Game recipes

Persian Venison Meatballs with Apricots, Saffron Yoghurt and Pomegranate
by Rachel Green
Serves: 4
Ingredients
400g venison mince, coarsely ground
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
100g breadcrumbs
1 large egg
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Small bunch dill, finely chopped
Small bunch coriander, finely chopped
Small bunch mint, finely chopped
50g pine nuts
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp ground allspice
Sea salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
Rapeseed oil, for frying
Coriander, coarsely chopped, to serve
mint, coarsely chopped, to serve
Dill, coarsely chopped, to serve
Natural yoghurt, to serve
Pomegranate seeds, to serve

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/375°F/gas mark 4. In a large bowl, using your hands, mix together the venison, onion, breadcrumbs, egg, garlic, herbs, pine nuts, flour and spices and season with salt and pepper. Keeping your hands wet with cold water shape the mixture into golf ball size balls. Chill for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and sear the meatballs all over. Remove from the heat and put onto a roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.
Serve with the chopped coriander, mint, dill, yoghurt and pomegranate seeds scattered over.

Peking mallard breasts with hoi sin, spring onions & cucumber, Chinese pancakes
by Rob Green
Serves: 2
Ingredients
2 wild mallard breasts, skin on (if you’re feeling peckish, you can use 3!)
Salt flakes
Knob of butter or sunflower oil for cooking
For the marinade
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
Dash of sesame oil
½ tsp five spice powder
1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
For the garnish
½ cucumber halved and sliced into thin strips
4 spring onions, topped and tailed and thinly sliced
8 Chinese pancakes (available in specialist stores or online here)
120ml hoisin sauce

Method
For the marinade, score the skin on the duck breasts in a crisscross pattern. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and pour over the duck, gently rubbing into the meat. Cover with Clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight, if time allows.
Preheat the oven to 150°C/130°C (fan)/gas mark 2.
Take the duck out of the fridge and bring to room temperature. Now, take it out of the marinade and brush off any excess. Sprinkle salt on both sides of the duck. Put a large frying pan onto a medium-low heat and add a knob of butter (be careful not to burn) or some sunflower oil. Cook the duck breast, skin side down.
A small wild duck only needs about 3 to 4 minutes for the skin to crisp up, then you flip the duck breast to cook the other side, until it reaches medium or medium-rare in the centre (2 to 3 minutes). It takes 4 to 5 minutes if you like it well done.
Once cooked to your preference, take the duck out of the pan and loosely cover with foil to rest for at least 5 minutes. In the meantime, heat the pancakes in the warm oven. Carve the mallard breasts thinly, or shred if well done.
Slice the cucumber into fine matchsticks. Top and tail the spring onions, and then slice into thin matchsticks.
Put the spring onions, cucumber, hoisin sauce and duck into separate bowls. Take the pancakes out of the oven and serve.

Sweet and Sour Rabbit
by Rachel Green
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
Rapeseed oil
4 rabbit legs, or 1 whole rabbit jointed
300ml hot chicken stock
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
2 cardamom pods
2 garlic cloves, peeled
½ tbsp coriander seeds
6 black peppercorns
Sea salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
1 red chilli, finely chopped, to serve
2 tsp chopped coriander leaves, to serve
Zest of 1 lime, to serve
For the sweet and sour sauce
150ml malt vinegar
150g caster sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 small red chilli, chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tbsp tamarind paste
4 x star anise
½ pineapple, skin, eyes and core removed, diced

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/360°F/gas mark 4
Heat a good slug of rapeseed oil in a flameproof casserole dish, add the rabbit legs and cook until golden brown and sealed on all sides. Remove from the dish.
Add the stock to the dish and deglaze, scraping up all the roasting juices with a wooden spoon. Stir in the split vanilla pod, cardamom, garlic, coriander seeds and black peppercorns, then add the rabbit legs to the stock.
Cover the dish and place in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until the rabbit is tender. Remove the legs from the dish and set aside. Strain the cooking liquid through a sieve into a saucepan and cook on the hob until reduced by half.
To make the sauce, put the vinegar and sugar in a saucepan and heat over a medium heat to a light caramel colour. Add the soy sauce, chilli, ginger, tamarind paste, star anise and pineapple and cook for a further 2 minutes. Stir in the reduced rabbit stock and cook for another 2 minutes. Return the rabbit legs to the pan and turn them in the sauce to glaze. Season to taste. Lift the legs out, place onto a serving dish and pour over the sauce. Sprinkle with the chopped chilli and coriander and finish with the lime zest.
Serve with steamed jasmine rice with toasted sesame seeds.

The Eat Game Awards are an original and national way of celebrating the innovators, creators and revolutionaries in the wild game world. They bring together the best chefs, farmers’ market stalls, creative producers, restaurants, pubs, butchers, estate managers and retailers in the country, all nominated and voted for by the general public.
Adam Henson, farmer and rural TV presenter and this year’s MC at the EGAs is a fan: “Farming is my first love, but other rural pursuits run a close second. One of those is the game industry, which provides a sustainable and wild source of really good food for people to enjoy. I think that people are a little afraid of game, because they’re not sure how to get hold of, handle or cook it.”
Nominating and voting: www.eatgameawards.co.uk/nomination.
Taste of Game (ToG) demo kitchen will be at Countryfile Live
show at Castle Howard from August 15 to 18.

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