Venison fillet in vanilla flower and blueberry sauce with chanterelle dumplings

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 1 saddle of venison, not boned
• 100 g butter
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 juniper berries
• 100 g blueberries
• 1 vanilla pod(s)
• 2 tbsp blueberry syrup
• 200 ml chicken, beef or vegetable broth
• 500 ml red wine
• 3 shallots
• 5 tbsp root vegetables, diced
• 12 slices of toast
• 2 tbsp parsley, large-leaf, chopped
• n. B. Milk, hot, approx. 120 – 150 ml
• 3 tbsp chanterelles, dried
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp breadcrumbs
• powdered sugar
• 5 grains of salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 4 hours

Bone the venison loin. To do this, place the loin with the long bone facing up. Use a filleting knife to make a cut along each bone and remove the two pieces of back meat along the ribs. Then turn the loin over and remove the two small fillets from the rib joint on the underside in the same way. Carefully skin the pieces of meat, wrap them in foil, and refrigerate them. (You can have a hunter or game dealer gut the loin, but be sure to buy the bones as well. Gutting a venison loin is very simple, but sounds more complicated than it is.) Break the bone into several small pieces using a cleaver or a sharp knife. Preheat the oven to 250°C (top/bottom heat), and place the bones in the oven for 20 minutes, until they are dark brown. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add a touch of powdered sugar, and let it caramelize. Add the root vegetables and a finely chopped shallot and sauté. Add the browned bones. Add a little red wine and reduce. Add the liquid slowly several times, reducing for about 5 minutes each time. Only when a firm base sauce has formed, add enough stock and wine to cover the bones. Add the blueberry syrup and half of the spices (bay leaf, juniper berries, peppercorns) and simmer for at least 2 hours. After two hours, strain the sauce and add the same spices again. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Strain through a fine cloth, chill, and then completely remove any fine layer of fat. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large pan and allow to foam. Cut open 2 cm of a vanilla pod, add the whole pod and contents to the butter. Pepper the pieces of meat all over and add them to the foamed, nut-brown butter, searing them all over. If necessary, work in two batches or with two pans. When the meat is browned all over, place it in the butter in the oven preheated to 100°C. Remove after 30 minutes, carefully season with salt, and cover. Heat the sauce, thicken with cornstarch mixed with water, and add the blueberries to the sauce. Do not boil. For the chanterelle dumplings, finely grind the dried chanterelles, heat the milk, and pour the powder over the hot milk. Cut the bread into small cubes. Briefly sauté a finely chopped shallot and 2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley in butter until translucent, then pour over the bread. Crack 2 eggs over the mixture, pour over the still-hot chanterelle milk, stir everything carefully, and thicken with breadcrumbs if desired. Note: The amount of milk also depends somewhat on the consistency of the bread. In any case, it’s better to use too little than too much; don’t over-stir the batter so the cubes don’t break completely and retain their structure! Divide the dumpling dough into two pieces and wrap each in cling film like a sausage. Hold the parcels upright and tap the tops briefly to avoid any air pockets. Then wrap both parcels tightly in two layers of tin foil and place them in boiling hot water. Do not boil! They need to sit there for at least 20 minutes, but they can also be left in the water for several hours and are well prepared this way. Note: Neither the sauce nor the dumpling mixture need salt. Season the sauce shortly before serving and add a little salt if necessary. Add salt to the dumpling mixture just before wrapping it in the foil. You can also mount the sauce with ice-cold butter if you want to avoid cornstarch. After the cooking time in the oven, cover the pieces of meat with tin foil and let it rest. Then cut into medallions and drizzle with the vanilla butter. Slice the dumplings and serve with the blueberry sauce.