Rezept: Rehmedaillons mit Samthauben, Feigen und Selleriepüree

Thomas Martin is a professional chef at the Louis C. Jacob Hotel in Hamburg. His passion for cooking at Christmas time inspires families all over Germany. He told us his professional recipe for "venison medallions with velvet hoods, figs and celery puree" and of course we don't want to withhold it from you. We hope you enjoy cooking it.

Venison medallions - this is how it is done:

1. Remove the roe deer loin, remove the silver skin and sinews from the back fillets and set them in a cold place.
2. Chop the bone and roast it in some fat.
3. Add 100 g coarsely chopped shallots and roast, add 5 slightly crushed juniper berries, 5 crushed white peppercorns, a slice of orange and ¼ apple cut into small pieces. Roast briefly, pour off the fat and fill everything with ¼ liter of brown game stock.
4. Add a star anise and a tablespoon of cranberry jelly and simmer the sauce for about 30 minutes.
5. Now strain the sauce through a fine sieve, add a glass of red wine and reduce until the sauce is just enough for the desired plates and has a slightly syrupy consistency.
6. Put in the sprig of thyme.
7. Thicken with 50 g cold butter (in cubes).
8. Cut the sheer saddle of venison into medallions of about 80 g, season with salt and pepper and sear on both sides in a pan with fat until hot and short.
9. Cook the meat in the oven at 160 °C for 6 to 8 minutes.
10. Wrap in aluminum foil and let rest for 5 minutes.
11. Just before serving, sauté in foaming butter with a sprig of thyme and 5 juniper berries pressed on.

Celery puree - this is how it is done:

1. Peel the celery root and cut it into cubes.
2. Sweat the celery cubes with the 50 g butter and add ¼ liter of cream and ¼ liter of light chicken stock.
3. Add a little lemon juice from half a lemon and cook the celery over low heat until soft.
4. Drain some stock and save for later.
5. Puree the celery with a blender.
6. Bring to the right consistency with the collected stock.
7. Finally, stir in 50 g cold butter cubes and season with salt and pepper.

Velvet hoods and figs - this is how it is done:

1. Clean the 200 g of velvet caps with a knife and rub them with a clean cloth. Do not wash the mushrooms.
2. Fry them in sunflower oil with color.
3. Add ½ tablespoon of diced shallots, a clove of garlic and some butter, salt and finish everything with a pinch of cayenne pepper, finely chopped leaf parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice.
4. Wash and dry the figs.
5. Caramelize 50 g sugar and deglaze with 100 ml port wine. Then add some cassis liqueur as well as 2 star anise and boil down until syrupy.
6. Add the dry figs and a sprig of thyme and glaze.