Yield:  Four Servings
Ingredients:    For the Venison:                         For the Cherry Reduction Sauce:
4 each, 6 ounce portions Venison Loin                     ½ bottle, Red wine
½ bottle, red wine                                                      3 ounces, dried tart cherries
2 each, peeled fresh shallots                                      ¼ cup, sugar
4 cloves, peeled fresh garlic                                       1 each, peeled fresh shallot
8 sprigs, fresh thyme                                                  1 teaspoon, olive oil
3 sprigs, fresh rosemary                                                        to taste, salt and pepper
To taste, salt and pepper
To coat, olive oil

Method for the Venison:
•    Pour the red wine into a mixing bowl.  
•    Thinly slice the shallots and rough chop the garlic and add to the wine in the bowl.
•    Pick the thyme & rosemary leaves from the stems and add them to the bowl as well.
•    Stir the ingredients together gently.
•    Place the portions of venison in the bowl with the marinade.  Roll them around a bit to cover all sides with the marinade.
•    Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight in the refrigerator.
•    When it’s time to cook, pull the venison from the marinade and pat dry with a paper towel.
•    Season each portion with salt and pepper.
•    Coat lightly with olive oil.
•    Sear in a hot cast iron pan on all sides.  
•    When you get to the last side of the venison in your searing process, place the whole cast iron pan in a pre-heated 350 degree oven until preferred temperature is reached.  (Venison is best served medium-rare, and cooking times will vary depending on the thickness and shape of your particular cut of meat.)
•    Once the venison comes out to the oven, allow it to rest on the cutting board for 3-5 minutes before slicing.
•    Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Method for the Cherry Reduction Sauce:
•     Finely chop the shallot.
•    In a small sauce pot, sweat the shallots in a small amount of olive oil.
•    Add the dried tart cherries and sugar, stir with a wooden spoon.
•    Add the red wine, stir again, and turn the heat up to bring it to a boil.
•    Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat slightly and allow the sauce to simmer for quite some time.  Reduce it enough so the red wine naturally starts to become thickened by the evaporation process and the sugars existing in the cherries.
•    Remove from the heat, adjust seasoning by adding salt and pepper to taste.  
•    Your sauce is now ready to serve.

Chef’s Notes:  
In cooking, I prefer to cook with table wine.  There are “cooking wines” available for sale in some places, but I have never found one that did any justice to my cooking.  My philosophy is that if it’s not worth drinking, then it’s probably not worth cooking with.  That’s not to say that you should run out and buy top dollar wines for your cooking, I’m not suggesting that at all.  My point is that if you use table wine in your cooking, the end result will be that much more enjoyable.
This dish is comprised of a protein and a sauce.  There are endless possibilities as to what can be added to the dish in the way of accompaniments.  From our menu, I like the pairing of barley “risotto” and perhaps some wood-fire-oven roasted carrots.