Directions

• Venison
• Season the venison haunch with salt and pepper.
• Submerge the meat in a bowl with the red wine and a bouquet garni. Cover with cling film and marinate for 12h.
• Next day, remove the meat from the marinade.
• Pat dry the venison and discard the marinade.
• Sear the meat for 1min on every side at very high heat.
• Remove it from the pan and let the meat cool.
• Vegetable layer
• Soak the dried mushroom in warm water for 20-30min (depending how old they are).
• Once they are rehydrated, remove the mushrooms carefully, try not to move the water too much. Any impurities will settle down on the bottom.
• If you have any paper filter (like for brewing coffee), pass the mushroom water through the filter. Reserve the water.
• Chop finely the rehydrated mushrooms.
• Heat up the same pan that you used for searing the venison.
• Add some of the reserved mushroom water to deglaze the surface.
• Add the butter and the onions, sauté until translucent.
• Add the mushrooms and cook until fragrant.
• Next, add the spinach and sauté for another 5 min until all the water has evaporated. Remove the vegetables from the pan and cool them down.
• Pâté
• Sear the pâté at high heat. It should be caramelised on both sides.
• Remove from the pan and cool it down.
• Cabbage
• Blanch the leaves of cabbage in a salty water for 6min.
• Dry the leaves fully using a paper towel. Place them on a flat surface and let them cool.
• Sides
• Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the grapes into an ovenproof dish.
• Roast them for 10min, take them out just when you see the first juice oozing out.
• Take a small pot, add the butter and drizzle with some olive oil.
• Place the endive in the pot and pour in enough water to cover the endive. Season with salt.
• Cook at low heat until tender.
• Remove from the pot.
• Repeat the same procedure with the turnips and the beetroot.
• Place a pan at very high heat.
• Drizzle some olive oil.
• Fry the calçot just until it reaches a deep brown colour from both sides.
• Using the same pan, sear the turnips and the endive.
• Shaping the pithivier
• Take a bowl with a diameter of roughly 12-14cm and the height of 10-13cm.
• Line it up with a cling film.
• First, line up the inside of the bowl with the cabbage leaves.
• Spread a thin layer of the sautéed vegetables on the cabbage.
• First place the seared pate in the middle and then the venison.
• Fill up any gaps using the vegetables in a way that the bottom is flat.
• Cover it tightly with a plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
• You need to make sure that the ingredients are congealed (1-2h).
• Cut off two circles of the puff pastry. The first circle must be 1.5cm wider than the bowl that you used to shape the pithivier.
• The second circle should be big enough to cover the top of the pithivier (it was 4cm wider than the diameter of the bowl in our case).
• Place the shaped filling on the top on the smaller circle.
• Brush the 1.5cm rind of the pastry with water (that will help two sheets of the pastry stick to each other).
• Cover the filling with the other sheet of the puff pastry. Make sure that the pastry tightly covers the filling.
• On the top of the pithivier, make a little hole (3mm diameter). That will help the pastry retain its shape, instead of puffing up.
• Brush the pithivier with an egg wash and place in the fridge without covering it.
• Once the first layer is dry, brush it again and refrigerate for another 2-3h.
• If you wish, you can score a pattern on the top of your pithivier.
• Bake at 180C for 20min.
• After that time, check the temperature of the meat which should reach 54C.
• Return the pithivier to the oven if the temperature of the meat is below that.
• Sauce
• Take a small saucepan and add the glace, water and sherry vinegar.
• Bring it to boil. Add the cold butter and whisk it vigorously until the sauce is emulsified.
• If the sauce is too liquidy, add a little of Xanthan gum to get the correct viscosity.