Grapefruit brined venison loin, lobster wrapped in crepes, brûléed grapefruit
Mike Kowbel
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
Grapefruit brine – per pound of venison
¼ cup kosher salt
¼ cup sugar
1 bay leaf
6 grapefruit segments, halved
1 whole clove
1 tsp peppercorns
2 cups water
Venison
16-20 oz cleaned venison loin (4-5 oz per person)
Brined for 1 hour per 1 pound of meat
Venison Sauce
5 kg venison bones (use veal if can’t get venison), roasted and make stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
10 shallots, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 head garlic, halved
½ bunch thyme
500 ml veal stock or water
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp butter
Lobster pudding
1 whole lobster, poached for 3 minutes per pound in boiling water, all meat removed and chopped
1 shallot, minced
2 tbsp smoked bacon, minced
1 tsp red chilli
3 tbsp 35% cream
1 tsp butter
1 slice white bread, cubed
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tbsp grapefruit, finely chopped
Crepes
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
2 ½ cups homo milk
2 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
Chives, chopped
4 tbsp melted butter
Salt
Black Olive Puree
2 cups cooked celeriac
1 ½ cups pitted black olives
Cooking liquid, to taste
Grapefruit
2 whole grapefruits, evenly sliced crosswise
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
Directions
Venison Loin
- Clean of all fat, silver skin and sinew, ensure at least 20 ounces of meat after cleaning.
Grapefruit Brine
- Adjust recipe as it is scaled per pound of meat. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.
- Once sugar and salt is dissolved, remove from heat and let cool.
- Once cooled, add venison and brine for 1 hour per pound of meat.
Venison Sauce
- Roast bones and baste with tomato paste near end of roasting.
- Once roasted, place and large stock pot and cover with water (level of water should just slightly rise over bones).
- Skim periodically and simmer for 6-8hours. Strain stock.
- Caramelize shallots, carrots, celery and garlic.
- Deglaze with veal stock or water and reduce by half.
- Add thyme, bay leaf and 8 L of stock, simmer for 4-5 hours.
- Strain through fine chinoise lined with a deep fryer filter. Reduce to sauce consistency, leaving room for additional reduction prior to service.
Lobster Pudding
- Poach lobster for 3 minutes per pound in boiling water, remove all meat and chop.
- Sweat shallot, chilli and bacon with the butter, once starting to brown and bacon is crispy and lower heat.
- Fold in cream, bread, parsley, lobster and grapefruit, bring to a boil and then remove from heat and cool. Note: the mixture shouldn’t be too loose, it should be able to hold its shape so add more bread if necessary, or add less cream if you think it is going to be too much.
Crepes
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For the batter, whisk eggs and milk and slowly add sifted flour. Slowly stir in melted butter and then add chives and salt to taste.
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When cooking the crepes, lightly oil a non-stick pan roughly 12 inches in diameter and place on a medium heat.
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Ladle about 1-2 ounces of the crepe batter onto the warmed and oiled pan and as soon as bottom of crepe has set and is strong enough to be flipped without tearing, flip over to finish cooking the other side (about 30 seconds). Note that the crepe should not have any color on it and they should be very thin.
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Once crepes are cooked and cooled, place a small amount of the lobster pudding along the middle of one side of the crepe. Roll crepe as tightly as possible without tearing, it should resemble a small-medium sized cylinder. Size can vary depending on how much you want to put on the plate.
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Cut on a bias, roughly 2 inches in length.
Black Olive Puree
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Peel and dice celeriac into even sizes. Place into cold salted water and bring to a boil and then a simmer.
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Remove once soft in the middle and layout onto a tray to cool, remember to keep some of the cooking liquid.
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Once cooled, place in blender with pitted olives and blend with a small amount of the cooking liquid until a puree consistency is reached. Pass through a tamis.
Grapefruit
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Peel and evenly slice grapefruit crosswise, about ¼ inch thick, lay out onto a pan and coat with white sugar. Have a torch ready so that prior to service they can be bruleed.
Cooking Venison
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Turn oven to 300 degrees F. Heat pan with a tablespoon or two of duck fat, once pan is extremely hot, pat venison loin dry and lightly season with salt and pepper, sear until all sides are nicely caramelize, finish in oven, venison should be rare to medium rare.
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To check doneness, insert a digital thermometer, it should read 130 degrees, once this is achieved, remove from oven and let rest for about 7-8 minutes.
Plating
- Once meat is resting, Heat sauce and reduce a bit more if necessary, add a knob or two of butter right before serving.
- Brulee grapefruit and place three down the middle of a round plate, top with a few toasted pumpkin seeds.
- In a circular pattern around the grapefruit, streak the olive puree. On the corner of the plate, add one grapefruit slice, a small dollop of the olive puree and top with 2 lobster crepes.
- Slice meat on and angle and place over grapefruit slices, spoon a small amount of sauce on sides of meat and garnish with a few more toasted pumpkin seeds.