Venison & Mushroom Bourgogne

Ahhh, so I am now in Chicago, and looking forward to eating well. But when I moved, I still made a point of bringing a ton of food with me from the South, including some venison roast (thanks Uncle Paul!). And thanks to my awesome friend, Frank, and this recipe of his, I have something delicious to do with it.



You need a few things first, such as the following (but don't feel the need to be too exact, I never have been and it always works out fine):

About 1-2 lbs of Venison Roast, cubed into 1 inch pieces
1-3 lbs of various Mushrooms-white, cremini and shitakes (I bought mine prewashed and prechopped because I'm lazy)
2 medium onions (or one big onion!), chopped
2T minced Garlic
¼c Sherry
1T Apple Cider Vinegar
1 bottle Red Burgundy Wine (I usually use whatever red is on hand, I've used pinot noir, as well as merlot)
2t Dried Thyme
1t Dried Marjoram
1T Paprika
2t Salt
2t Ground Black Pepper
½t Cayenne Pepper
2T Bacon Fat or Duck Fat or, if you must, Olive Oil
BACON (if you're going the bacon fat route)

Preheat your oven to 350F, and let's get started.


Cook some bacon. Eat it. Save the drippings.

Toss the cubed Version with the Vinegar and a little drizzle of some sort of low-flavor oil then Salt and Pepper it.


Heat some of the bacon fat in a large, heavy pot with a tight fitting lid (Dutch Oven). Brown the Venison in batches being sure not to crowd the pot.


Remove the Venison to a bowl and add the onions (and more bacon fat) to the pot. Sauté the onions for about 10 minutes, adding the Sherry and allowing some of it to cook off, about 7 minutes over medium high heat, stirring. Add the Garlic, Thyme, Marjoram, Paprika, Black Pepper and Cayenne. Sauté for a few more minutes.


Return the Venison to the pot making sure that any liquid that has accumulated is not added to the cooking mixture. Stir to incorporate.


Top the cooking mixture with the mushrooms and then add the wine and maybe some water (depending if you were on the heavy end with your ingredient amounts).


Put the top on the pot and place in the oven for 3 or 4 hours or until the meat is fork-tender. It all just cooks down and blends together.


And it's great if you serve it over some roasted potatoes, in this case Yukon golds. I prep those with some oil and some herbs and stick them in for the last hour.


By this point everything should smell amazing and you will be pretty eager to stuff it all in your mouth. I suggest letting it cool off a little first.

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Steak, Goat Cheese, Skinny Fries

I've done such a bad job of keeping up with this. It isn't that I haven't been eating or cooking, I just don't know that I've made anything too exciting or brand new.

But I got Omaha steaks for my birthday! And I had some goat cheese, so I looked up some recipes for what I could do with that.



For starters, I bought a julienne slicer. I figured I already had a mandonline, so clearly I needed this next.


I decided to use it to make shoestring potatoes, that was one of the suggestions on the back of the packaging afterall.

Unfortunately, the other suggestions are for making "slaws" and what not, and I am not a slaw fan, so perhaps this wasn't my best investment ever (luckily, it was not much of an investment).

And while I love skinny fries, these might be a bit TOO skinny. But I digress.


What goes with french fries? Well, everything actually. But I wanted you to think steak. And I remembered that I had goat cheese. And of course I have the internet, so thank you, Giada, for your steak, goat cheese, and balsamic reduction recipe.

Instead of filet, I used top sirloin, since that's what I had.


I cooked it in some cast iron, with butter, about 3 minutes each side.


Broiled it for a just a minute or so with goat cheese on top.


Resting


My presentation needs some work, but oh well. The taste was there. The balsamic reduction was really nice, I'll probably use it on a few other things. The potatoes ended up being a bit thin to eat as fries, but they were quite yummy just scooped up with a fork after I swirled them around in extra sauce.


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Meat, Potatoes, and Brussel Sprouts

Been awhile hasn't it?

Anyway, now that I'm unemployed I have no excuse not to waste hours cooking and posting pictures.

We'll start with this lovely dinner I had of pot roast, parsnip-potato mash, and bacon roasted brussel sprouts.




Since I'm free to watch television more often now, I settled into some Food Network the other day and watched 5 Ingredient Fix with Claire Robinson. Then I went to the grocery store for her Sunday Pot Roast and Parsnip-Potato Mash. Added a green element with some brussel sprouts.

Sunday Pot Roast with Mushroom Gravy
1 (4 to 5-pound) boneless beef bottom round roast
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 medium yellow onions, halved and sliced
4 cups low-sodium beef broth

Preheat your oven to 325. You'll want to heat the olive oil and sear all sides of the meat. Then set the meat aside, and cooked the mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Add the onions and beef broth, and then return the meat to the pot, nestling it down into the vegetables. Include any juices that may have collected while the meat sat. Then cover, and put in the oven for 2 1/2 hours, then flip the meat and do another 30 minutes uncovered to reduce the liquid. To thicken the gravy, run some of the mushrooms and onions through a food processor or mini chopper, and add them back in.

Searing my roast, Claire suggests 4 minutes each side


Mushrooms and onions in the beef broth...I dice my onions small because I have texture issues and don't want to bite into a huge chunk later


Parsnip-Potato Mash
2 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 pounds parsnips (about 8 small), peeled and chopped
Kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup half-and-half
Freshly ground black pepper

Put the potatoes and parsnips in a pot with cold water and salt generously. Bring to a boil and then simmer 20 - 25 minutes, until fork tender. Heat the butter and half-and-half in a small saucepan until the butter is melted. Drain the potatoes and parsnips, and give them a quick mash. Add the hot butter mixture and mix them up, also adding salt and pepper to taste.

This was my first time working with parsnips


Cooking the potatoes and parsnips until they're "fork tender"


Potatoes and parsnips mixed with the butter and half and half


Bacon Roasted Brussel Sprouts
You'll need:
Brussel Sprouts
Bacon and its grease
Salt and pepper

Other options include lemon juice, olive oil (instead of bacon grease, or along with the bacon grease if you don't have enough), garlic powder, etc. You can even use little chunks of ham instead of bacon, I've had it both ways. You can mix the ingredients together on a pan, or in a big ziploc bag (and then of course pour them out on a pan). Then just roast in the oven at 400 for 30 to 45 minutes, shaking the pan or stirring it around every 5 to 10 minutes to get even cooking. You want them to end up somewhat blackened on the outside.

Brussel sprouts ready for the oven


Brussel sprouts out of the oven


Worth it, don't you think?


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Potato, Cheese, and Ale Soup

The original recipe comes from Bitchin Camaro, brought to my attention by Crepes of Wrath.



1 tbsp. olive oil (I used bacon grease muhahahaha)
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 5)
2 large Idaho potato, diced (I left the skin on…fiber!)
1 cup chicken stock
1 12. oz Ale-style beer (I used Sam Adams Summer Ale)
3/4 cup shredded cheese, plus 1/2 cup for garnish (I used cheddar and jack)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
optional garnishes:
bacon (and to use the grease)
pretzels
sour cream

The original recipe is meant to serve 2...Since I wanted more than 2 servings, I added another potato. But I guess my potatoes were extra large, because it made a huge amount. I used a little extra of each other ingredient to accommodate, but still needed to add more liquid (to keep it creamy) so I added milk as well.

Yay, making soup!


Set a large pot over medium-high heat and add the olive oil/bacon grease. Saute the onions for 5 – 7 minutes, or until soft, then add the garlic and saute for another couple of minutes.

Add the potatoes and brown them a bit.


After 8 to 10 minutes, add the stock and beer and reduce the heat to medium. Let simmer uncovered for 15 minutes or so, or until the potatoes are tender.


Use an immersion blender, regular blender or food processor to puree the soup until smooth. (Because my extra potato made so much, I had to do this in two batches). Return to the pot and reduce the heat to low.


Stir in the cheese, salt, paprika and vinegar until well-combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.


Ladle into bowls and garnish with your choice...my choice was bacon, sour cream, and more cheese.


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Homemade Potato Chips

I saw a post about making homemade potato chips and decided I wanted to try it too. But I didn't feel like making the mess of frying so I decided to go the baking route. I'd had some success with baking zucchini and squash slices, so I figured it would work for potatoes too.

Really I was just excited for the opportunity to use my mandoline slicer.



It has 3 sizes! So I made slices of all three sizes.

Laid mine out on a baking rack, and sprinkled them with Tony's. (too much actually)


It occurred to me after I flipped them to spray them with olive oil. I wish I had thought of that before I flipped them, because they ended up sticking to the baking rack.


I pulled them out after about 20 minutes and managed to get most of them unstuck and flipped over with very few casualties.


Put them back in for another 5 or so minutes. They crisped up REALLY well actually. Well, the thin ones did. The thicker ones probably would need to go longer. But in the future, I'll just make the thin ones.


And like I said, a bit too much Tony's. Ended up overly peppery.


But honestly pretty impressed with the end result. Going to have to do this more often.



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Wine Steak

An excellent dinner to be having is wine steak and roasted potatoes.

Start with 2 ½ lbs round steak/top round/London broil, sprinkle all surfaces evenly with meat tenderizer, and pierce deeply and generously with a fork. Let it stand at room temperature for about an hour.

Your meat does not have to look like America minus Florda.


While the meat is sitting, combine all of this in a small pot:
1 cup red wine
1 garlic clove, minced (although I used about 5)
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, minced (I've used dried minced onion before as well)
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp prepared horseradish
2 Tbsp minced parsley
2 Tbsp prepared mustard
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter or margarine



Heat it until the butter melts, then let it cool to room temperature (til about when the meat has finished sitting for an hour).

Pour sauce over meat (I usually marinate mine in a gallon ziploc because it's easier to deal with). Chill several hours, turning steak several times. (It can also be frozen in the sauce to cook later).


Remove meat from sauce and strain the sauce, keeping the solids and the liquids separate.

Broil the steak on one side, basting occasionally with liquid.


Turn over and spread the top surface with the solids. Broil to desired degree of doneness.




Slice to serve. The remaining sauce can be brought to a boil and then served to go on top of the meat.

There's really no way you can mess up this flavor. The cooking time will vary depending on your method (grill or oven) and how "done" you want it. I did about 8 minutes each side for medium, perhaps medium rare in places.

As for the potatoes, mine are more like slices instead of chunks because I like them to end up a little crispy. I spray them first with some olive oil so it all "sticks" (it's also amazing if you toss it all in bacon grease). Then I go through the spice rack and add some different things...parsley, thyme, basil, rosemary, paprika, minced onion, pepper, garlic powder, salt, pepper...some combination of all that. Then it goes in the oven for about an hour.


Then enjoy. A lot.





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