Bbq venison leg fillet with eggplant parmigiana grilled asparagus and tomato fondant

Ingredients

• 2 leg fillets (800g) of venison
• 1 large eggplant
• 1 punnet of cherry Italian acid free tomatoes
• 1 bunch of fresh asparagus
• 1 head of garlic
• 200ml of EVO olive oil
• 2 cups of panko breadcrumbs
• 50g of good Parmesan cheese grated fine
• 1 egg
• ½ cup of seasoned flour (salt and pepper)
• Fresh herbs – Basil, thyme, Italian parsley, oregano (handful of each)
• 50ml of Balsamic vinegar
• 100ml of vegetable oil for shallow frying the crumbed eggplant
• Sea salt and black pepper

Peparation

• Remove stems from the Basil, reserve a few leaves for garnish and chop the remainder fine with the rest of the herbs.
• Marinade the venison in this mix with 50ml of olive oil for at least an hour before cooking.
• Place tomatoes in a small pan or heat proof dish with the garlic broken into cloves and de-husked, and cover with remaining olive oil and the chopped stems of the Basil.
• Place in the oven at 100 deg C for two hours until tomatoes are just softened but still whole. This can be prepared well ahead of time.
• Peel the asparagus stems at the bottom.
• Slice the eggplant lengthways about 8-10 mm thick, brush with olive oil and grill each side until brown and eggplant is just soft.
• Beat eggs with a little water. Season the flour with salt and pepper and mix Parmesan cheese with panko crumbs. Crumb the eggplant and set aside.
• On a hot grill or BBQ, season the venison with cracked pepper and salt and sear until well browned. Continue cooking until an internal temperature of 50 deg C.
• Remove to a warm place in a dish to rest, for about 10 minutes. Keep the juices from the pan once rested.
• Season the asparagus with salt and pepper and some of the oil from the tomatoes and grill on the same BBQ plate until just soft. Keep warm.
• Heat a heavy pan with oil and cook the eggplant until crispy and browned on each side.
• Put the reserved juices from the venison into a small pan with a tbsp. of Balsamic vinegar and the garlic cloves from the tomatoes, along with some of the tomato oil and heat until it’s well mixed. 
• Reheat the venison either on the BBQ or in a hot oven before serving.
• Slice the venison fillet into 10 slices per fillet and place five slices on each cooked eggplant. Garnish with the grilled asparagus cut into lozenges (on the angle) and the tomato fondants. Dress with the Balsamic reduction and a few sprigs of fresh Basil leaves and garlic cloves.

Graham Brown is the executive chef for Deer Industry New Zealand.