New Zealand Venison

Medallions with walnut pesto

Serves: 2 - 3     Preparation: 20 mins     Time to cook: 10 mins    

Ingredients

Venison

6 venison medallions
sliced parma ham
olive oil
2 bamboo skewers

Walnut pesto

½ cup walnuts
1 large garlic clove
handful of fresh flat leaf parsley
¼ cup walnut oil
¼ cup good olive oil
2 tspn cream or crème fraiche

Fennel rub

1 tbsp toasted fennel seeds
1 tsp flaky sea salt
1 tbsp cracked white pepper
zest of 1 lemon

Vegetables

red, yellow and green pepper – one each, sliced into strips
courgette, sliced into strips
eggplant, sliced into strips, skin on
p
ortobello mushrooms
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Recipe by Graham Brown


Walnut pesto
In a food processor, combine the walnuts, garlic and flat leaf parsley. With the motor still running, drizzle in the walnut oil and olive oil. Finally, add the cream or crème fraiche. 

Method
Toss the vegetables in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and allow to marinate for half an hour.

To make the fennel rub, toast the fennel seeds and let them cool. Grind in a mortar and pestle with the salt and pepper then mix in the lemon zest.

Wrap each medallion in a piece of parma ham as you would a steak. Brush with olive oil.  Place three medallions on a wooden skewer, season with fennel rub and sear on a hot griddle or BBQ for 3-4 minutes per side. Set aside to rest.

Sear the vegetables over the same hot griddle until just cooked. Keep warm.

To serve
Serve the venison medallions on their skewers on top of the chargrilled vegetables with the pesto on the side.