Venison haunch is superbly tender and lean - all the more tender if you cook it pink or very pink (cook it thoroughly and you risk toughening and drying it out). It is nolonger necessary to marinade venison, it is farmed and guaranteed not to be old and tough, but marinade makes a great sauce so here we go...

Serve with roast potatoes (use goose fat) or dauphinois, greens and/or roasted sweet root vegetables.

Ingredients - serves 4 1kg venison haunch roast 1 tbsp olive oil salt, pepper marinade: 3 tbsp olive oil 300ml red wine sprig of thyme 2 bay leaves 5 juniper berries, crushed strip of dried orange peel for sauce: 300ml beef stock 1 tbsp cumberland sauce 20g butter

Method

1 Place all the marinade ingredients in a bowl with the haunch joint and chill for several hours or overnight.

2 Preheat the oven to 220°C
Remove joint from the marinade (reserve for the sauce), pat dry, brush with olive oil and brown on all sides over high heat in a frying pan. Transfer to a roasting pan, season with salt and pepper and roast for 15 minutes. Lower the oven to 180°C and cook for a further 25-35 minutes (15 minutes/450g plus 15 minutes for medium-rare result) then move to a warm dish to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

3 Strain the marinade and add it to the roasting pan and meat juices. Bring to the boil and reduce rapidly to a syrupy sauce before adding the beef stock. Simmer until you have a good flavour and then stir in cumberland sauce and finally the butter - swirling to incorporate and produce a glossy sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and spoon over slices of perfectly pink, succulent venison.