Chef, author, and innovator Silvia Baldini is best known for her cuisine of regional dishes from the mountains of Northern Italy, where she grew up.
"I love the kind of eating offered in the mountains. The simple ingredients, the smell of the fireplace, and the unforgettable desserts," she says. The Dolomites inspire many of her recipes, including a luxurious pink roasted venison with blueberries that she serves with creamy polenta.
An intimidating dish, but not for Silvia Baldini. As a graduate of the Cordon Bleu in London, Baldini has quite an award-winning career. In NYC, she worked as an Art Director on Madison Avenue, and in Europe, she trained in world-renowned Michelin Star restaurants, including Ottolenghi and the Ritz Carlton in London. Now a newly published cookbook author and guest on the Food Network's hit show Beat Bobby Flay, Baldini tells us that she also recently established her own creative food group called Strawberry and Sage.
Chef Silvia Baldini
Baldini has in-depth knowledge and passion for sustainable food, which is why she recommends using hunted venison in season whenever possible for this recipe. "If carefully sourced and correctly handled, venison is a regal meat that surpasses all others," she noted. Venison is the prime cut of any four-footed cervid – delicious with a very mild gamey taste. Grass-fed, free-range venison meat with no growth hormones or pesticides can be added to a healthy diet. It’s high in protein and iron, and a great substitute for beef.
And it’s the perfect meat for a recipe that truly embodies Baldini’s food and cooking philosophy. "Wholesome cooking and traditional wisdom is the key to living a happy and healthy life," she says. She explains that the meat may have a subtle taste of juniper or sage, depending on the diet of the deer. "There are many variations in flavor depending on the species."
Venison with blueberries is an ancient and well-respected combination. Many recipes call for frying or covering the venison with sauces that mask the flavor of the deer meat, but in this recipe, she gives a fresh take on the wild game – a modernized version of roasted venison. "I absolutely love the distinctive flavor of venison,” she comments. “It lends itself well to earthy autumnal flavors, like mushrooms and juniper, which are frequently paired with it in order to provide a fresh evergreen aroma to match its gamey flavors. I purposely pair it with sweet berries for contrast."
(ph Randazzo & Blau - food styling by Lisa Homa)
The lean game meat has a deep color and rich flavor that pairs well with fruit, a robust sauce, and fresh herbs. And since roasts are typically made with heavier meat, Baldini suggests serving lighter venison meat with plenty of autumnal vegetables for a well-balanced meal.
Venison is the perfect meat for impressing serious carnivores. This scrumptious, fragrant, rich, and flavorful dish will give your guests something truly unique and memorable. In the same way that red wine pairs well with rich red meats, the blueberry sauce in this recipe compliments the venison very well, adding a slightly sweet sharpness. Chef Baldini gives it just the right amount of depth and thickness by serving it over a silky, creamy polenta.
You can roast a leg of venison on the bone, but Baldini prefers the deboned version because it’s easier to carve, making it even more tender so it slices like butter. She suggests getting your local butcher to "tunnel bone the roast," a technique used to remove the leg bones without opening up the meat while still maintaining its shape. But if hunted venison is not available, the chef recommends ordering from a reputable butcher as an alternative – and if you’re in the tri-state area, she highly recommends Esposito, a butcher in NYC located on 9th Avenue and 38th Street.
Pink Roasted Venison with Blueberry Jam and Creamy Polenta by Silvia Baldini
Serves 8
- For the venison
Ingredients:
1 and ½ lb venison roast, connective tissue removed and tied (bottom or top-round)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 small celery stalk, diced
2 cups homemade veal or beef stock
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh sage
1 tbsp tomato paste
½ cup full-bodied red wine
3 or 4 juniper berries
1 tsp unsalted butter
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
With a sharp boning knife, remove any of the silvery skin, connective tissue and nerves. Set the scraps aside. Tie the meat with kitchen twine and season with salt and pepper. Brush and coat the meat with balsamic vinegar.
Heat an ovenproof cast-iron pan. Over high heat, sear the venison meat in the olive oil, searing it on all sides. Lower the temperature to medium. Add the diced onion, carrot, and celery and the reserved tissue scraps from before. Roast for a couple of minutes. Do not burn.
Add some of the broth and roast the meat in the preheated oven for one hour and 10 minutes or until the thermometer reaches 176°F (80°C). Remove pan from the oven. Cover the venison roast with herbs and wrap it in aluminum foil. Let rest.
Over medium heat, reheat the pan used to cook the venison. Add the tomato paste, stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Deglaze with red wine, cook for a couple of minutes then add the remaining stock. Cook and stir for a couple more minutes, then add the crushed juniper berries and blueberry jam (see recipe below).
Unwrap the venison, remove the herbs and untie it. Slice into one-inch-thick slices and arrange on a serving dish. Serve with blueberry sauce, a thick and creamy corn polenta (see recipe below), and sweet-and-sour cipollini onions with roasted wild mushrooms.
(ph by Silvia Baldini)
- For the creamy polenta
Ingredients:
5 cups milk
1 cup of polenta (medium grain cornmeal)
⅓ cup of mascarpone (3 oz)
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp coarse salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground white pepper
Method:
In a 2 quart heavy stainless steel saucepan, bring the milk to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to keep it from burning. Add the polenta in a slow stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Whisk until the milk is absorbed. Reduce heat to very low. (Use of a "flame tamer" is recommended).
Cook the polenta, stirring with a wooden spoon every 10 minutes for about one hour, or until the consistency is like a firm mashed potato. Stir in the mascarpone, butter, salt and white pepper.
- For the wild blueberry jam
Ingredients:
Venison trimmings from the roast
1 tbsp of butter
1 small shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 cup of chicken or veal stock
1 sprig of fresh thyme
Set aside juices from the venison roast
½ cup wild blueberry jam or frozen wild blueberries, plus an extra spoonful
1 shot of cognac or Genepi liquor
Salt and black pepper
Method:
Heat a small heavy-bottomed pan on medium-high. Sauté the venison trimmings in butter until browned and caramelized. Add the shallots, garlic, chicken stock, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then simmer. Add the reserved juices from the venison roast and the blueberry jam or frozen blueberries; skim the top with a slotted spoon and cook down to a saucy consistency (about 15 minutes). Adjust liquid if needed. (Do not over-reduce the sauce or it will turn into a glaze.) Add a shot of cognac or Genepi liquor and let the alcohol cook off for a couple of minutes. Filter and adjust salt and pepper if needed.
Add a spoonful of blueberry jam or frozen berries and set aside until just before serving.