These days our market stall has game abundantly. I love that about this season! I can try new things again and again, because there are so many different kinds of game and so many different pieces. We also buy game ahead, because soon the season for game is over. But game is always so delicious, so we evacuate and freeze it.
I also prefer game, because it’s lean, but nonetheless very tasty.
So recently we bought, cooked and ate wild boar for the first time. We made a boneless leg accompanied with a rose hip sauce. It might sound extraordinary, but it is not so much. You just put some rose hip jam in the sauce, which you can easily buy in Germany, for example from Maintal or you can make it yourself as I did once. It also taste scrumptious for breakfast. So it’s not an investment to have regrets about ;).
Neither the one for the wild boar, because it’s so delicate. We are no fans of pork anymore, because it has some strange taste to us. No idea why. Although I want to try the pork from the butcher at the market, since they have a special breed. The wild boar has a pleasant vigorous flavour, without tasting like game, if you know what I mean. And the roast was incredibly tender! Luckily we have one more in the freezer!
By all means, this dish is a candidate for your Christmas meal!
One year ago: homemade chocolate bars
Two years ago: eggnog & gingerbread
Boneless Leg of Wild Boar with Rose Hip Sauce
adapted from Winterküche by Tanja Dusy
for 3 portions (can easily be multiplied)
Ingredients:
- 700-800 g boneless leg of wild boar
- salt, pepper
- 1,5-2 Tbsp flour
- 10 g dried porcini
- 1 onion, diced finely
- 1 piece celeriac (75 g)
- 1 carrot
- 1/2 tsp juniper berries
- 1/4 tsp black peppercorns
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1 small sprig rosemary
- 1,5 Tbsp tomato paste
- 250 ml red wine
- 600 ml game stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pinch allspice
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch (or more to your taste)
- 3 Tbsp cream
- 2 Tbsp rose hip jam
- clarified butter (or sunflower oil)
Wash the meat and pat it dry. Cut of possible fat or sinews, I hadn’t any of this. Tie it tight with kitchen twine. Season with salt and pepper and dust it with flour all around. Press the flour on the meat, brush off the excess flour.
In a small bowl rinse the porcini with 125 ml hot water for 10 minutes.
Peel the celeriac and the carrot and cut in 1 cm cubes .
Ground the junpier berries and the peppercorns in a mortar. Wash the herbs and pat them dry.
Preheat the oven to 180° C.
Heat 2 Tbsp of clarified butter or sunflower oil in a dutch oven. Sear the meat all around, then take it out.
Drain the porcini, but keep the water. Chop the porcini coarsely.
Add some more oil or clarified butter if needed. Add the onions and the vegetables and sauté them, until they begin to brown. Add the tomato paste, juniper berries and pepper and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add a splash red wine and let it reduce completely. Repeat that two times. Add the rest of the wine, the game stock and the porcini water, as well as the herbs, porcini, allspice and the bay leaf. Place the meat in the dutch oven and place in the oven.
Cook without a lid for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 140° C and cook with a lid for another 1 hour and 15 minutes (for the double amount of meat 15 minutes longer). It’s best to use a meat thermometer, so you can easily see when the meat is done. So it’s not raw inside or already dry. For me it’s a great help in the kitchen!
Turn the meat one or two times while cooking .
Remove the meat from the dutch oven and pack it in aluminium foil. Pour the sauce through a fine mesh strainer, slightly squeeze the vegetables to release the juice. Heat the sauce in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Mix the cornstarch with the double amount of water and add to the boiling sauce. Wait until the sauce thickens. If you like it even thicker add more cornstarch dissolved in water and repeat the previous step.
Reduce the heat and add the cream and the rose hip jam, stir and season with salt and pepper. I didn’t need to season at all, since the sauce had already the perfect flavour, because of the homemade game stock! It just pays off to make you own stock!
Remove the kitchen twine. Cut the meat into slices and serve with the sauce and side dishes of your choice (for example: potato dumplings, pasta or potato casserole). You can keep the remaining meat easily warm in the oven (the residual heat is enough, no need to heat it again).
