Venison Tenderloin w/ Celery Root Puree

Silver Fern Farms Cervena venison is so good that the dish need not be complicated to show it off. Here we’ve paired a simple seared tenderloin with a creamy, nutty celery root & brown butter puree.

Drink Pairing: Left Bank Bordeaux Wine

Ingredients Serves: 2-4

  • 1 Venison Tenderloin
  • 2 T High Heat Oil (Canola, Peanut or Safflower)
  • 1 T Marcona Almonds, diced
  • 1 t High Quality Balsamic Vinegar
  • 1 Large Celery Root, cubed
  • ¼ C Unsalted Butter
  • ½ C Chicken Stock, as low salt as possible
  • 2 t Lemon Juice
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt & Pepper

Instructions

1

Remove the silver skin from the tenderloin by pushing the point of your knife underneath it, slice to remove one end of it from the meat, then pull up on the silverskin while cutting underneath it until it comes away. Repeat with the rest of the silver skin.

2

Tie tight loops of butcher’s twine around the tenderloin, pulling the trailing pieces of muscle in and compacting the meat.

3

Put the butter in a small frying pan and melt it over medium high heat. Continue to cook until it develops brown specks and smells nutty.

4

If your marcona almonds aren’t pre-fried & salted (most are), toast them in an unoiled frying pan until they’re lightly browned and smell nutty. Whether they’re pre-fried or toasted, dice them.

5

Peel & cube the celery root, then simmer it in heavily salted water until fork tender.

Remove the celery root cubes from the water and combine them with the browned butter, lemon juice and chicken stock. Blend everything to a smooth puree.

6

Oil a frying pan and get it very hot (over high heat). Season the tenderloin with salt & pepper, then sear it in the pan until it reaches your desired doneness (125 degrees for rare, 130 for medium rare).

If you’re concerned about cooking it all the way through before the outside gets overdone, you can move it to a 400 degree oven after a brief sear and roast until it reaches your target temperature.

7

When the tenderloin has cooked, cut the twine off of it and put it on a clean plate to rest. Loosely cover the plate with foil to help keep it warm.

8

Slice the rested tenderloin into medallions.

9

Serve the medallions with the parsley root puree and the vegetable side of your choice, finished with a drizzle of the balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of diced marcona almonds.