Venison Fillet with Port Chocolate Sauce

Red wine shallots:

1. Since they take some time to pull through and caramelize, it is advisable to prepare them first: Put the wine in a larger saucepan or pan and reduce to half (500 ml) without a lid over a medium heat. The larger the diameter of the cooking vessel, the faster it goes. Then take it off the stove, pour it into a container and keep it ready.
2. While doing this, peel the shallots, cut the larger ones in half, and leave the small ones whole. In the same cooking vessel as the wine, heat the oil and sweat the shallots in it for approx. 2 minutes. Then add sugar and honey and let them caramelize slightly. Pour on the reduced wine and simmer everything over a gentle heat until the liquid begins to thicken. Then add the cranberries and the pre-cooked chestnuts and let everything simmer until the liquid has become syrupy. Finally, season with a pinch of cinnamon, pepper and salt.

Knöpfle:

1. Mix all ingredients into a viscous but smooth dough. Let the dough rest for at least 1 hour before processing. Whip something up every now and then, i.e. stir with a wooden trowel or a hand whisk until there are large air bubbles.
2. After the resting time, bring well-salted water to the boil in a large saucepan and scrape the dough into it with a Knöpfle slicer. When they swim up, scoop out and drain in a colander. Keep it ready and fry in butter just before serving.

Venison fillets:

1. Preheat the oven to 120 °. Remove the silver skin and other unevenness from the large fillet and save these sections for the sauce preparation. Then cut the fillet into 2 – 3 portions, pepper and salt them all around. Finely grind the juniper in a mortar and brown it in the oil in a pan. Then fry the fillets in it very hot and briefly all around (round) until they are lightly browned and then place them on the wire rack in the oven. Place the rosemary sprigs on top and prick a thermometer in a fillet. The core temperature of the meat should be around 65 ° at the end, then it is still tender pink, but no longer bloody. Do not clean the pan, but use it to make sauce straight away.

Sauce:

1. Skin the shallots and cut into small pieces. Sear the meat together with the meat in the remaining frying fat from the fillets and 1 additional tablespoon of oil until everything has taken on a good color. Then deglaze with the wines, add the bay leaf and simmer over a mild heat until the liquid has reduced by about a third. Then pour everything through a sieve and collect the brew in a saucepan. Put this back on the stove and reheat. Rub the chocolate into it. Mix the flour and butter together and stir into the simmering sauce to thicken. Season to taste with pepper, salt and a pinch of sugar.