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Pan Roasted Venison with Celery Root Puree
By Mark Steward Young on Friday, October 3, 2014 at 12:46pm

serves two

This is a very easy and incredibly elegant dinner when you are fortunate enough to have venison. Total cook time will be about 40 minutes, but active cook time will be closer to a half hour.

For the Venison and pan sauce

2/3-3/4lb venison loin (backstrap)
1 large shallot, minced
1T bacon fat
1T sweet butter
10-12 oz. Home made chicken or beef stock
3/4 cup port (more or less to taste)
1T arrowroot
salt and pepper to taste

For the Celery Root Puree

1 medium celery root, peeled, cleaned and cubed
1 med. or large russet potato, peeled, cleaned and cubed
Water to cover
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2tsp sweet butter
salt and pepper to taste

Venison cooks quickly, so a lot of the prep and cooking should be done before the venison ever hits the pan. Remove the venison from the refrigerator, season, and cover, allowing the meat to get closer to room temperature while you prep.

Clean and cube the potatoes and celery root. There will be a lot of dirt and root like "stuff" on the celery root. As a result, you'll be left with possibly a good deal less than you expected after you've trimmed off the brown stuff. Cube the celery root into roughly 3/4" cubes and put in a pot with enough water to cover. Peel the russet and cube this as well into 1"+ cubes. Add to the pot, and top off with more water--enough to cover by 1-2". Bring to a simmer or soft boil, add a generous pinch of salt, and cook for 25 minutes or until very tender.

While the celery root and potato are cooking, pre-heat the oven to 300'. Mince the shallot and reserve. After the vegetables have cooked for 10 minutes, melt the bacon fat in a pan (preferably NOT non-stick, as you want fond) over medium or medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add the venison. Cook for 3 1/2 minutes on each side, then place in the 300' oven on an oven safe plate for 5 minutes. Test for doneness--venison should be served medium rare or rare, so don't over cook and remember you can finish off undercooked meat in the pan sauce that you are about to make. If still too rare after 5 minutes, give it another 3 and check again. When the meat is ~125' (or feels medium rare), remove from the oven and allow it to rest in a warm place (internal temperature will continue to rise). This would be a good time to warm your plates.

In the recently vacated pan, melt the butter and saute' the minced shallot over medium high heat until just beginning to brown. Add the port to the pan, and all but 3 or 4oz. the chicken or beef stock. Bring to a boil, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to release the fond, and reduce by 2/3. Add the arrowroot to the remaining stock and stir, add to the pan after the sauce has reduced as needed (you may want more or less based upon the thickness of your sauce), and simmer for 2 minutes or so to thicken.

While the pan sauce is reducing, you should be finding that the celery root and potatoes are done. Drain and add back to the pot (unless you will be pureeing in a food processor, in which case put the veg in there). Season with salt and pepper and add the butter and half the heavy whipping cream. Using a stick blender, process the celery root and potato, adding more cream if it seems dry or lumpy (similarly if you are using the food processor). When the puree is smooth, cover and keep warm.

Pour any released juices from the venison into the pan sauce. Slice the venison into 3/8" medallions or slices. If the meat appears to be too rare, place in the hot pan sauce for 5 seconds, then turn and warm for another 5 seconds. More if needed. Plate by partially over-lapping each venison slice, add the warm celery root puree to the side of the venison and sauce the meat generously. You'll want to mop up the extra sauce with the puree.

Serve this with a hearty Rhone red, and a bitter greens salad with a Dijon vinaigrette.