Sophie and Tim Hansen live on a farm 26kms west of Orange with their kids Alice, 10, and Tom, 8. Their family has been farming deer for more than 30 years and in 2002 Tim established Mandagery Creek Venison to process and market venison themselves. Mandagery Creek Venison is a clean, safe meat completely free from antibiotics, stimulants and growth hormones. Their venison is sourced from both their farm and selected farms in NSW and Victoria, While it can be found on the menus of top restaurants, they also export to Asia, the Middle East, North America and Europe.
Sophie is a freelance food writer and blogger at Local is Lovely (www.local-lovely.com), she was the 2016 AgriFutures Rural Woman of the Year and is currently writing her second cookbook. She also runs a podcast, e-course and workshop under her My Open Kitchen banner (www.my-open-kitchen.com) teaching producers how to use social media to connect with audiences and in turn, convert followers into advocates.
VENISON RECIPE
Chargrilled venison with apple jelly and verjus sauce (serves six)
For the venison
- 1 Venison tenderloin, about 600g, 4 tablespoon oil, 1 tbsp salt.
Take the venison out of its packaging and rinse and pat dry with some paper towel. Then salt and rub with olive oil and leave to come to room temperature, about 30 mins. Preheat barbecue to high and cook for 2 1/2 minutes on each side and let rest for 5-10 minutes before carving into medallions.
For the apple jelly and verjus sauce
- 1/2 cup apple jelly and 1/2 cup verjus.
Combine in a frying pan on medium heat, bring to a simmer, reduce heat and cook down into a tasty sauce. Season to taste.
For the polenta
- 3 cups pumpkin, peeled and cubed, 1 1/2 cups polenta, 75g butter, cubed, 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated.
Preheat oven to 180C and place the pumpkin, on a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 45 minutes or until cooked through then puree in a food processor or blender until smooth. Bring water to the boil, salt generously and whisk in the polenta in a thin steady stream. Cook over a low heat, stirring almost continuously for 30 minutes or until the polenta is thick and smooth. Turn off the heat, stir through the pureed pumpkin, butter and cheese and season to taste. Keep warm until ready to serve (Sophie does this in her slow-cooker, which means the polenta can be prepared hours in advance and if kept on low, it keeps cooking very gently and seems to fluff the polenta up quite beautifully).
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