Fillet of Venison with Haggis and Bashed Neeps

Serves 4

Confusingly for the English, the Scots refer to turnips as swedes and vice versa. As it happens, you could use either white turnips or yellow swedes for this dish - both are delicious when mashed up, or "bashed" as the Scots put it, and combined with meats such as game or, traditionally, with haggis. I quite like to add a few spoonfuls of haggis to neeps, which gives them a real taste of the Highlands. In this recipe I have decided to bastardise a classic Scottish recipe with blanched turnip leaves, which often get chucked into the bin. I think that's a bit of a shame. After all, in Italy, turnip tops or cime di rapa are a much sought-after and popular vegetable.

4 trimmed venison saddle fillets or under-fillets, each about 150g
A glass of good red wine
6 juniper berries, crushed
A few sprigs of thyme, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
150ml beef stock (or a quarter good-quality stock cube dissolved in that amount of hot water)
A little cornflour (optional)
30g butter (for the sauce)
Vegetable oil for frying
150-200g good-quality haggis, skinned and meat crumbled or spooned into pieces
500g swedes or turnips, peeled and roughly chopped, plus the leaves, if available, de-stalked and roughly chopped
60g butter (for the bashed neeps)

The day before, put the venison fillets to marinate in a non-reactive dish with the wine, juniper and thyme. Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.

The next day, remove the venison from the marinade, pat the fillets dry on kitchen paper and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

To make the bashed neeps, cover the turnips with water and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes until they are soft enough to mash. Drain in a colander, then mash coarsely with a potato masher. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary, and stir in the butter.

While the neeps are cooking, cook the leaves in a separate pan of boiling salted water until just tender. Drain and toss in with the neeps. Keep warm.

Also, while the neeps are cooking, put the marinade into a saucepan and boil it rapidly until it has reduced to about a tablespoon in quantity. Add the stock and any juices from the venison and boil for about 5 minutes or so until the sauce has thickened. If the sauce is not thick enough, dissolve a little cornflour in some water and stir it in, a little at a time, until it thickens. Strain it through a fine-meshed sieve and whisk in the butter.

Heat a little oil in a heavy frying pan and cook the fillets for 2-3 minutes on each side for medium-rare, or a few minutes longer for medium. Let them rest on a plate to catch the juices, covered with foil to keep them warm.

Re-heat the bashed neeps if necessary and fold the haggis into them. Spoon into the centre of each plate. Slice each venison fillet into 4 or 5 pieces and arrange on the neep mixture, then pour the sauce around.