Venison loin

Normally I think venison is better marinated, since it has so little fat and can dry out. But I didn't get to it, so I did a rub of salt, pepper, oregano and garlic on a venison tenderloin and seared it up in a super-hot cast iron pan. Once it was seared on all sides, I covered it and lowered the heat. Meanwhile, I lightly steamed some asparagus and made some crispy croquettes out of the rice and bean mixture from before. The meat came out of the pan and rested in foil while I put some wine, balsamic vinegar, ponzu, and a knob of butter in the pan to deglaze. Strained over the meat, it gave it some richness but let the simple flavor come through. We ate it with the 2001 T-Vine blend (mostly cab, I think, which had good fruit and enough earth to bring out the gamy flavors in the meat.)