Ingredients
- Two Large Split Beef Bones
- Venison Haunch
- Beef Stock
- ½ can of Pulp Italian Tomatoes
- Red Wine
- 1 Onion, 2 sticks Celery, 4 Carrots
- Panko Breadcrumbs
- 6 Large Baking Potatoes
- Tangy Cheddar Cheese
- Egg
- Crème Fraiche
- Rosemary
- Salt and Pepper
- Lemon
- Butter
- Parsley
- Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp of Tomato Puree
Method
Pre heat the Oven to 200°C/400°F.
Bake your 6 Potatoes in the oven for around an hour.
Take your split bones and place on a baking tray, supported as necessary to remain upright. Mike uses sterilised gravel (which he also uses to serve). Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and place in the oven to soften. This will only take around 5 minutes as you do not want to cook the bone marrow, just loosen.
Take your venison haunch and hand chop – chop across the grain which will help with the cooking process. This will take some time, but the result will be worth it.
Remove the bones from the oven and scoop out the softened marrow into a frying pan. Put the empty bones back into the oven where they will roast with the potatoes. Gently warm the marrow and allow to render.
In a separate frying pan pour some of the bone marrow juices and start to fry off the venison. *Chefs tip* When browning meat be sure to heat the pan first and brown the meat in sections being sure to not overload the pan. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Prepare your vegetables. Remove both ends of the carrots and cut into rough oblongs. Dice into small even squares. Take two sticks of celery, split down the middle and chop into small pieces of similar size to the carrots. Finely dice an Onion. Grate 2 cloves of garlic. Chop everything small for this recipe as the bones are not overly spacious.
Deglaze the venison pan with the vegetables, as they soften chop up the remaining solid bone marrow. Add the browned venison back to the pan and stir in the chopped bone marrow. Add a tablespoon of tomato puree and pour in a glass of red wine and let the alcohol cook off. Add half a can of Italian pulp tomatoes and stir through. Season with Salt and Pepper.
Add a good glug of beef stock (you can buy this from most supermarkets if you don’t make your own) and stir through. Finally nestle in two sprigs of Rosemary and allow to cook and reduce for 15 minutes. Remove the rosemary and add a splash of balsamic vinegar. Allow the pan to come down to room temperature before placing into a fridge and chilling for around 10 minutes. This will allow the ragu to set and make piping easier.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and place onto a cooling rack. Cut in half and allow to steam for several minutes. Take a large pan and add a large chunk of butter and two cups of crème fraiche. Finally scrape the remaining fat from the bone marrow rendering into the pan. Stir and cook into an emulsion.
Take the potatoes, remove the flesh from the skins and push through a sieve. You will end up with a bowl of super fine, fluffy, dry mash. Pour most of the emulsion into the potatoes and mix until you have a smooth consistency. Grate in 2 cups of cheddar cheese and mix well, the warmth of the potatoes will melt the cheese into the potato. Add he mash back into the pan with the small amount of emulsion that you retained and work together until the mash looks like silk. Add the yolk of an egg (make sure the mash is not too hot when you add this) and a handful of finely chopped parsley. Season to taste. *Chefs tip* when seasoning Mash that you want to keep creamy white, use white pepper.
Spoon both the mash and the ragu into separate piping bags. Make a Persillade with finely chopped Parsley, lemon zest and panko breadcrumbs. You will use this as a crunchy topping when you serve your dish.
Pipe the ragu into the hollow of the bones and top with the piped mash, finally sprinkle over the persillade. Place in the Traeger at 240°C/465°F for around 15 minutes until the potato is golden.
Serve on a gravelled plate with a teaspoon and dig in!!