Ben Murphy's venison with red cabbage and quince

Serves 4 Starters and mains

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Method

Break down the venison saddle by removing the loins/fillets. Chop the bones into small pieces: these will be roasted and used for the sauce. Roll the meat into a sausage shape using cling film and chill. This will make it more consistent when cooking. When ready to cook, portion the venison saddle into 4 x 120g pieces.

To make the sauce, roast the chopped venison bones in vegetable oil until well coloured.

Slice the shallots thinly, cube the butter and add both to the roasting venison bones for further colour. After 5 minutes, pass through a sieve to remove all excess fat. Return the bones and shallots to the pan, add the red wine, madeira, lemon thyme, peppercorns and bay leaf, and de-glaze the pan. Reduce the wine by half and add the veal stock. Skim the stock and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon.

Shred the red cabbage (retain a good handful for the purée) and place all the ingredients in an ovenproof pan. Cover and braise in the oven at 90C/70C Fan/ Gas very low for 25-35 minutes.

Finely slice the remaining handful of cabbage and place in a pan with the butter and orange zest. Slowly cook until soft, while constantly stirring. Blend until it forms a fine purée texture, pass through a sieve and season with salt to taste.

Peel the quince and place into a bowl of water. Add the juice of 1 lemon to stop the quince from going brown. Cut the quince into quarters and remove the core. Bring 200ml water, the cinnamon, clove and sugar to the boil, add the quince quarters and gently poach for around 25 minutes, until soft.

To finish the dish, bring the venison back to room temperature 30 minutes before cooking. Pan-roast for 3 minutes and place in the oven at 170C/150C Fan/ Gas 3 for a further 3 minutes (served pink). Leave to rest for 6 minutes before carving. Plate the dish simply with the meat to the right and veg to the left. Serve the sauce in a jug on the side.