Dinner in the Chameleon Restaurant under the direction of Executive Sous Chef Matthias Hoffstaedter is a classy affair. The menu is modern in concept and reflects the hotel's intent to source local product and emphasise New Zealand ingredients. We watched as Matthias kept the food flowing into the dining room, every dish passing under his critical eye.
The kitchen seemed calm and ordered, each member of the team contributing to such dishes as "Wairarapa venison chop and chocolate-scented mini hunter's pie topped with mashed potatoes and green beans and shaved hazelnuts."
Here's the hunter's pie cooked by me using Matthias's recipe but presented in a more homely style. This is a very rich dish.
Ingredients
| 1 kg | Venison, shoulder, diced into 1cm cubes (Main) |
| 1 | Celeriac, or celery |
| 1 | Carrot |
| 2 | Onions, diced |
| 5 | Garlic cloves, chopped |
| 3 | Bay leaves |
| 2 cloves | Fresh garlic |
| 4 | Juniper berries |
| 4 sprigs | Fresh thyme |
| 500 ml | Red wine |
| 300 ml | Beef stock, or chicken |
| 100 g | Redcurrant jelly |
| 200 g | Cooking chocolate, 72% |
| 1 Ltr | Water |
Mashed potatoes
| 50 g | Butter |
| 500 g | Agria potatoes (Main) |
| 2 | Eggs, yolks |
| 1 | Nutmeg, fresh |
| 1 to taste | Salt & freshly ground pepper |
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Directions
- Heat up 20ml of oil in a large pot and brown the venison, set aside.
- Put the vegetables and garlic into the pot and saute for a few minutes. Add the venison back to the pot and deglaze with the red wine. Reduce the red wine by half on a steady heat.
- Add the stock, water and bag of spices and simmer for 1½ hours with the lid on.
- Remove the spices, stir in the chocolate and redcurrant jelly, season to taste with salt and pepper. The chocolate will thicken the sauce, of which you will have plenty.
- Place this into a casserole dish and top with mashed potatoes
- Boil the potatoes until soft, strain and thoroughly drain.
- Mash them, allow to cool a little, then mash in the butter and egg yolks.
- Season with freshly grated nutmeg and salt and pepper.
- Place the potato topped pie into a 200C oven and bake for 15 minutes.
