Here it is another nice recipe with game meat to do on Sunday: as I said other times, I really love game meat, it is very tasty, lean, the animals for sure had a good life and nutrition, it is just one of the healthiest meats for sure.

This time I wanted to play with colors too, but of course also a purée made with normal potatoes will be good as well.

About the cut, I found different names for what seems to me the same cut: loin, saddle, backstrap….it’s the top of the deer back, not the tenderloin but still one of the most tender cuts, the second after the tenderloin.

Let’s see.

INGREDIENTS (4 people):

• 750-800 g deer loin
• 1,2 kg purple sweet potatoes
• 20-24 green asparagus (the thinner the better)
• milk
• butter
• extra virgin olive oil
• a glass of dry white wine
• half lemon
• freshly grated nutmeg
• fresh chives
• almonds (or hazelnuts)
• salt

1. First of all start with the potatoes: peel them, cut in cubes and boil in hot water until soft. Peel also the bottom part of the asparagus, and cut the harder few centimeters at the end. Switch on also the oven at 120-130 °C.
2. Meanwhile take the deer loin, dry it very well with kitchen paper, season with salt and spread a thin layer of oil on all its surface.
3. Take a skillet (possibly in cast iron or iron), put a high flame under it, and when it starts to smoke add the meat: brown it on all its 4 sides, until you have a nice crust all around it: one minute on each side or a bit more should be enough.
4. Then remove the meat from the skillet, place it in an oven pan and put it in the oven until it reaches 54-55 °C at the core. A piece of this size at this temperature will take around 20 minutes to reach it, but if you use a thermometer it’s better.
5. When the meat almost reached the temperature, take a glass of white wine and deglaze the skillet whit all the meat flavors, then add some extra vergin olive oil, add the asparagus, season with salt and set the heat on medium. Don’t touch them for 6-7 minutes and cover. After that time turn the asparagus on the other side, for other 6-7 minutes. When they are almost ready I added also some butter and a bit of lemon juice. By cooking them in this way, the asparagus will be still nicely crunchy.
6. While you are cooking the asparagus and when the sweet potatoes are boiled, you can do also the purée. You can do it how you use to do a potato purée/mash: I add some milk and butter, season with salt and also nutmeg.
7. When the meat reached the temperature (I calculated to have it ready when I started to cook the asparagus), remove it from the oven, place it over a grid and cover it with an aluminium foil, and let it rest for about 15-20 minutes (so count also this time to prepare the asparagus and the purée).
8. After this time, cut the meat into slices of about 1,5-2 cm thick, cut also the asparagus into pieces (I like them with diagonal cuts), make some quenelle shapes with the purée, cut the fresh chives and the almonds (you could also toast them), and assemble your dish as you prefer 🙂 I also added a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil and some drops of a good quality 12 years old balsamic condiment! Enjoy 🙂