Pan Fried Moose Steak

One of our friends is an avid hunter who eats very little domestic raised meat.  He hunts large game (moose, deer) as well as a multitude of smaller game.  He brings us moose meat and wild goose sausage from time to time.  He also goes to hunt camp with my husband which works out nicely.  I turn to him for advice for preparing wild game and soon will be enlisting his help using my new smoker (more on that to come).  A few days ago, I cooked two moose steaks he had gifted us with.

Moose meat has a mild, less gamey flavour than venison.  Unlike venison, it doesn't require the addition of pork fat even though it is a very lean meat.  Both venison and moose are best cooked using a moist heat  (eg. braising, stewing).

The moose steaks were large but  not overly thick so I pan fried them in a little olive oil and butter until just lightly browned and cooked through.  While the steaks were frying, I sprinkled lightly with garlic pepper.  Oh my!  The moose steaks were fork tender and juicy.  I served the steaks with baked potatoes, old fashioned chili sauce, and home canned green beans.  It was a simple yet delicious dinner!

Italian Venison Fusilli

My husband spent a week in November at hunt camp in the Muskoka Region of Ontario.  A fun time was had by all!  They got two doe that were cleaned, cut and wrapped before they left.  Everyone brought home a bit of venison, a much welcomed addition in our freezer.  Venison is a rich, flavourful red meat that can be used in place of beef for most dishes.  It is a healthier option, well for those counting calories.  Venison is lower in calories (102 cal/3 oz), lower in sodium (42 mg/3 oz), lower in fat (2.8 g/3 oz) and lower in cholesterol (72 mg/3 oz) than beef (3 oz: 162 cal, 56 mg sodium, 5.8 g fat, 76 mg cholesterol).  It is, however, lower in protein at 19.2 g per 3 oz verses 25.8 g per 2 oz of beef.  Venison should be served hot because what fat there is has a slightly unpleasant mouth feel when cold.  For that reason, venison is often cooked with pork fat.
  

I used home canned Italian Garden Sauce with Mushrooms to make a delicious venison sauce for pasta.  This is a must have staple sauce in our pantry, one I created a couple of years ago then tweaked in small batches until it met my specifications. 

I lightly seared the venison pieces then poured in a 750 ml jar of Italian garden sauce with mushrooms.  I brought the mixture to a boil then reduced to a simmer.  I let the mixture simmer until the venison pieces were cooked through and tender.  While the venison sauce was simmering I cooked tri-colour fusilli to al dente then drained.

I topped the tri-colour fusilli with a generous scoop of the venison sauce along with fresh grape tomatoes, green peppers and chopped onions for Italian Venison Fusilli.  This entrée was low calorie and low fat, yet tasty and filling. 

A serving size of tri-colour fusilli is 2 oz dry which gives a yield of 255 g/9 oz cooked [210 cal. 7 g protein, 41 g carbohydrates, 25 mg sodium, 2 g fiber, 1 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol].  Plain wheat fusilli does not have any fiber so the tri-colour is a healthier choice as is whole wheat fusilli.  If counting calories, it is best to weight out the cooked pasta for the proper serving size.  I often add fresh vegetables over pasta sauces.  They add a nice texture, complimenting the flavour of a wide variety of sauces while adding extra nutrition. 

Marsh Beaver (Muskrat) Dinner

It is hard to believe in our modern, hustle and bustle world the very area of Ontario, Canada that we call home was also once home to bear.  The fur trade played a huge role in the founding of Canada which is one of the reasons some of my ancestors settled in this area.  The waterways connecting Lake Huron to Lake Erie and tributaries were rich in beaver.  At the same time another smaller critter, the muskrat caught the eye of the French Canadian settlers.  They were and still are plentiful, fairly easy to trap or shoot, and especially in the early days a way to put fresh meat on the table during the long Canadian winters.  To this day, muskrat aka Marsh Beaver aka river rat is still a popular dish in French Canadian communities as well as for those who hunt or trap small game.

We often see muskrat along the ditches, at our marina and when boating.  We even had a muskrat hanging around the dock at our second last house.  Muskrat gets it's name from the musk glands, that if properly removed leaves the meat quite edible.  The meat is surprisingly tender and fine grained but it is rather smelly when cooking.  The muskrat is skinned, head and glands removed then the meat is soaked in a salt water solution overnight to remove the gamey taste.  The prepared muskrat is cut in half through the ribs butterfly fashion.  The back side (saddle) portion of the muskrat is meatier. 

I had the great pleasure of attending my first Marsh Beaver dinner this past Friday evening.  Muskrat is not a government inspected meat but then neither is venison, moose, wild goose or locally caught fish all of which we eat.  Of note, even single packages of meat in the grocery stores are not government inspected individually although they are processed in government inspected facilities.

The Marsh Beaver dinner was buffet style consisting of generous portions of muskrat, baked beans, scalloped potatoes, green onions, raw cauliflower, cucumber, bread and butter pickles, and stuffed olives.  The muskrat was baked then pan fried in butter.  I had three pieces.  Each piece was one muskrat with the top piece showing the saddle portion.  The round bone towards the left of the top piece is the tail bone.  The other end near the green onion is where the head was.  There is a fair amount of meat considering the size but you do have to work at it a bit to get the meat off the smaller bones.  Muskrat is definitely a finger food!

I brought two pieces of the muskrat home so my husband could try some but he wasn't very interested.  We hosted our regular gatheringt last night and our friend who is a avid hunter came.  A couple of the other guys hunt as well so I warmed up the muskrat for them.  It was gone in a flash!  They were still smacking their lips at how tasty the muskrat was.  If you ever get a chance to attend a Marsh Beaver dinner, it is well worth to do so.  The meat really is quite good!

Venison Cottage Pie

We spend most of the month of October at our vacation home in Florida.  The day after returning No Frills had a great sale on potatoes, beets, carrots and onions at $1.88 for a 10 lb bag each so of course I had to take advantage of that.  The week after returning home, my husband left for hunt camp with the guys.  He doesn't hunt himself so along with another good friend they are chief cook and bottle washer.  The guys have a lot of good old fashion fun and always share the rewards of any catch.  This year they took down a five point buck, so there was each of them brought home a little over 20 lb of venison each.

I've talked about making rustic potatoes in the previous posts.  Rustic potatoes have a lot of flavour and nutrition and because the skins are left on the potatoes, extra fibre.  Now, the carrots add sweetness, colour and texture but cabbage is a must.  A lot of folks turn their nose up at cabbage or only relate cabbage to coleslaw, but cooked cabbage takes on a mellow sweetness.

I like to steam the vegetables when making rustic potatoes.  In fact, I prefer steamed vegetables to those boiled.  Steamed vegetables lack the sogginess that comes with boiling vegetables.  They are higher in nutrition as well plus steaming vegetables are an eco-friendly way to cook vegetables because they use less water and energy.  Oh and if all those benefits weren't enough, they are very, very inexpensive and beyond easy to make, something every frugal cook loves to hear.

Once the vegetable mixture is tender, I pour it into the bowl of the KitchenAid stand mixer.  Then I add cream cheese, sour cream, milk or stock, a little butter, seasonings (garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper).  I don't add salt so while the dish is higher if fat, it is low sodium.  Low fat sour cream and cream cheese can be used if desired because it really is the flavour that counts in these potatoes, not the fat.  I always use 2% milk if using milk or de-fatted chicken stock depending on how the potatoes will be used.  Then I lightly whip the mixture leaving slightly lumpy but not starchy, adjusting the liquid if needed to get the consistency I want.

Rustic potatoes are ideal as a side dish and topping cottage pies or other casseroles.  They can be used as a pierogi or hot pocket filling as well.  I have also used rustic potatoes as a filling for rolled meatloaf.  A rolled meatloaf has a spiral effect.  The rustic potatoes look lovely when used this way while getting more nutrition into the finished dish.  These potatoes freeze nicely so make up a large batch then make a few dishes for the freezer for a bit of homemade convenience.

I made a venison cottage pie using the rustic potatoes.  A cottage pie is basically the same thing as a Shepard's pie except it is made with with ground meat other than lamb.  Lamb is traditionally used when making a Shepard's pie. Semantics (vs nomenclature) aside, the resulting dish consists of ground meat with some type of gravy topped with a layer of corn or mixed vegetables and a final layer of mashed potatoes then baked until warmed through and bubbly.   I added a thin layer of shredded extra old cheddar because I had a piece I wanted to use up.  Any shredded cheese can be used but is optional.

I used a covered glass casserole dish for the venison cottage pie.   At this point, I could have froze as is then popped out the frozen casserole and vacuum sealed it or instead of using a glass casserole dish, an aluminium baking tray is what I normally use for casseroles destined for the freezer.  If freezing in aluminium trays, I cover the top of the casserole with wax paper then seal tightly with aluminium foil.  Venison cottage pie can also be frozen in individual serving sizes using large muffin tins to freeze then pop out and vacuum seal.

The venison cottage pie using up some of my Ontario produce purchase was destined for dinner that night.  Venison is an interesting meat to work with.  It is very low fat and what fat it does have has a poor mouth feel if the meat gets luke warm.  The solution to this problem is to add ground pork to ground venison in about a 1:2 ratio (ground pork:ground venison).  The abattoir that processed the venison actually did this when he ground it but most abattoirs don't.  The ground venison can also be browned in bacon fat.  Once the venison is browned, I drain it and use the drippings to make a gravy seasoned with a bit of Worcestershire sauce.  The pan can be de-glazed with red wine if desired then thickened to make a gravy using a roux but can be made gluten free by simply reducing somewhat and stirring into the meat.  If the corn is substituted with a gluten free vegetable, the venison cottage pie can easily be converted to gluten free if desired.

The venison cottage pie just out of the oven looked delicious and smelled divine   The rustic potato topping is a perfect  match for the rich flavour of the venison.  This was a good sized casserole that gave a yield of six to eight generous servings.  The cooked venison cottage pie reheats nicely.

Shepard's or cottage pie is usually shown plated as a square as the common restaurant presentation much the same way lasagne is plated.  However, when I serve it, the result is anything but a square.  Neither is my lasagne.  The reason being, both are served piping hot so it does not hold a firm shape.  The cream cheese in the rustic potato topping and gravy added to the meat means the cottage pie will not hold a firm shape.  At the same time, the addition of the gravy and cream cheese gives nice moist results eliminating the need for topping with separate gravy.  Homemade bread and a garden salad rounded out the meal.

Venison Rib Eye with Creamy Mushroom Pilaf

I use a select few commercially prepared condensed soups to make sauces and dips but I always  substitute my home canned stocks and broths when a recipe calls for the commercially canned versions.  The reason being is home canned or simply home made stocks and broths are less expensive but have better flavour.  Stocks and broths add a wonderful flavour to rices so unless I need plain white rice for a particular dish, I always cook rices in stocks (eg. beef, chicken, vegetable, tomato).

The guys had a successful hunt camp which translates into me having a bit of venison in the freezer.  Venison is wild game that can have a gamey edge to it if not cooked properly.  This is mainly due to the meat being very low fat and the mouth feel of what fat there is.  For this reason, venison is usually cooked with pork or bacon fat.

We pan fried the venison rib eye steaks in a little bacon grease in one of our new ceramic coated non-stick EcoPans.  The pan was amazing to use to the point my restaurant grade Teflon coated have officially been retired.  I served the venison steaks with home canned green beans and a creamy mushroom pilaf.  The recipe called for using part of the Parmesan cheese and parsley as a garnish.  I omitted both as venison is a very rich meat so I wanted the pilaf to complement rather than compete with that richness.

Creamy Mushroom Pilaf
modified from: Campbell's, Simply Delicious Recipes (1992), Pp. 130

3 tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 c fresh sliced mushrooms
1 c uncooked long grain white rice
1¼ c homemade stock
¾ c water
¼ c dry white wine
¼ tsp pepper
¼ c sour cream
½ c fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Place the onion, mushrooms, rice and butter into a 2-quart saucepan.  Cook until rice is lightly browned on medium heat, stirring often.  Stir in broth, water, win and pepper.  Heat to boiling.  Reduce the heat to a low simmer.  Cover and cook 20 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in the sour cream and half of the cheese.  Cover and let stand 5 minutes.  Stir.  Garnish with remaining cheese and parsley if desired.

Moose Burgers

Friends of ours do not eat any domestic meat.  He is a avid hunter of both small and large game so that is what they eat with respect to meat.  Neither of us hunt although my husband goes to hunt camp each year basically as the comic relief, chief cook and bottle washer.  So our friend brings us in very generous offerings of his catch. 

Moose meat can be used in many dishes that you would use beef in.  My husband made moose burgers with ground moose meat.  As with most meat based burger patties the focus is on enhancing the flavour of the meat.  The reason being is there is no point eating a burger with no flavour.   My husband is the master of tasty burger patties, know for his homemade 100% all beef for his famous burger with attitude. 

Moose meat is considerably leaner than beef.  It needs needs a bit of a binder to make burger patties.  My husband uses egg, a very light sprinkling of bread crumbs and seasoning.  The burgers were topped with lettuce, tomato and caramelized onions.  I served them with a very simple salad with a homemade vinaigrette dressing.  They were scrumptious!  We are officially out of moose meat but our friend goes moose hunting shortly so here's hoping they have a successful hunt!

Moose Shoulder Steaks

While I am an advid fisherman neither of us hunt even though my husband goes to hunt camp each year.  If the guys are lucky we get a bit of venison for the freezer.  A friend of ours does not eat domestic meat at all.  He brings me a lovely assortment of both large and small game.  He hunts both the large and small game but I don't think he fishes much so I give him fish in return.

Our friend brought us moose shoulder steaks, enough for a lovely dinner for two.  Moose meat is quite lean so it does need to be cooked on lower heat or braised.  The flavour is fairly close to beef without the game flavour of venison.  Unlike venison, moose meat does not require an additional fat like bacon for the mouth feel.  It can be used very much like you would beef.

My husband grilled the moose shoulder steaks to medium rare.  The steaks were served with honey glazed herbed baby carrots and camp-style potatoes.  Both carrots and potatoes were cooked on the grill.  It was a lovely and quite tasty, low fat dinner!

Venison Stew

My husband goes to hunt camp each year not for the actual hunting as he doesn't hunt but for the guys get away.  They always have a great time.  Any catch is split amongst the guys wanting venison so that's a nice bonus for me.  Venison is a lean red meat that can be used in place of beef for most dishes.  What little fat there is has a poor mouth feel so it is best to serve venison piping hot as well as add a bit of other fat to the dish.  Usually pork fat (eg. bacon, ground pork) is added to venison dishes.

One of our friends is an avid hunter to the point he and his wife very, very seldom ever eat domestic meat.  He hunts large and small game but as far as I know he doesn't fish which is a bit odd but hey, I fish and don't hunt.    Anyway, he always brings us wild game (eg. moose, deer, goose, turkey) ready for cooking or brings dishes he has prepared with wild game.  Now this hunter knows how to cook wild game!

Last Saturday night we had a get together and he brought a slow cooker full of venison stew.  It was absolutely delicious.  Being rather curious I listened for comments, chuckling a little under my breath at hearing him tell another guest that there was no recipe "I just cooked it".  You know some of the best meals come from just cooking it!  From appearances the stew was a simple on consisting of venison, mushrooms, carrots, onions and potatoes in a rich gravy but this stew had a secret ingredient that gave it a bit of pizzazz.  The secret ingredient, well not so secret anymore was hot peppers!  He didn't specify what hot peppers but I suspect red jalapeno.  The hot peppers added an amazing flavour without overpowering heat.  I will be experimenting adding hot peppers to my stew once my garden starts producing.  I think hot banana peppers would work nicely so this should be an interesting experiment!

Layered Venison Casserole

Casseroles are one of those dishes that can be tweaked to your heart's content and they are still comfort meals. I think for me the only thing that remains consisent when I make a casserole is using a casserole baking dish. Like many of the dishes I make casseroles simply start with an idea rather than a recipe in mind. Sometimes the casserole is based on a meat that I want to use and other times it will be a vegetable that I want to build around. Casseroles are also a great way to use up a few left-overs. My experience has been that casseroles reheat nicely as well. That versatility is what makes casseroles the frugal home cook's friend.

Ready for Oven

Venison is a extra lean red, game meat that can be used in place of beef. It has a bit stronger, gamey flavour than beef and because it is so lean it should be served hot and paired with pork for a better mouth feel. Venison works nicely for any casserole that calls for ground beef. A couple of nights ago I made a layered venison casserole that came out nicely. It had a lot of flavour!

Layered Venison Casserole
recipe by Garden Gnome

1 lb ground venison
1 lb pork sausage without casing
¼ c bacon fat
1 c marinara sauce
2 lg potatoes
1 c frozen peas
1 c frozen niblet corn
¾ c milk
2 c (500 ml) jar home canned cream style corn
2 c (500 ml) jar home canned tomato soup
2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Microwave potatoes until just tender. Slice then set aside to cool. Melt bacon fat on medium high. Brown venison and sausage. Remove from heat and drain well. Pour browned meat into casserole dish spreading evenly. Pour marinara sauce over the meat. Place potato slices on top then sprinkle on corn and peas. Pour cream style corn then tomato soup over the layers. Pour over the milk over the layers. Place the shredded cheese over top, spreading evenly. Tent with tin foil. Bake at 350ºF until bubbly. Remove tin foil tent and continue baking for 15 minutes to allow cheese to brown slightly.

Layered Venison Casserole

Pictured is the layered venison casserole as served. Very few of my casserole will cut neatly into squares or wedges but that's fine. When it comes to casseroles it is all about the flavour but I like using colours that will give great contrast in the finished casserole. I especially like going for a rich, creamy background texture as well. I just love the gorgeous bright colours! I served the casserole with sourdough bread and a simple side salad for a complete meal. As meals go this was not a fancy meal but rather a comfort meal, rich and flavourful. We really enjoyed this casserole!

Venison Loin Chops Cooked in Caramelized Onions

We have been under a cold snap for the last few days. While we have seen much snow accumulation yet I'm simply not in the mood to go out into the cold weather. These are days I appreciate simple, homestyle cooking from the pantry. The holidays are over and we're gearing up for the new growing season as well as our beef on the hoof purchase so pantry cooking it is! I decided to work a meal around venison loin chops.

Venison Loin Chops

Venison can have a wild taste to it often referred to as being gamey. This flavour is dependent on how the deer was killed (spooked, chased will taste stronger), what the deer fed off of and how the kill was treated in the field. Some don't mind a strong gamey flavour and in fact that is an asset when making venison chili. However, on cuts of venison such as loin chops and roasts the gamey flavour may be a bit too strong for some. Soaking the venison in milk, buttermilk or vinegar overnight will remove the strong gamey flavour while tenderizing the meat. Tomatoes also help remove the gamey flavour. A second problem that is noticeable with venison is because it is so lean the meat must be served hot otherwise it has a poor mouth feel. The solution for this is to pair the venison with a pork product such as ground pork with ground venison or bacon/bacon fat with whole cuts of venison.

We decided to take a spin off of the way we enjoy liver and onions for this meal. Moisture is key to keeping the meat tender. We started the onions in a little bacon fat in a non-stick fry pan. When the onions were transparent and just showing signs of browning we added the venison chops. The chops were only about ½ - inch thick and about 3 - inch diameter so not very big. We continued cooking until the onions caramelized and the chops were caramelizing. The result was scrumptious tasting, tender venison loin chops that were perfect comfort food for a cold winter's meal!

Moose Eye of Round Steak

As foodies I feel very lucky that most of our family and many of our friends are also foodies. A lot of good times, laughter and sometimes tears are shared whenever we get together but one thing that remains constant is an abundance of good food!

Garden Vegetables

There are a lot of great foods coming out of the garden right now. We are really enjoying vegetable trays as something a bit different from salads. My absolute favourite dip of the day is made using a garlic, onion mix from Windermere Farms. It has a nice, clean and refreshing taste. I make the dip with mayonnaise, sour cream and the dried seasonings using the mason jar method. The flavour is perfect with fresh vegetables. It's light yet tasty and flavourful. Pictured is the vegetable tray I made for the two of us. It isn't very big but it is all garden fresh.

Moose Eye of Round Steak

One of our friends does not eat any domestic meats. He brought us some moose meat in the form of steaks and sausage. Pictured is an eye of round moose steak. Don't let the size fool you as that is all very lean meat! Unlike venison which tends to have a gamey flavour, moose meat tastes almost identical to beef except a little goes a long way. Honestly you really can't tell the difference other than the moose meat is leaner. The moose eye of round was grilled then served with niblet corn, steamed potatoes and a side of cucumbers with garden fresh tomatoes topped with a little of the Windermer dip.

Goose Sausage Appetizer

After being away for two weeks so I could great our new grandbaby's entrance into the world, I arrived home late afternoon with just enough time to get things ready for entertaining a larger event that evening. I enjoy entertaining as well as trying new foods so I don't always follow the Golden Rule of Entertaining. The reason I can get away with this is for some events we host especially the monthly get together is two fold. I know the group (20 - 30 guests) that come to these regular get togethers so have fine tuned what they like and don't like. I know which ones do not consume alcohol, how they like their coffee and even if they don't like a particular ingredient. Another reason I can get away with this is I make sure there are alternative offerings including two versions of some things with an ingredient missing (eg. onions) that I know some do not like.

Goose Sausage Appetizer

One of our friends (and family) seldom eats domestic meats but rather the majority of the meats they eat is wild game. A lot of the wild game is from his successful hunts. He always brings some of his great wild game creations to these events. I never know what he is bringing so I try to be flexible.

This time he brought wild goose sausage. I was amazed at the colour that had overtones of burgundy. Oh my gosh was this sausage ever good! It was mildly seasoned with a deep, rich flavour. I made a tray using the goose sausage, English cucumbers and mini toasts topped with herb & garlic cream cheese. The sausage was a huge hit!

I'm sorry I don't have a recipe for the goose sauce but would recommend The Hunter's Game Cookbook (1978) by Jacqueline E. Knight for wild game recipes. I will be posting a few venison recipes from this book as I try them. I'm hoping to get a few game birds later this year too so will post any recipes. I finally found a place where I can buy moose meat so do watch for that recipe as well.

Baked Venison Loin Chops

I posted earlier that the guys had a successful hunt so were able to split the meat of one deer between those who wanted venison. This is done traditionally for the members attending hunt camp. Also traditional is bringing a dish made with the previous kill to the next hunt camp for good luck. We ended up with about 16 lb of venison, most of it ground. That doesn't sound like a lot of meat but everyone got a bit to keep the tradition going. I'm just happy they had a successful hunt! I'll use the ground venison for venison chili and venison burgers. I'm planning on making venison meatloaf as well.

Baked Venison Loin Chops

There was a package of 4 venison loin chops so I decided to bake them for Sunday's dinner. Venison chops are generally not cut very thick and they are not all that big but 2 each per person is a nice serving size. Bacon or pork is generally added to venison when cooking. Venison is a very lean meat and in some cases can have a strong gamey taste The gamey taste can be solved by removing any fat and soaking the venison in a solution of water, vinegar and salt or use a vinegar based marinade. Then use a longer, slow cook method. Venison fat has a low mouth feel as it begins to cool. Replace the venison fat using pork fat which has a a nicer mouth feel and ads to the overall flavour of the venison. I think that maple syrup pairs nicely with venison too so like to use that as an ingredient when cooking venison. I served the baked venison loin chops with home canned herb glazed carrots and baked potatoes. The aromatic rosemary overtones in the carrots were quite pleasant with the baked venison loin chops.

Method: I lined the bottom of a 9" x 9" baking pan with bacon then placed the 4 loin chops on the bacon. I poured about a cup of 100% pure maple syrup over the chops then topped each chop with a piece of bacon. I baked at 350ºF until the chops were cooked through.

Venison Loin Chops and Cheese Stick Appetizers

The weather remains quite cold here even though we have had no new snow accumulation for the past twelve hours. I decided to experiment a bit with venison for dinner. We only have a little left and it needs to be used up. We also need to free up freezer space for the soon to arrive beef so I'm back to preparing meals with at least one or more foods from the freezer as much as possible. Later I fried up cheese sticks served with ranch dressing. Overall this effectively used up eight venison loin chops, side pork and a half package of cheese sticks from the freezer.

Venison Loin Chops

Venison loin chops are small but quite filling. Don't let what appears to be a small amount of meat on the plate fool you. Venison is very low fat and can have a tendency towards being tough and gamey in flavour. So, I always pair venison with pork of some kind. It is best could much the same way you would tougher cuts of beef, long and slow or in liquid.

In this case I used about 1 tbsp of bacon grease and four strips of side pork. Side pork looks like bacon but has a very different flavour because it isn't cured or smoked. I marinated the venison loin chops in sun roasted tomato and oregano dressing then placed on top of the side pork and bacon grease with a little of the marinade to slow roast. Accompaniments were Calrose rice cooked in chicken stock, home canned yellow wax beans and steamed asparagus. It wasn't a fancy meal but it met the goal of using two foods from the freezer.

Cheese Sticks

During the holiday season it is surprising how many little extras you end up with. Some of these like cheese sticks while not a regular part of our diets make for nice snacks. I had a half bag of cheese sticks left over from entertaining so decided to make an evening snack. These can be bought already breaded and ready to fry. One of these days I will try making my own from scratch but for now I had these to use up. The trick to frying cheese sticks is to use hot oil then fry until you can just see a bit of cheese oozing out. Remove from the fryer, drain on paper towels then arrange on sandwich plates or a platter. Individual serving bowls of Ranch dressing go nicely with cheese sticks.

Today's cooking wasn't particularly creative but it was good and used up three foods that freed up freezer space. Sometimes this style of pantry and freezer cooking is a necessity. Be sure to check back here as I share other pantry and freezer cooking ideas.

Two Left-Over Meals

It's true that sometimes the best laid plans fall through not for lack of planning but because of those little curve balls life tosses your way. So it was this past week. Apparently my husband felt the need to share his cold with me before his trip. There has been a lot of illness going around likely because we still haven't had a hard frost yet! I've been inside since last Friday so not even a spur of the moment trip to the farmer's market, best under the circumstances. While I've done a bit of experimenting, some canning and went through a lot of recipes deciding what I want to try next, I did not get accomplished as planned. So meals this week have been more of spur of the moment, this looks like it will work, using up left-over meals.

Venison Chili Fries

I made venison chili for my husband to take with him and kept out enough for a couple of meals. Venison chili is wonderful as is with a slightly different flavour and texture than chili made with ground beef. There was enough venison chili left over for one person but needed to feed two Monday night.

Venison chili makes very nice chili cheese fries! I deep fried store bought French fries in the deep fryer. These are handy to have in the freezer for those times you don't have the time or don't feel like make French fries from fresh potatoes. The entire meal took less than 15 minutes to put together. While the fries were frying, I warmed the chili, grated cheese and chopped the onions. The final assembly was a layer of French fries covered with venison chili, grated cheddar cheese and chopped onions.

Tonight's Dinner

Tonight's dinner was a direct result of seeing a vacuum sealed package of pre-cooked steak in the freezer and a craving for broccoli. When we grill steak, we always grill extra. Some will be used the following day and the rest froze as slices or whole steaks. The beauty of vacuum sealing pre-cooked steak or any other meat is reheating does not cause the meat to dry out if you heat it in the bag. I find it best to put the frozen bag into a pot of boiling water but reheating can be done in the microwave if desired. There will be a lot of steam in the bag so do take caution when opening. Steamed broccoli and oven baked potatoes topped with sour cream and roasted garlic rounded out the meal.

Venison Loaf

The temperatures soared and humidity levels climbed here yesterday. I had planned on grilling venison burgers for dinner. My husband suggested we make venison loaf instead of burgers deeming it too hot to grill but not to hot to take in a short boat ride. Thunderclouds were in the horizon as we headed back from the marina to enjoy a nice meal. Our new kitchen is on the lower level of an earth bermed house so using the oven doesn't heat the house as it would in other layouts.

Venison Loaf

I've made a few entries on cooking venison. Venison is a rich, very low fat meat with an unappealing mouth fat feel if it isn't served hot. For that reason two things are critical when preparing venison. First you must add a fat with the most common being pork in the form of bacon or ground pork depending on the dish. Second, venison dishes must be served hot! This may take a bit more planning to have everything ready at the same time but trust me it is worth it. I served the venison loaf with oven baked potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Venison Loaf*

2 lb ground venison
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 c dry bread crumbs
250 g (1/2 lb) bacon, cut across the slices to form small pieces
1/2 large spanish onion, chopped
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1/2 c Heinz 57 sauce

Prepare onion and bacon. Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix well by hand. Turn the mixture into a silicone loaf pan or well greased loaf pan and pat down. Bake at 250ºF for 40 minutes. Increase the heat to 350ºF for 10 minutes. Serve hot.
Servings - 6
*form into patties for grilling

Canning: Applesauce and Venison

My husband is back from hunt camp. They were successful but only got one deer and on the last day no less. The deer is being dressed not then will be divided between whoever wants some in the hunt camp tradition. I won't know how much meat I will have to work with until tomorrow but have included the canning method for vension after the applesauce. Hunting aside, the fall is the perfect time to go apple picking with your family however you can buy them already picked in large quantities suitable for preserving. This is the time to re-stock on homecanned applesauce, apple pie filling, apple butter, canned apples, and apple leather. Don't forget to make an apple pie or two.


L-star Apples

Apples are divided into two main groups, eating or cooking. Cooking varieties have more of a sharp flavour compared to the sweet flavour of eating apples. When making applesauce, use a nice cooking apple like the L-star that keeps it's shape well when used for pies. You don't need to use just one variety of cooking apple either. Some of the best applesauces are made using a blend of two or more varieties of cooking apples. If you want a sweeter applesauce without adding sugar include one or two eating apples.

Applesauce

I follow the Blue Ball Book (2000, pp. 17)method of making applesauce. This method is by far the easiest way to make applesauce. I make both plain and spiced applesauce with no sugar added.

Applesauce

Per quart: 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs of apples.
water
sugar (optional)
spices (optional)
Wash, stem and quarter the apples without coring or peeling. Cook the apples until soft in a large covered pot with just enough water to prevent sticking. Process the apples through a food strainer or food mill to remove seeds and peels. Return pulp to pot. Add 1/4 c sugar per pound of apples or to taste if desired. Bring apple sauce to a boil, stirring to prevent sticking. Reduce head and simmer 5 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints and quarts 20 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.

For spiced apple sauce add desired ground spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice to the sauce during the last 5 minutes of cooking.


Venison

Venison can be either froze or canned. Last year then venison was froze right after processing to kill any parasites that may be present. The person processing the deer said this was the proper way to do it so when we picked up the meat it was already froze and ready for our freezer. If you have a lot of venison you may want to process both ways.

Chopped Venison: Cook meat in hot skillet until seared. Stir in 1 to 1 1/2 cups boiling water, broth or tomato juice. Add 1 tsp salt to each qut ground meat if desired. Pact hot meat and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1-inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints 1 hour 15 minutes, quarts 1 hour 30 minutes at 10 lbs pressure.

Steaks and Chops: may be raw or hot packed. For raw pack, cut meat into 1-inch slices. For hot pack cut meat into 1-inch slices and quickly brown meat in small amount of fat. From this point the instructions are the same. Add 1/2 tsp salt to each pint, 1 tsp salt to each quart, if desired Pack meat into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Ladle hot broth over meat, leaving 1-inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two piece caps. Process pints 1 hour 15 minutes, quarts 1 hour 30 minutes at 10 lbs pressure.

Venison Chili

My husband leaves for hunt camp early Tuesday morning. One of the traditions they have is to take a meal made with venison from last year's kill. It is supposed to bring good luck for this year's hunt. One of the guys is bring venison sausage. I'm still working on getting his recipe. I'm making venison chili for them.

Venison Chili Reducing

Venison chili or at least the way I make it looks very much like beef based chili. Don't let this picture fool you either. This is a large batch in my largest stock pot that is a 20 qt capacity. Like many things I make, there isn't an actual recipe. What is important is using good quality ingredients. For this batch I will start with 2 lb ground venison, 1 lb bacon, 5 lb cooking onions, 1 spanish onion, 2 stalks celery, about 1/2 green pepper, 3-4 cloves minced garlic, home canned or frozen tomatoes, dried or home canned kidney beans, about 1 tbsp cocoa powder, about 1 tbsp brown sugar, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, and filtered water. I have been fairly specific about certain ingredients for a reason. Onions are a key ingredient. I like to use cooking onions for flavour and heat. A spanish onion provides sweetness to balance any sharpness to the cooking onions. I will only use home canned or home frozen tomatoes if fresh is out of season. Home canned or frozen tomatoes impart an almost fresh taste that commercially canned tomatoes seem to lack and there is none of the tinny flavour some commercially canned tomatoes have. That is important because that tinny flavour throws off the final flavour of the chili. Cocoa powder add depth and colour to the final chili. It's not something that when you taste the chili you can say "hey, that's cocoa"! So it is one of those ingredients that works in the background adding to the final results without being obvious. Brown sugar, preferrably organic, melds the flavours. Again, this should not be an obvious flavour but one that works in the background. I put kidney bean in my chili, both beet and venison. They add protein, body, texture and visual appeal. However, I willonlyuse dried or home canned kidney beans. These lack the salt of some commercially canned kidney beans but more important they have a fresher flavour. Bacon also plays a key role in venison chili. Some like to use ground pork but to me the bacon just says so much more and it imparts that all important mouth feel. Filtered water is also important as it will not impart any off flavourings to the final chili. So that's the basic ingredients.

Method: First, if using dried kidney beans, allow to soak overnight then drain. Get your mis en place in order especially for the seasonings and vegetables. Guestimate with the seasonings. I'd say I used about 1/4 c chili powder, 1/2 tbsp paprika, 1 tsp onion salt, 1 tsp garlic salt, and 1 tbsp cumin but that can always be adjusted as you are cooking. Once started, you do not want to find out you are missing an ingredient. For the seasonings, I use a larger bowl and mix them together before adding to the chili. Once you have your mis en place in order, it is time to start cooking! Cut the bacon across the strips in about 1/2-inch increments. Pan fry the bacon until browned but not crispy. Remove the pieces from the pan reserving the grease. Allow the bacon pieces to drain on a paper towel while reheating the grease. Add the ground venison to the pan and allow to brown. Do not over cook! Remove from the pan and allow to drain. Venison is quite lean so needs the extra fat but you still don't what a lot of extra fat.

Now the fun starts. Put the chopped vegetables into a large stock pot including the garlic and if you are using dried beans add them now. Do not add any seasonings yet! Some will sautée or even lightly heat the vegetables. I prefer to lightly heat the vegetables then add the browned venison and bacon pieces. Pour in 1 -2 quarts of home canned tomatoes (quart = 32 oz) and stir well. Add a little filtered water if the mixture is too dry. Bring the meat and vegetable mixture to a boil then reduce to a low simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer until the onions are translucent. Now it is time to add the cocoa and brown sugar and if you are using canned beans, add them now too. Note the depth of the colour and add up to a 1/2 tbsp if the colour is too bright but keep in mind the chili powder and other seasonings will add colour depth as well. Now add the other seasonings and mix well. Waft the smell using your hand to gently bring the smell towards your nose. Then do a small taste test putting a tsp of chili mixture into a bowl then tasting. Careful of the taste testing as you can go through a lot of chili that way! A good idea is to get another guinea pig aka family member to do a taste test as well. My husband loves doing this and has become quite an expert of "yep, needs more garlic" even if it's cheesecake. All kidding aside, what you want is a total melody of smell and flavours. If all goes well there will be no seasoning adjustments needed. This will give you a nice chile eveyone likes without being a mouth burner. If you want more heat, add either chili powder, paprika, cayenne pepper or hot sauce.

Oh I almost forgot, I love serving chili with homemade sourdough bread. I make an entry for the starter and bread recipe shortly.

Roasted Venison

Soon it will be hunting season and every hunter hopes to lucky enough to bag a deer. Preserving the meat is important but the real fun comes in cooking the venison. I thought I would make a few entries on some of the ways I preserve and cook venison. Watch for other venison methods and recipes to be published over the next week or so.

Venison roast is a nice change from pork or beef roasts. Here is how I make venison roast.

Venison Roasted

There are a few important things to know when cooking venison. Venison is very lean so a fat needs to be added when cooking. Usually the fat is ground pork if cooking ground venison or bacon for roasts. Do not over cook venison or it will be too dry. When I was first looking for recipes for cooking venison, one source indicated to soak in salt water but most sources say to avoid salting the meat prior to cooking. If there is any connective tissue on the roast, remove that as it will give an unpleasant taste.

I started with two frozen venison roasts, one was sirloin tip and the other rump. The roasts were thawed in the refrigerator overnight. Any connective tissue was cut away. Each roast was wrapped with bacon strips and placed in a glass baking dish. Wrapping the roast is easy. Just start at one end wrapping around the roast then move slice by slice until the entire roast is wrapped.

I cooked the uncovered roasts at 300 degrees farenheit on convection oven setting until the interal temperature was 140 degrees farenheit.

Venison Cut

The roasts where carefully removed from the baking pan and allowed to rest before cutting. There was enough juices for gravy but they needed to be put through a gravy separator to remove the fat first. Then I placed the juices in a sauce pan, added a little Worchestershire sauce and brought to a light boil. I used an arrowroot flour slurry to make a thin gravy. When the gravy was finished it was time to cut the meat.

Each slice of meat has an outer layer of bacon that looks nice when plated especially with a little gravy. I like to keep roasted venison meals more like old fashioned country cooking. This venison was served with baked potatoes, carrot coins and homemade sour dough bread.

Enjoy!

Garden Gnome