Brett Graham - From Newcastle, New South Wales, he moved to Sydney at the age of 18 to take up a job with Irish chef Liam Tomlins at his restaurant Banc. His big break arrived when he won Australia's coveted Josephine Pignolet cookery award as Sydney's best young chef, and the prize of a flight to London brought him to the UK in 2000. He secured a job at the Square under Phil Howard and stayed there for three-and-a-half years, during which time he gained further recognition by winning the Restaurant Association's Young Chef of the Year title.
In 2005, aged just 26, Howard and business partner Nigel Platts-Martin gave Graham the opportunity to open his own restaurant, the Ledbury in Notting Hill. After opening to rave reviews, the site gained its first Michelin star within a year, and added a second in 2010.
In late 2008 Graham opened Fulham gastropub the Harwood Arms with TV chef Mike Robinson and publican Edwin Vaux. It opened to wide acclaim and, in 2010, became the first London pub to win a Michelin star.
Here, Brett shares one of his favourite dishes created using Game sourced by Vicars Game:
Roast Muntjac with Smoked Bone Marrow and Rhubarb
Serves 4 as a Main Course
4 x – loins of muntjac (approx 150g each) at room temp.
1 x large Red Beetroot – Baked in foil and cut in slices (save trimmings)
8 x Red Endive – Broken into leaves and caramelised
8 x Red Radicchio Leaves – separated and cooked in a touch of Dry Sherry and orange juice
Beetroot puree (blend beetroot trimmings with a little cab sav vinegar)
1 stick of Yorkshire forced rhubarb, poached and sliced.
150ml venison sauce made by roasting bones.
Dried Blackcurrant powder
4 slices of beef bone marrow cold smoked over hay.
4 baby onions, cut in half and peeled. Cooked alongside the rhubarb.
Method:
Seal off the muntjac in a warm pan and cook in oven at 150°c until pink. Then warm your tray of beetroot, rhubarb and onions in the oven. Then caramelise radicchio and endive and keep warm.
Warm bone marrow until soft and pour a little bit of the fat into the venison sauce.
To plate:
On warm plate, place down some beetroot puree then endive, radiccio, beetroot, rhubarb and onions. Place on the muntjac loin with a slice of bone marrow. Finish with the sauce and a sprinkling of dried blackcurrant powder.