“This is a clean, simple and utterly delicious dish. It’s easy to prepare but it can be tricky to get the seasoning just right. Serve it with chopped shallots, cornichons and croutons or toast. And it’s great with an egg yolk added just before serving.” 

Serves 2

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

150g haunch or saddle of boned, sinew-free roe deer

½ a banana shallot, finely chopped

2  to 3 cornichons, finely chopped

1 teaspoon capers, finely chopped

1 teaspoon chopped parsley and chives

1 teaspoon tomato ketchup

1 teaspoon Worcester sauce

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or less, up to you

3 teaspoons cold-pressed rapeseed oil

1 teaspoon butter

A few salad leaves, I like endive and watercress on this, nice and bitter to contrast the sweet tartare

A slice of good sourdough cut into 1-cm-sized croutons 

A few slices of radish

Good salt and pepper

METHOD

Firstly, ensure your knife is good and sharp, then cut the roe deer into a smallish dice.  Not too small as you still want to taste the meat. 

Add this to a mixing bowl along with some of the shallot (you can add more if you wish), cornichons, capers, parsley and chives and mix. 

Use your taste buds and add as much or as little Tabasco, ketchup and Worcester sauce as you want. Give the mixture a good season with salt and pepper and add a wee squirt of rapeseed oil. Taste again to check the seasoning.

Make the croutons by frying the bread in a teaspoon of rapeseed oil and a teaspoon of butter until golden all over. This should take about 5 to 10 minutes on a low heat.

Dress the salad leaves and radish slices in a little oil and season.

To serve, rub a little oil inside a metal ring a place it on a plate. Fill with half of the tartare mix and repeat on another plate. Top each tartare with the dressed salad a few croutons.