“This dish is inspired by traditional dishes of northern Italy where game meat like venison is paired with fruit, and sweet and sour flavours,” says Jason Saxby. “I like to think that if the first person who created that combination of wild game with fruit was in Australia at the time, the dish would taste like this.” At Osteria di Russo & Russo, Saxby sprinkles the dish with dehydrated beetroot powder made from the beetroot trimmings to minimise waste.
1.Roll kangaroo fillet tightly in plastic wrap to form a tight log, seal ends as tightly as you can, and freeze (at least 2 hours). Unwrap and slice meat very thinly, then place in a single layer on a piece of baking paper, cover and refrigerate.
2.For salt-baked beetroot, preheat oven to 160C. Combine salt, oil, herbs, 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper and 60ml water in a bowl. Spread over a piece of foil large enough to enclose beetroot, wrap beetroot and bake directly on an oven rack until beetroot is tender when pierced with a metal skewer (1¼-1½ hours). Cool in foil (1½ hours), then unwrap, discard salt crust and wash and peel beetroot, then cut into 2.5cm-thick slices. Cut as many rounds out of each slice as possible with a 4cm round cutter, then slice crossways into thin rounds. Reserve trimmings and refrigerate rounds until required.
3.For native currant and beetroot agrodolce, juice beetroot in an electric juicer, place 125ml in a saucepan with currants, vinegar and sugar, bring to the boil, then set aside to infuse for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine strainer, pressing currants with the back of a ladle to extract as much juice as possible. Reserve 100ml liquid, return remaining liquid to a small saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and reduce to a sticky syrup (8-10 minutes). Set aside at room temperature.
4.Bring reserved agrodolce liquid to a simmer in a separate small saucepan, add quandong and set aside to cool.
Note Kangaroo is available from Harris Farm Markets and select butchers and supermarkets. For quandongs, native currants and Illawara plums head to outbackpridefresh.com.au to find your local distributor.
Drink Suggestion: “Vie di Romans ‘Dessimis’ Pinot Grigio, of which we have the 2013 vintage,” says co-owner Marc Russo. “Drastically different from the expected pinot grigio style, this is an ancient style of pinot grigio with a slight blush, a rich, oily texture and a complex yet clean palate. Vie di Romans, a producer from Friuli, is famed for its textured, complex and often highly aromatic white wines.”
