Kudu steak with port and juniper sauce, caramelised red onions and quince jelly-glazed carrots. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
Kudu is as lean as meat can be, so cooking it in butter is a fine idea. It needs some sweetness, so I caramelised red onion, glazed some julienne carrots and made a quick deglaze sauce with Boplaas port, a few juniper berries and some ground black pepper.
(Per 1 portion)
Ingredients
1 x 250 g kudu loin steak
5 or 6 juniper berries
Ground black pepper
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp quince (or apple) jelly (2 for the steak sauce, 1 for the carrots)
¼ cup/ 4 Tbsp white wine
¼ cup/ 4 Tbsp port
2 or 3 sprigs thyme
1 medium red onion, halved and then sliced thinly
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot, cut into julienne strips
2 Tbsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Peel and julienne the carrot and put it in a pot with a thyme sprig, a tablespoon of quince jelly and water just to cover. Bring to a boil and cook rapidly until most of the liquid has cooked away; you’re looking for a syrupy glaze. If the carrots are tender (but not too soft) before the water has boiled away enough, remove them with a slotted spoon and continue boiling. Return the carrots once the glaze is perfect, and season with a little salt and pepper.
Slice the halved onion and sauté in olive oil until caramelised. They don’t need sugar or anything else sweet added to them; their own sweet juices, as it were, will come to the fore.
Make sure the steak is dry, and season it with salt on both sides. Melt butter in a hot skillet and cook the steak until tender and rare or medium rare, as per your preference. Remove the steak and keep it warm.
Add a little white wine and juniper berries to the skillet and cook on a high heat until reduced by half, then whisk in the mustard. Add the port and quince jelly and reduce until you have a sticky sauce, not too runny. Whisk in the mustard.
Multiply the recipe according to the number you’re feeding, and drink a toast to small-town butcheries that take the trouble to source good quality meat. DM/TGIFood
To enquire about Tony Jackman’s book, foodSTUFF (Human & Rousseau) please email him at tony@dailymaverick.co.za
SUBSCRIBE: Our Thank God It’s Food newsletter is sent to subscribers every Friday at 6pm, and published on the TGIFood platform on Daily Maverick. It’s all about great reads on the themes of food and life. Subscribe here.