Venison and beetroot with young cabbage and caraway croquettes

Place the beetroot juice, salt and agar agar in the saucepan. Bring to the boil, whisking constantly

Add the vinegar and then pour into a large bowl or tray. Transfer to the fridge until firm and set

Caramelise the bones and trimmings for the juniper venison sauce until golden brown, first in the oil then in the butter. This will take around 30 minutes in total

Remove the bones from the sauce, leaving the butter in the pan

Caramelise the mirepoix vegetables (onion, carrot, leek and celery) in the foaming butter, then mix the cooked mirepoix with two thirds of the bones

Deglaze the pan with the Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar and reduce it down to a glaze

Add the mirepoix and bone mixture, red wine, brown chicken stock and cream

Bring everything to the boil, skim off any scum, and then simmer for 40 minutes

Strain off the sauce, passing it through a fine sieve, and then return to the pan

Bring the sauce to the boil, and add mushrooms, juniper berries, red wine vinegar reduction and the remaining third of the trimmings. Cook for 20 minutes

Pass the sauce through a fine mesh strainer again, and then return back to the pan

Finish the sauce with brandy and blackcurrant jam, then taste and correct the seasoning as needed

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Line the bottom of the small roasting dish with half of the sage, rosemary, thyme, garlic and juniper berries

Line the aromatics with hay, then arrange the ruby beetroots on top (make sure ruby goes on the bottom). Season lightly with salt and pepper

Add another layer of hay and then arrange the rest of the beetroots on top, and season lightly with salt and pepper again

Put the rest of the herbs, garlic, and juniper on top and top with a final layer of hay

Place the roasting dish over a high heat and leave for a couple of minutes until it starts smoking

Add the water and cover with tin foil

Roast the beetroots in the oven for 1 hour

Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly for about 30 minutes

Peel beetroots and trim their roots. Thinly slice a few of the golden beetroots and cut any bigger beetroots in half. Season the golden beetroots with the dressing and a little more salt, and then in a separate bowl season and dress the remaining beetroots

Mix the julienned cabbage with the salt, and then set aside for 15 minutes

Rinse the cabbage and then pat it thoroughly dry

Heat up a dash of oil in a large pan, and then add the bacon lardons. Cook them until the lardons are lightly caramelised

Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat behind

Add the cabbage and caraway seeds to the pan, and cook in the bacon fat until slightly softened and browned

Deglaze the pan with the vinegar

Add the chicken stock and butter, and then reduce until the butter is emulsified and the cabbage is cooked

Remove from the heat, then add the mustard and cooked lardons

Shave the celery with a speed peeler into thick, long slices. Place in ice water for an hour or so to crisp up

Emulsify all the ingredients for the salad dressing together with a hand blender

Blitz all the crêpe ingredients together with a hand blender until there are no lumps

Cook the crêpes a small ladle at a time in a lightly greased nonstick frying pan over a medium to medium-low heat. You don’t want them to be too thin, as they should be fairly toothsome in the croquettes. This makes enough for about 15 crêpes

Next, make the croquettes. Spread a 5 mm thick layer of cabbage on each pancake

Roll tight and seal with egg yolk

Pané each croquette in flour, egg and finally panko

Preheat the oven to 160°C and heat up a few centimetres of oil to 160°C in a large, deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan

Deep-fry the croquettes until golden brown and finish in the oven for 5 minutes until hot

Cut each croquette into 3 cm-thick sections

Pan-fry the venison in oil until browned on all sides

Add the butter, rosemary and thyme. Baste the venison in the foaming butter constantly for about 4 minutes, or until it’s 45°C at the thickest part of the fillet 

Put to the side in a warm space to rest for 10 minutes

To plate the dish, place a quenelle of beetroot gel in the centre of the plate, and place a cabbage croquette next to it. Carve the venison into three slices, season each with salt and pepper and then place them next to the croquette and beetroot gel. Scatter the seasoned, dressed baby beetroots and top with celery salad. Finish with juniper sauce and serve