Game consommé with hare liver spätzle, Klare Wildkraftbrühe mit Leberspätzle

First catch yourself a hare, a pheasant and a couple of bags of roe deer bones.

For the game stock you shall require

2 kg of deer bones (if they have plenty of meat on all the better)

Parings of a hare (ribs, front legs and any bits that are a bit shot about)

Carcass of a pheasant

(You can use any game bird carcass that you are able to get hold of, pigeon is very nice)

1 bunch of root vegetables (Suppengrün) leek, celeriac or stalk of celery, 2 carrots)

3 cloves of garlic

1 Teaspoon of juniper berries

1 large onion

1 teaspoon of pepper corns

Sprig of rosemary

Sprig of Marjoram

A Few sage leaves

A few stalks of parsley

Piece of mace

3 bay leaves

5 cloves

Handful of herb de Provence

2 teaspoons of game spices (my own)

½ bottle of strong red wine

1 litre of stock (any that you can lay your hand on I used Marigold vegetable stock)

Water to cover

Halve the onion leaving the skin on, brown cut side down in a dry skillet.

Add to the vegetables, herbs and spices above to a deep casserole. Sear the game bones and carcass, place on top of the other ingredients,

 add the wine, stock and water bring to the boil,

cover and place in a hot oven at 200°C for a couple of hours.

 When the meat is falling off the bones and the vegetables are all mushy transfer to a large pan and bring to a rolling boil,

 skim the scum as it rises, strain through a fine sieve, allow to cool and then freeze.

Making the consommé

Place the frozen stock (in this case still in the containers) into a muslin cloth or Jam strainer, suspend and allow to drip through into a bowl overnight, this should give you a perfectly clear golden game stock.

The wonderful clear consommé

Reduce to 2/3 of its quantity and only now adjust the seasoning  .

Now make your leberspätzle.

The hare livers, shallot, garlic and nutmeg

Make a normal spätzle batter with 2 eggs, 130 g flour, the liver from 2 hares (or 130g of calves liver). Soften a shallot and a clove of garlic in a good knob of butter. Allow to cool, add some thyme (fresh or dried) salt and pepper to taste.

Some just chop the liver; I puree it adding to the batter along with any herbs that I fancy, adding the onions and garlic.

Beat the batter until it forms bubbles (bis er Blasen wirft).

 Now either scrape the batter from a board with a palate knife or back of a large kitchen knife (in Germany you can get special boards and scrapers – spätzle bretter und scharber) or push it through a press into the consommé.

 When they rise to the top they are done. Remove and set aside.

Just prior to serving cut out a ring of puff pastry, and some strips, using beaten egg paste the strips around the edge of the bowl

 add a couple of spoonfuls of spätzle put a good measure of hot consommé (not boiling)into the bowl, and any other herbs,and add a slug of Port, Sherry or Cognac in this case Port. Seal the lid of puff pastry onto the rim,

 egg wash

 and place into a hot oven until it rises and is golden brown.

  Serve piping hot, even Santa got into the act. 

Variation to this is to add some shredded game in place of spätzle and float a large toasted crouton covered in Gruyere cheese.