By Bobbie Jo Wasilko
He Hunts She Cooks

A roasted venison top sirloin (aka “football roast”) is topped with a horseradish panko crust and served with an easy black currant sauce.  The sweetness from the sauce is a great foil for the bite of horseradish.  Add a side of homemade creamy cheesy caraway seed spaetzle and Sunday dinner just reached a whole new level!  

​Ingredients

For the Venison

• 1-two pound aged Venison Top Sirloin (aka “football roast”)
• 1 tbs. Fresh Cracked Pepper
• 1 tbs. Kosher Salt
• 1 tsp. Juniper Berries (crushed)
• 1 tsp. Caraway Seed
• 6 tbs. Prepared Horseradish (you can serve extra horseradish mixed with a little mayonnaise along side the roasted meat, if desired)
• 1/3-1/2 cup Panko (Japenese Breadcrumbs)
• 1/4 cup Grape Seed Oil ( or canola oil, or olive oil) plus a few tablespoons for searing

For the Black Currant Sauce

• 1 cup Venison Stock (or veal stock, I use More Than Gourmet brand)
• 1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon Red Wine
• 1 Shallot, minced
• 3 tbs. Black Currant Preserves
• 1/2 tsp. Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 1 tbs. Butter

For the Caraway Seed Spaetzle

• 1-1/2 cups AP Flour
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Kosher Salt
• 2 tbs. Caraway Seed

For the Gratin

• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/2 cup Gruyere Cheese (or Emmantaler, or other Swiss cheese)
• 1 Beaten Egg
• 1/2 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• 2 tbs. Butter, melted

For the Venison

• 24 hours ahead, trim venison of all silver skin and coat with pepper, salt, crushed juniper berries, and caraway seed and place in a zip lock bag.
• Pour 1/4 cup oil into the bag.
• Refrigerate overnight.

To Cook the Venison

1. Remove the venison from the fridge 1 hour before serving to bring to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Heat a cast iron (or oven safe pan) over medium-high heat and add 3 tablespoons oil.
4. Quickly sear the venison on all sides.
5. Turn off the heat, and smear the horseradish over top and sides of the venison.
6. Top the horseradish with panko and place, uncovered, into the oven.
7. Roast the venison to no more than medium-rare, about 10 minutes.
8. Serve with black currant sauce.

**For the Black Currant Sauce

• Heat 2 tbs. oil in a sauce pot over medium-high heat.
• Add minced shallot and sauté for 2 minutes.
• Add the stock and red wine, black pepper and simmer until reduced by 2/3, about 45 minutes.
• *This can be done the day ahead and refrigerated.
• Just before serving, add the black currant preserves to the reduced stock.
• Add 1 tbs. butter to give the sauce some shine.
• Serve with venison.

For the Caraway Seed Spaetzle

• *They can be made the day ahead and assembled and then refrigerated and brought to room temp. before baking.
• Mix flour, eggs, salt and caraway seed and set aside for half hour (this is to create a thick batter).
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and add 1 tbs. Kosher salt.
• Using a spaetzle maker, add the dough, about 1/2 cup at a time and press down on the plunger over the pot of water to create the noodles.
• Once the spaetzle noodles rise to the top (about 30 seconds), remove them to a bowl with a slotted spoon.
• Continue adding batter to the pot until all the spaetzle are cooked.

For the Gratin

• Once all the Spaetzle noodles are cooked, butter the inside of 4-6 ounce ramekins.
• Grate the gruyere cheese add the beaten egg and heavy cream into a bowl and mix.
• Add the cooked spaetzle and divide between the 4 ramekins.
• Melt the butter and mix with the panko then top the ramekins with the crumbs.
• Bake in a 300 degree oven for approximately 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Notes

• Spaetzle makers are quite inexpensive and cost from $6 up. A “ricer” makes a great spaetzle maker also. A colander with large holes can be used as a substitute, but you will need a helper to hold colander over the boiling water while you add the batter and scrape across the colander to push the batter through the holes, to create the noodle shapes.
• You can substitute making the homemade spaetzle for a bag of pre-made spaetzle, or extra wide egg noodles, or macaroni and just boil them and then add the caraway seed to the cheese gratin.
• The spaetzle can be boiled and cooled then assembled into the ramekins the day ahead, and refrigerated, then bring to room temp before baking. If refrigerating, bake a bit longer since they’ll be cold to start.
• Sautéed cabbage makes a great side dish (I was out of cabbage at the time, or I would have used it.)
• **The Black Currant Sauce: Can be made the day ahead, and reheated over low heat for serving.