Venison Burger with spiced Apple

Writing a recipe book for me is an adventure It’s exciting developing recipes and just this week I was kindly given some venison last week to develop a recipe with by Polly from Rutting Reds Venison near Daventry. It’s a delight to pick apples form the tree in my garden walk into the kitchen and cook them up to serve with local meat. The Venison is a treat - it’s tender, surprisingly juicy considering it’s a low fat meat and was so good it needed little adding to it at all. Aside from being utterly delicious venison is a healthy option because it is low in saturated fat and yet high in protein and iron. Ideal for people who want to watch their cholesterol but still have good red meat. Coupled with the slightly tart spiced apple it is a light fresh tasting burger and the apple compliments the rich natural flavor of the venison perfectly.

Makes 4 burgers

Spiced apple

250g of cubed cooking apple

30g caster sugar

juice of 1 lemon

1tbs garam masala

Burger

500g minced venison

4 tbs Bread Crumbs

3 tbs Worcester sauce

Large pinch of salt

Salad to dress

Method

1 For the Spiced apple place all the ingredients in a pan and bring the liquid to a light boil very gently simmer for about 3 minutes. Don’t be tempted to over do it. You are looking for firm chunks’ not mush. The Apple will continue to cook even as you take it off the heat, so leave the lid on and the apples will soften further with out losing their shape.

2 In the mean time place all the ingredients for the burgers into a bowl and mix together well. Form into 4 equal sized patties by squeezing the meat together gently in the shape of a burger. Venison doesn’t shrink in the same way beef does.. because of the low fat content, so make your patties the right size for the baps.

3 Cook your burgers under the grill for about 2 – 3 minutes each side. I like mine rare ..but judge how you like your meat. – don’t keep flipping you burger – these are home made and need to be treated gently.. just cook one side and turn to cook on the other.

4 Place the burgers onto the baps, with a handful of salad - top with the spiced apple and serve immediately.

For more information about Rutting Reds go to www.ruttingreds.com