Preparation one day before the preparation of the Christmas menu:

  • Red cabbage
  • Cinnamon parfait
  • Sauce for the medallion of venison
  • Ingredients red cabbage
  • 1 kg of red cabbage
  • 2 onions
  • 3 apples
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 4 juniper berries
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 cloves
  • Splash of red wine, normal vinegar is also possible
  • 1/2 liter of vegetable broth
  • 1/8 liters of dry red wine
  • 200 grams of red currant jelly
  • Approx. 15 - 20 grams of cornstarch
  • Salt to taste
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Red cabbagePreparation Red cabbage:

Clean the red cabbage, free from the stem and grate finely. Peel the onion and cut into strips. Remove the seeds from the core, peel and cut into strips.

Put the red cabbage in a suitable container, add all the ingredients except the cornstarch, mix well and leave to stand for about 30 minutes.

Then boil the marinated red cabbage in a pan for about 45 minutes, continue boiling over a small flame with the lid closed. Then stir the cornstarch with a little cold water and thicken the red cabbage. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, remove the cloves, bay leaves, juniper berries and the cinnamon sticks. Allow the finished red cabbage to cool and keep it in the refrigerator until the cooking day with the lid closed.

Sauce for the medallions of venison:

  • 2 kg wild game bones, finely chopped
  • 1/2 celery root
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 leek
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 5 juniper berries
  • 1/4 liter of dry red wine
  • Canola oil
  • 2 heaped tablespoons of tomato puree
  • Some peppercorns
  • 1 small branch rosemary
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 liters of vegetable broth
  • Salt
  • Pinch of sugar
  • Some cornstarch

Preparation:

Peel and cut the celery, peel the carrots and cut into slices. Clean, wash and slice the leek.

Sear the game bones dark brown from all sides in a large roasting pan with hot canola oil. Then add the tomato puree and leave to brown until a dark brown color has developed. Then add 500 ml of vegetable broth and the red wine. Add some salt, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and juniper berries, simmer on a low heat until almost all of the vegetable broth is boiled down. Then add 500 ml of vegetable broth again and boil down as before. Repeat this step until all the vegetable broth is used. At the same time, sear the carrot slices, celery cubes and leek slices from all sides dark brown in a hot pan with canola oil, then add to the last infusion with the vegetable broth and allow to boil. In all cooking steps stir again and again and remove the mixture from the pot bottom with a scraper.

After about 2 hours of cooking time, about 3/4 liter of ready-made sauce should remain. Then strain it through a fine hair strainer into a suitable pot. Season the sauce with salt and freshly ground pepper and add a light binding with a little cornstarch. Allow to cool and then cool down with the lid closed until the cooking day.

Cinnamon parfaitCinnamon parfait:

  • 2 whole eggs
  • 3 egg yolks
  • Pinch of salt
  • 60 grams of powdered sugar
  • Vanilla pulp from 1 vanilla pod
  • 180 ml cream, beaten stiff
  • Grounded Cinnamon to taste

Preparation:

Whisk the eggs with the egg yolks, vanilla pulp, pinch of salt, cinnamon and the powdered sugar in a suitable container over a hot water bath at a maximum of 80°C until thick. Then take the mass from the hot steam and whisk until it is cold.

Ingredients for preparing the Christmas menu on the cooking day:

  • For the lentil salad with root vegetables.

Apples, walnuts with smoked trout filet and chips from the Allgaeu mountain cheese:

  • 80 grams of lentils from the Swabian Alb
  • 250 grams smoked trout filet from the Black Forest divided into 8 pieces
  • 100 grams of celery root
  • 1 carrot
  • 1/4 leek
  • 1/2 bunch of smooth parsley
  • Wine vinegar
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of honey
  • 1 apple
  • 8 heaped tablespoons of grated mountain cheese from the Allgaeu
  • 1 handful of cress
  • 4 tablespoons of chopped walnuts
  • Canola oil
  • For the medallions of venison:
  • 600 - 800 grams rack of venison without bones
  • 1/2 liter of game sauce, prepared the previous day
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 4 small branches of fresh oregano
  • For the red cabbage:
  • The red cabbage prepared the day before

For the “Baden-Baden” topping:

  • 2 pears
  • 4 heaped tablespoons of cranberries
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 cloves
  • Lemon juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar

For the SpaetzleFor the Spaetzle:

  • 500 grams of flour
  • 6 eggs
  • Some water
  • Salt
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 4 tablespoons of breadcrumbs

For the apple cakes with apple syrup and cinnamon parfait

  • Cinnamon parfait, which was prepared the day before
  • 2 apples
  • 125 grams of flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/8 - 1/4 liter of milk
  • Pinch of salt
  • Sugar
  • Lemon juice
  • Clarified butter
  • 6 tablespoons of apple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts
  • Some leaves of the mint
  • Powdered sugar
  • Ground cinnamon

Preparation Christmas menu:

  1. Boil the lentils firm to the bite in a suitable pot with salt water, then pour into a strainer and chill with cold water, then drain. At the same time, peel the celery and cut into small cubes, peel the carrot and cut into small cubes, clean the leek, wash it and also cut it into small cubes. Then boil the celery cubes and carrot cubes firm to the bite in salted water until soft. Add the leek at the last minute of the cooking time. Then pour the vegetables into a strainer and chill with cold water, then drain. Cut the apple into small cubes, then marinade with some lemon juice. Finely chop the leaf parsley. Fill the lentils into a suitable container with the celery cubes, carrot cubes, apple cubes, chopped parsley and the chopped walnuts. Then subtly season with salt, honey, freshly ground pepper, wine vinegar and canola oil. Set the lentils salad aside until further use.
  2. Place a large, coated pan on the stove at the highest heat. Then trickle the grated mountain cheese evenly over the entire pan surface and season with black pepper. When the cheese is melted, and throws light bubbles put the pan to the side. Lift the still lukewarm cheese platter out of the skillet and let it cool. Then break 8 chips from it and cool them until further use.
  3. Peel the pears and cut in half lengthways. Then, in a suitable pot, cover the pears with water, add sugar, star anise, cinnamon stick, lemon juice and cloves. Afterwards boil the pear halves firm to the bite on a small flame until soft. Then lift them out of the broth and trench the core housing with a teaspoon. Fill with the cranberries and set aside until further use.
  4. For the spaetzle work the flour with the eggs, salt and very little water to a dough. Beat the dough until it is smooth and blains. Bring a larger pot of salt water to boil. Afterwards scrape the spaetzle into the salt water by hand or using a spaetzle machine. Once the spaetzle float on top of the salt water pull them out of the salt water with a skimmer. Keep the finished spaetzle warm until further use.
  5. Warm up the red cabbage prepared the day before, if necessary season to taste and thicken again, then keep warm until further use.
  6. Fold the cress under the lentils, then arrange the lentils salad in 4 bowls or on the plate. Spread the pieces from the smoked trout fillets on the lentil salad. Serve with the mountain cheese chips.
  7. After serving the appetizer, preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
  8. Season the rack of venison with salt and pepper, then briefly sear from both sides in a hot pan with canola oil. Then place the venison on a baking tray and put it in the oven for 15 minutes. Then remove the venison from the oven, wrap it in aluminum foil and let it rest for 10 minutes. In the meantime, heat the breadcrumbs. Then divide the meat in 12 medallions with a knife and arrange with the red cabbage, the stuffed pear halves, the spaetzle, the breadcrumbs and the sauce.
  9. For the fried apple cakes, mix the flour with the eggs, sugar, pinch of salt and milk with a whisk. If the mass is too thin, add some flour. Let the finished mixture rest for 10 minutes. Now remove the cinnamon parfait from the freezer and let it thaw at room temperature. When serving, the parfait should still be 2/3 frozen.
  10. Remove the core from the apples, peel and cut into finger-thick slices, then marinate with some lemon juice. Heat clarified butter in a hot pan, pull the apple slices through the previously prepared dough and bake crispy from both sides.
  11. Place the apple rings onto 4 matching plates and sprinkle with the apple syrup and the chopped walnuts. Now sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve together with the cinnamon parfait. Arrange with mint.