Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts

Monday, 18 February 2019

Elk Cottage Pie


Cottage Pie, also known as Shepherd's Pie (technically requires lamb) or Pâté Chinois if you add corn.  This recipe can be done with any red meat.  I have done it with venison and moose, but this one was done with elk.  Also, the photos shown are for a double recipe.  I freeze whatever I don't eat and it keeps for a shockingly long time in the freezer.
 

Ingredients

2 lbs ground Elk (Or other red meat)
4 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 large onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup of frozen peas and carrots
1 Tbsp. finely chopped or dry rosemary
1 Tbsp. finely chopped or dry thyme
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
4 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (at least lol!)
1 cup stock (I used moose stock, but beef or any red meat game stock will do)
1/4 cup all purpose flour 
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 kg of russet potato 
125 g salted butter
1/2 cup of half & half cream


Method


1) Peel the potatoes and get them on the stove right at the start in salted water that's twice as deep as the potatoes.  Boil until tender to mash.


2) Finely dice onion and garlic.  If using fresh rosemary or thyme, finely chop those as well.



3) On medium-might head, heat olive oil in a pan and sauté the onion, garlic, rosemary, and thyme until the onion is translucent and starting to brown.



 4) Add the meat! Break it apart with a spatula or spoon and cook until brown.



5) Reduce heat to medium and stir in the tomato paste, stock, and Worcestershire sauce.
6) Taste it!!!!
7) Add a little salt and pepper, maybe some more Worcestershire sauce and stir some more.
8) Repeat steps 6 and 7 until it is fucking amazing, but be careful not to over season it.  You can always add more salt, pepper, or Worcestershire sauce, but you can't take it out.


9) Sprinkle flour over the sauce and stir it in to thicken it.



10) TASTE IT!!!! Add more seasoning if required.


 11) Preheat the over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit


12) Strain potatoes and return them to the pot.
13) Lightly mash potatoes with butter and half & half
14) Taste!
15) Add a little salt to the mashed potatoes and stir.
16) Repeat steps 14 and 15 until your mash tastes perfect!


17) Decide how many portions to make and arrange casseroles, one large is probably fine.


 18) Add in meat mixture.


19) Add frozen peas and carrots, and mix in.



 20) Add a thick layer of mashed potatoes and make a nice pattern with a fork or other utensil.


21) Bake uncovered for 30 minutes on the top shelf in the oven.
22) Pass the time reading a wild game cookbook. 

The L.L. Bean Game & Fish Cookbook by Angus Cameron and Judith Jones is a classic!
 23) Now, this is where you can burn and ruin this dish if you look away for even a moment.  Use the oven broiler to brown the top.  Like seriously, if you walk away from the oven for more than 30 seconds your are going to go from no colour to cremated.  Don't say I didn't warn you.  If you are not comfortable with a broiler, skip this step.  It's easy to set off the fire alarm or burn down your house with the broiler.  LOL!



 24) Serve and enjoy!

This is the second piece! Haha! The first is always a disaster, and no, it didn't land on the plate this neatly! I used the classic Gordon Ramsay technique of wiping the plate before this photo. Also, Instagram filters make everything look more delicious!


Tuesday, 1 January 2019

Venison Osso Buco

The first time I heard of osso buco was while watching MeatEater on Netflix.  It seems like no matter if I am watching the show or listening to his podcast, Steven Rinella never misses an opportunity to rave about the deliciousness of this particular dish.  So, I decided that with this year's white tailed deer I would have the butcher cut the shanks into 2" thick pucks so that I could try out this highly praised preparation of shank.

All I can say is that it did not disappoint!


Recipe

I used a combination of a few recipes, including the recipe in "The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game" by Steven Rinella as well as the recipe book that came with the Instant Pot, and some others online.

Ingredients

 

6 pieces of osso buco cut shank
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
2 onions
5 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of parsley
2 sprigs of sage
4 sprigs of rosmary
1 tbsp of dried thyme ( I didn't have any fresh, but that would work better)
2 tbsp of tomato paste
1 litre of stock
1/2 bottle of dry red wine
salt
pepper
flour
olive oil
parmigiano reggiano to garnish
polenta



Clean, wash, and peel the veggies and herbs


Remove the stalks and ends


Finely dice the half of the parsley and the rosemary, as well as all of the sage, garlic, and onions
Cut the carrots and celery into even size chunks


Put about a half cup of flour in a dish and season with salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in a pan until just about to smoke


Dredge shanks in seasoned flour and brown all sides in pan
Add a sprig of rosemary to make oil fragrant
Put browned shanks in dutch oven or Instant Pot


 Saute onion, carrots, and celery in the pan


Add garlic once onions are translucent
Saute for another 2 minutes


Add vegetables to dutch oven or Instant Pot
Deglaze pan with half a bottle of red win


Pour wine into dutch oven or instant pot
Add tomato paste
Add stock until covered
Add chopped herbs


Slow cook in Instant Pot for 4 hours like I did or in a dutch oven with a light simmer, either on the stove top or oven

After the 4 hours on "Slow Cook" it wasn't fork tender yet, so I decided to pressure cook it for an additional 15 minutes until it was falling off the bone tender



Serve on a bed of polenta and garnish with parmigiano reggiano

Enjoy!



Thursday, 13 December 2018

Grouse "Butter Chicken"


Grouse "Butter Chicken" is one of my favourite camp meals.   It is easy, the ingredients travel well, and it is a great way to lift the spirits when people are getting discouraged. 

Every time I have gone after grouse, it has been as a side hunt while moose or elk hunting.  Hunting any quarry can become discouraging, especially when you have taken time off work, lucked out with an LEH draw, but can't seem to find sign or the promise of eventual success.  Taking a break with some grouse hunting is instantly rewarding and seems to reset ones enthusiasm.

Everyone goes after grouse in their own way, and to purists, my method may seem unorthodox.  I hunt with a .22LR, specifically, a Ruger 10/22.  I only go for head shots, whether they are on the ground or in the tree.  I've heard that some people believe it is unsporting to shoot grouse which are not flying, but these purists are using shotguns with bird shot.  I prefer to get the grouse where I see them on the ground, before they flush, or if they do take flight, I follow their trajectory into the trees and try to find them again when they are sitting on a branch.




With a little practice, I would say I am 75% successful in finding grouse again once they have flushed and flown into the forest.  They usually only fly a short way, land about half way up the tree, and if you look up and down the trunks, you can usually find them sitting still, trying to be invisible, near the trunk of the tree.  This method works for me and I have come close to limiting out on several occasions in a couple of hours. 

The other nice thing about grouse "butter chicken" or any other curry dish is that it has a way of masking any of the gamy flavours from older grouse, or grouse some people dislike such as Spruce Grouse.  No question, I prefer Ruffed Grouse, as milder and tastier, but it is equally enjoyable to pursue all types of grouse, and this is a good recipe that makes them all work well.

Ingredients:

4 to 10 grouse
1 can of curry, butter chicken, korma, whatever Indian sauce
1 can of coconut milk
Oil or margarine 
1 Onion
Garlic (optional)
Rice or Potatoes

 1) Cube the grouse breasts into 1" cubes.  Make sure they are clean and all approximately the same size cubes.  Notice the colour of the above photo.  The dark coloured meat is from Spruce Grouse and the lighter coloured meat is from Ruffed Grouse.

 2)  On high heat and with a few tablespoons of oil, saute the diced onion until translucent and starting to brown.  Add garlic to taste if available. 

 3) Add the cubed grouse and brown.

4) Add the curry/butter chicken/korma sauce and coconut milk.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.

5) Serve over rice or potatoes.

One of the cool things about this dish is that you get to taste many different grouse.  Each bite is different.  A few friends have remarked that it has changed their opinion of Spruce Grouse and their flavour when served like this.  You'll notice the difference between species, but it will be interesting rather than overwhelming. 

Enjoy!!

Sunday, 13 May 2018

Italian Meatballs




(Can be done with moose, venison, or other red meat)

-2 lbs venison
-⅓ cup breadcrumbs
-½ cup milk
-1 head of garlic
-2 onions
-1 teaspoon salt
-⅓ cup Parmesan cheese
-1 tablespoon herb de provence
-1 teaspoon pepper
-1 tablespoon parsley flakes
-2 eggs
-Tomato sauce
-Bay leaf
-Pasta

Combine milk and bread crumbs and let stand 20 minutes

Finely dice onions and garlic

Combine ⅔ of garlic and onion with venison, salt, pepper, Parmesan, and herbs with eggs and breadcrumbs

Roll into small balls (golf ball size)

Bake 425 for 15 minutes

Saute remaining onion and garlic and then add tomato sauce and bay leaf. Season to taste.  Simmer for 20 minutes.

Add meatballs to tomato sauce.

Serve with pasta.



Sunday, 22 April 2018

MeatEater with Steven Rinella

If you haven't heard of MeatEater with Steven Rinella, do yourself a favour and stop reading this right now and log into Netflix and binge watch the episodes available there.  Steven Rinella's perspective on hunting, conservation, public lands, and nature is refreshing.  


Right now, most hunting media is just canned hunts, kill shots, poor camera work, breaking the fourth wall, and generally has nothing to do with conservation, nature or food.  I can't stand most hunting shows because they are more harmful to hunting than they are helpful.  Most hunting media adds to the anti-hunting narrative and stereotypes rather than debunk them.  Furthermore, most hunting shows don't depict how I hunt or how anyone else I know hunts. MeatEater is a distinct departure from the drivel that is most other hunting TV and it is one of the few shows that depicts hunting in a positive light.  I'll also mention Solo Hunter as another one of the few shows which is demonstrating hunting in a positive light since Remi Warren has been on MeatEater a few times and clearly has similar values as Steven Rinella.

MeatEater has a great formula and format for storytelling.  It is heavy on the setup and conservation, rarely does the host speak to the camera, there is insightful and eloquent narration, and when they are successful the show always ends in a meal.

I am very excited for Season 7 to be released.  Last I heard on Instagram Season 7 was in editing.



I also highly recommend the MeatEater podcast.  It is informative on the issues, hilarious, and generally quite interesting.  I listen to it while I am out in the shop working or reloading ammo, or during my commute.  Listening to the podcast, more than the show, has significantly contributed to my knowledge of the issues facing habitat protection and conservation.  The podcast is a great resource for anyone looking to get into hunter advocacy.




The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 1: Big Game
by Steven Rinella
Permalink: http://a.co/fYxs2jc 
Steven Rinella is also an author and excellent writer.  I bought his book, The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 1: Big Game and have read it cover to cover and even tried a few of the recipes.  The best so far is the wild game stuffed meatloaf.  The stuffing is spinach, pine nuts, cheese, and a little spice for kick. The glaze is a simple, but delicious grainy mustard sauce.   
As you can probably tell, I am a huge fan of MeatEater and Steven Rinella.  He has been a big influence for me as both a new hunter and a new hunting activist.  I can't get enough of what he, his friends and crew publish.  It is all really well done.  My one criticism is that the online store won't ship to Canada.  I really want some of their gear and I am almost going to sign up for a PO box in Blaine WA just to get a decal and a beanie (Toque as it should really be called).