Venison Steaks with Scottish Blue Cheese
Serves 4
This extremely easy recipe isn’t much use for anyone concerned
about fat and cholesterol. There are so many excellent British blue
cheeses now that I now use whatever is local. Lanark Blue is made by
Humphrey Errington, and I give the title to his cheese as a mark of
respect for his long, difficult, expensive, but finally successful
battle against the Lanarkshire cheese police who threatened the life of
not only Humphrey’s enterprise, but the whole future of artisan cheese
making in Britain.
Ingredients
4 x 180 g (6 oz) Haunch Steaks, thick cut
100 g (4 oz) Lanark or other blue cheese
150ml (¼ pt) Cream
Pepper
Fresh Chives
Caramelised Onions, to serve
Method
Pan-fry the steaks to taste, though it’s best to undercook them and leave them to rest while you make the sauce.
Mash together the Lanark Blue and the cream.
Drain
excess fat from the pan and add the cream/cheese mixture, scraping up
all the brownings from the pan, and allowing the cheese to melt. If it
looks too dry, moisten the sauce with milk.
Lanark Blue is a salty
cheese, so probably needs no more, but a little pepper is good. If any
juices have come out of the steaks, stir these into the sauce.
To Serve
Tip the sauce over the steaks, and sprinkle with fresh chives.
Serve with caramelised baby onions.
Nichola Fletcher has worked with venison since 1973, when her husband, John, started Britain’s first deer farm. Her deep practical knowledge of all aspects of venison means she is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject and she now runs workshops throughout the country. For her work in bringing venison back into our lives she was given the Scottish Food Achievement Award, and nominated for a Slow Food Award in 2003. Her venison business was joint winner in the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2006.
A member of The Guild of Food Writers, Nichola has written five books on butchering, preparing and cooking game meats. Her latest will be published in June. Nichola Fletcher’s Ultimate Venison Cookery is no ordinary cookery book but the sharing of a lifetime’s experience. As well as a delicious book to read and savour, this is an eminently practical manual for cutting, preparing and, most importantly, cooking venison to perfection. It is a book that will appeal to experienced gourmets and novices; to hunters wanting to make best use of their deer carcase, to the artisan producer, and to chefs. Nichola Fletcher illustrates the book with her own drawings and diagrams.
Nichola Fletcher’s Ultimate Venison Cookery is published by Swan Hill Press. Hardback, illustrated, £18.99
www.nicholafletcher.com
