves are sautéed with olive oil and salt, then pressed through a chinois to remove any remaining moisture. The spinach is then rolled between two sheets of baking paper to create a thin layer. Deveined slices of foie gras are marinated for approximately 20 minutes with salt, sugar, and thyme.

3. The venison loin is marinated overnight in oil with fresh herbs and spices, then seared in a pan with oil the following day.

4. To assemble the pithivier, all components are allowed to cool before being layered. The venison loin forms the base, followed by the foie gras slices and the mushroom duxelles. Once compact, the layers are wrapped with the spinach sheet.

5. For the truffled mash, potatoes are baked in the oven until soft, then peeled and passed through a fine sieve. The potatoes are emulsified with double cream and a generous amount of butter. Just before serving, freshly grated black truffle is added, and the mash is seasoned to taste.

Smoked vanilla and whisky souffle

(Supplied)

Serves: 2-3 people

Ingredients:

For the crème pâtissière:

650ml milk

Smoked vanilla (vanilla with liquid smoke extract), to taste

70g sugar

47g cornstarch

180g egg yolks

For the vanilla ice cream:

450ml milk

150ml cream

140g egg yolks

120g sugar

Smoked vanilla, to taste

70ml whisky (optional)

For the soufflé:

Smoked soft butter, around the molds

65g egg whites

30g sugar

125g crème pâtissière

Garnish:

Smoked vanilla ice cream (homemade or shop-bought)

Method:

1. Prepare a classic French crème pâtissière. Boil the milk with smoked vanilla to extract as much flavor as possible. Whisk the dry ingredients with the egg mixture, then cook everything together until it boils and thickens. Create smoked vanilla at home by adding liquid smoke extract to the vanilla.

2. Make the vanilla ice cream. Cook a vanilla crème anglaise to 82C. Allow it to cool, then add whisky to mature the flavor. Churn the ice cream fresh on the day, using the previously smoked vanilla. If you don’t have an ice cream churner, opt for shop-bought vanilla ice cream.

3. Prepare the soufflé molds. Brush them with smoked soft butter using straight strokes, and coat them with caster sugar.

4. Make a meringue by whisking the egg whites with sugar. Fold it into the crème pâtissière, warmed to around 60°C. Pipe the mixture to the top of the molds, level it off, and bake in the oven at 180C for about 7 minutes.

5. Serve the soufflé with smoked vanilla ice cream on the side.

Source: Independent

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