Venison Fillet and Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Ingredients

• 2 carrots
• 200 g celery root
• 2 onions
• 1 kg deer bones (chopped)
• 2 tbsp plant oil
• 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
• 250 ml dry red wine
• 500 ml game stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp juniper berry
• 2 cloves
• 1 sprig rosemary
• Salt
• pepper (ground)
• 750 g venison back fillet (ready to cook)
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 400 g Brussels sprouts
• 1 tbsp butter
• 100 g South Tyrolean bacon (finely chopped)
• 300 g flour
• 4 eggs
• Nutmeg (freshly grated)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Peel and dice the carrots, celery root, and onions. Slowly brown the bones in hot oil for about 15 minutes. Add the vegetables and roast for another ~10 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and continue roasting. Deglaze with a splash of wine and reduce completely. Repeat this process twice more until the wine is gone. Pour in the stock, bring to a boil, then simmer gently for about 1½ hours. After roughly an hour add bay leaf, juniper, cloves, and rosemary. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve and reduce to ~200 ml. Season with salt and pepper.

2. 2.

   Preheat the oven to 100 °C. Wash, pat dry, season the meat with salt and pepper, and sear all sides in hot olive oil. Transfer to a rack over a fat pan in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes until pink.

3. 3.

   In a mixing bowl combine all spätzle ingredients with enough water (as needed) to form a slightly stiff dough using a hand mixer with dough hooks. Portion the dough into the spätzle press and scrape into boiling salted water. Cook the spätzle for ~2 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon, rinse under cold water, drain, and spread on a large board or work surface. Repeat until dough is finished.

4. 4.

   Meanwhile trim and halve the Brussels sprouts. Blanch in salted water for 6–8 minutes, drain, then toss with bacon in hot butter. Season with salt and nutmeg.

5. 5.

   Slice the venison fillet into thick pieces and arrange on a plate with spätzle and Brussels sprouts, drizzle with sauce, and serve.