It’s getting to the end of the traditional game season so I’ve included a delicious and simple venison recipe.

Venison meat is hard to beat for flavour and healthy eating.

The art to cooking it properly is to cook it briefly on a high heat and rest it well, for 10-15 minutes.

However if you like your meat cooked well done, then this is not the meat for you.

The coffee and chocolate in the sauce add unusual savoury and bitterness to the sauce that complements the venison well. I often make a venison chilli using the same sauce plus 500g of venison mince and with a good chilli kick.

Venison and Barley with a Chocolate and Espresso sauce Barley

  • 100g pearled barley
  • 100ml white wine
  • 25g “Old Winchester” cheese, grated
  • 100ml veal or beef stock

Venison:

  • 250g wild venison loin, trimmed
  • 50g butter
  • 25ml port

Chocolate and espresso sauce:

  • 200ml veal or beef stock
  • 20g good quality dark chocolate
  • ½ shot of espresso
  • 15ml port
  • Table salt to season

Barley: Place the barley in a pan and add the wine, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook until the wine reduces to almost nothing. Add the stock and cook until the barley is al dente. Add the cheese, mix and season with a pinch of salt to taste.

Venison: Season the venison loin generously then heat a pan on your stove until it feels hot to your hand held a few inches above it. Place the loin in the pan and turn every minute or so to form a just blackened crust on the outside of the meat.

Take the pan off the heat and add the port before adding a generous knob of butter to the pan, using the residual heat of the pan to burn off the alcohol and brown the butter.

Baste the loin in the butter and port sauce and leave to rest for a good 10 minutes in a warm place, ideally at the back of the stove.

The chocolate and espresso sauce: Pour the stock and port into a pan, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer to burn off the alcohol and reduce by half.

Take the stock off the heat then add the chocolate, espresso and a knob of butter and whisk to combine just before serving.

Serve sliced and decorate with berries and a few wild garlic leaves.