Venison fillet with blackberry sauce

'Blackberries give everyone the right to call themselves a forager. Who hasn’t walked down a lane and picked a few to nibble along the way? I’ve paired them here with venison and juniper berries, which feels perfectly timed for country-house dinner parties over the shooting season'

Venison fillet with blackberry and juniper-berry sauce and creamy polenta

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 litre milk 180g polenta 50g butter 100ml single cream 150g Parmesan Seasoning 20g butter 2 shallots 1 clove 2 juniper berries, crushed A few sprigs of fresh thyme A couple of sprigs of rosemary 1tbspn sugar 50g mushrooms, sliced 100ml ruby Port 100ml red wine 150ml beef stock 150g blackberries 4 venison fillets 50g crushed peppercorns 50g sea salt, such as Maldon

Method Preheat your oven to 200˚C/400˚F/gas mark 6. Scatter the crushed peppercorns and salt over a chopping board and roll the venison across it. Add a knob of butter to a large frying pan and sear the meat all over for a few minutes, then cook the fillets in a roasting dish for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, using the same pan, add a further knob of butter, plus the chopped shallot, clove, crushed juniper berries, thyme, rosemary, sugar and mushrooms. Stir for a few minutes for the flavours to release and then pour the Port, wine and stock into the pan. Simmer until it’s reduced by half before adding the blackberries, heating for a few minutes.

Simmer the milk in a large saucepan, add the polenta and keep stirring for a few minutes until thickened. Once thick, add the butter, cream, Parmesan and seasoning. Spoon onto plates, top with the venison fillets and drizzle the sweet blackberry-and-juniper sauce over them. Serve immediately.