Venison tartare with Ossetra caviarPhoto: Ilya Kagan

Venison Tartare with Ossetra Caviar

Name: Venison Tartare with Ossetra Caviar
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: Venison Tartare; 450 g aged venison tenderloin; 50 g finely chopped sweet Cevennes onions; 50 g sweet and sour cornichons, cut into brunoise; Dried caviar; 1 dl olive oil; Fleur de sel, freshly ground pepper; Wild Sorrel Powder; 3 bunches wild sorrel; Liquid nitrogen; Smoked Mayonnaise with Wild Sorrel; 2 egg yolks; 18 g mustard; 25 cl smoked sunflower oil; 1 cl warm Melfort vinegar; 2 tbsp wild sorrel powder; Salt, freshly ground pepper; Wild Sorrel Ice Cubes; 60 g wild sorrel powder; 10 cl water; 1 cl gin; Zest of half a lime; Seasonal flowers; Flat-Leaf Parsley and Lovage Oil; 200 g flat-leaf parsley and lovage; 20 cl grapeseed oil; Finishing and Plating; 40 g "Prestige" Oscietra caviar by Kaviari; Olive oil; Green and red sorrel

Recipe by Olivier Nasti, Meilleur Ouvrier de France, Le Chambard (Kaysersberg, Alsace)

Aged venison tenderloin, finely chopped like tartare, refined with dried caviar, smoked mayonnaise, and a wild sorrel ice cube that melts in the palm of your hand when served: Olivier Nasti, two-Michelin-starred chef of Le Chambard in Kaysersberg, Alsace, celebrates game in its purest form with “L'Insolite”. A signature dish that brings craftsmanship and wild herb cuisine to perfection.

Time

90 min

Servings

Serves 6

Difficulty

advanced

Preparation

1
Venison tartare: Trim and remove tendons from the venison tenderloin, then finely hand-chop into tartare with a knife. Fold in the finely chopped onions, brunoised cornichons, and a splash of olive oil. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and dried caviar grated with a Microplane.
2
Wild sorrel powder: Wash the sorrel and strip the stems. Freeze using liquid nitrogen and process in a Thermomix into a very fine powder. Transfer immediately and store in the freezer.
3
Smoked mayonnaise: Whisk the mayonnaise using the smoked sunflower oil and warm Melfort vinegar. Stir in the wild sorrel powder.
4
Wild sorrel ice cubes: Mix the sorrel powder with the water and strain through a sieve. Add the gin and lime zest grated with a Microplane. Fill cling-film-lined ring molds (Ø 6.4 cm) with 7 g of sorrel water per mold and freeze. Unmold the ice cubes and store them in the freezer.
5
Parsley-lovage oil: Purée the flat-leaf parsley and lovage in a Thermomix for 2 minutes. Gradually incorporate the oil previously heated to 140 °C. Strain through a kitchen towel set over ice to lock in the vibrant green color.
6
Plating: Shape 15 g of venison tartare per person inside six ring molds (Ø 6.5 cm). Top with 10 g of caviar without pressing down. Arrange on plates and add a dollop of smoked mayonnaise. Gently warm an ice cube in the palm of your hand and place it on top of the composition. Drizzle splashes of parsley oil and olive oil as well as some wood sorrel around it. Finish with a few crystals of fleur de sel.

Tip

The highlight of the dish is the melting ice cube: since it is only warmed in the palm of your hand during plating and not melted completely, it should remain frozen until the very last moment and only be placed on the dish at the table or immediately before serving; this preserves the texture between freshness and melting richness.

If you do not have liquid nitrogen on hand, you can dry the wild sorrel in a dehydrator or at a low oven temperature as a substitute, and then grind it finely; the powder will be slightly less vibrant green, but works just as well flavorwise in the mayonnaise and ice cubes.

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