Venison

Butterflied Deer Leg With Sautéed Spring Veggies and Salsa Verde

  • Preparation
    15 min
  • Cook Time
    25 min
  • Serves
    4
  • Difficulty
    6/10

Behind the Recipe

Even though I’m a hunter, I get really excited about vegetables, too.

And nothing tells me that spring has arrived more than being able to get morels, ramson, asparagus and new potatoes.

This recipe is simply made up from these few ingredients, including fallow-fawn, and served with salsa verde. Simple, easy, and super tasty.

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 deer leg. Fallow Deer is used here, but any venison will work.
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • 2 sprigs of sage
  • 1 half of a lemon peel
  • 1 bulb of garlic
  • Olive oil
  • 2 handfuls of flatleaf parsley
  • 1 handful of mint
  • 1 handful of basil
  • 7 anchovy fillets
  • 1 tbsp of capers
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • ½ tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • The juice from half a lemon
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 250g of new potatoes, parboiled and halved
  • 2 bunches of asparagus
  • 1 large handful of fresh peas
  • 200g of morels
  • 1 bunch of ramson

Preparation


The Meat
  • Preheat your Nexgrill to high.
  • Take a knife along the deer’s thighbone, and carefully remove the meat from it.
  • You should now have the four muscle groups in one piece on your cutting board. Take your knife and make an incision halfway into the flesh on each side, where the meat is thicker, and open it up like a book.
  • Marinate the meat with the herbs, the full bulb of garlic, lemon peel and some olive oil. Set aside and prep the rest of the recipe.

Salsa Verde
  • Moving on to the salsa verde, pound the anchovies in a mortar with 1 clove of garlic and a pinch of salt.
  • Chop up the parsley, mint and basil as finely as you can, then transfer them into a bowl with the garlicy anchovies.
  • Add the Dion mustard, red wine vinegar, lemon juice and some olive oil into the herb bowl and mix until it has a consistency like pesto.
  • Chop up the capers and add to the mix, sprinkling in salt and pepper. Set aside and start on the veggies.

The Veggies
  • Take a large skillet or cast-iron pan and set it over high heat on the stove. Add in the potatoes and 2 tbsp of olive oil.
  • Once the potatoes are getting a little color, add in the morals and another clove of garlic.
  • After a couple minutes, add in the asparagus, peas, ad ramson.
  • Season with salt and pepper, adding a little lemon juice. Adjust the seasoning for more or less, if you prefer.

Cooking Instructions


  1. 1

    Season the deer liberally with salt and pepper, then place on the grill

  2. 2

    Close the lid, and grill 7-8 minutes on each side, until your meat is at medium-rare.

  3. 3

    Take the meat off the heat and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

  4. 4

    Slice up the deer thinly, going against the grain.

  5. 5

    Plate with the veggies and a tablespoon of salsa verde per plate. Buon Appetito!

Let’s be friends!

Follow us on social media and fill us in on all your grilling adventures using #EveryonesInvited. We promise to keep you up to date with all our latest grill tips, stories, recipes, and more—everything you need to stay satisfied between cookouts.

Looking for more recipes to get under your belt? Check out the rest of our unique grilling ideas to get the most out of your grill.

Try Pairing It With These Other Recipes