I just cooked some backstraps this past saturday night. My recipe may seem long, but it is excellent and not so complicated as it seems.

Backstrap (20-24 oz)
Heavy cream
6 Juniper berries, crushed
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf, crumbled
1 cup pinot noir red wine
1/4 cup cognac
1/2 cup beef broth
flour
oil

Cut the backstrap into 1/2" thick steaks. I butcher my game myself. I take the long (maybe 24" long) venison backstrap and cut it in half and package it in one meal packageas two halves. I only cut into steaks when I unthaw to cook.

Marinade the backstrap steaks overnight in 1/2 cup red wine, the crushed juniper berries, the thyme, and crumbled bay leaf. I marinade in a one gallon zip-lock plastic bag and periodically turn the bag over in the refrigerator.

Take the steaks out of the marinade and reserve the marinade for making the gravy. Pat dry with a paper towel. Salt and pepper the first side. Dredge this salt/peppered side in flour. Turn onto floured side. Salt and pepper the other side and dredge that side in flour.

Heat the oil in a stainless steel or non-stick frying pan (a pan that will not interact with the acid of the wine). Use about 3 tablespoons of oil. I cook this on pretty high heat and the oil is just less than smoking temperature. If you have to cook the steaks in more than one session, add more oil for the second session. Cook 2 minutes on each side. Remove to a pre-heated platter in the oven and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Don't leave these in a oven with fire in it or they will continue to cook and overcook!

Pour the reserved marinade -- including the pieces of juniper berries and other spices -- into the frying pan. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of wine, the beef broth,and the cogac. Boil these liquids down a lot, maybe until
maybe 1/3 cup of liquid is remaining. Asa processimprovement, perform this reduction in a separate pan before the meat is cooked so you don't spend so much time on this step when the steaks have already been cooked. Add about 1/2 to 2/3 cup heavy cream. Stir. Bring to a boil and keep stirring until you like the thickness of the gravy. When you are happy with the thickness, add salt to taste (don't add salt earlier as the saltiness will increase as you continue to boil down the liquids!).

Serve the venison steaks and the gravy in a separate bowl. This is really good.