Great Venison Cooking

Posts Tagged ‘venison’

this piloncillo comes wrapped in corn husks.

Any recipe that requires a visit to Bestway, my local Hispanic food market, is cause for excitement. I just love that market, full of interesting vegetables and condiments that can’t be found at any of the other six grocery stores within a mile of my house. This recipe comes from Natural Health magazine (April/May 2011, pg. 76) and the ingredient I was curious to find was piloncillo, which is a very unrefined brown sugar that comes in big blocks. I had to research what it even was before I could go to the store and know which aisle to look in (thank you Wikipedia). The store had a few varieties, but the store manager said the one wrapped in the corn husks was best, and I believed him.

Aside from the fun new ingredient I got to use, I was also drawn to the salsa that goes with the meat. I love Pico de Gallo and I love anything made with ginger. I was intrigued by the combination of ginger with the tomatillos and cilantro. The ginger gives the sauce a nice zing, which for me counter-balanced the heat of the serrano pepper in it. It’s a lovely salsa.

The magazine recipe calls for tuna steaks, which I switched out for venison steaks. I used a flank roast cut into 1-inch thick steaks. And since our grill is currently broken (very sad story), I broiled the steaks. I think the switch worked…very, very well.

Recipe: Venison Steaks with Cilantro-Ginger Salsa

Summary: tender venison meat with a zingy salsa perfect for spring evenings

Ingredients

1. 1 cup water
2. 1/4 cup piloncillo
3. 1 ancho chile
4. 3 tbs soy sauce
5. 3/4 cups water
6. 2 tbs rice vinegar
7. 1/2 tsp salt
8. 1/4 tsp pepper
9. 4 6-oz venison flank steaks (1-inch thick)
10. Cilantro-Ginger Pico de Gallo (recipe below)

Instructions

Marinate the venison flank steaks for at least 20 minutes.

1. Preheat broiler or grill.
2. In a small sauce pan, bring 1 cup water to boil. Add the piloncillo and ancho chile and boil until sugar is dissolved and chili is tender.
3. Let cool slightly, then blend in blender.
4. Stir in the soy sauce, 3/4 cup water, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
5. Place venison steaks in baking dish and cover with marinade. Let marinate for at least 20 minutes.
6. Place steaks on broiler pan and broil until medium, about 5 minutes per side.

Variations

This recipe originally called for tuna steaks, which would also be nice.

Cooking time (duration): 20

Number of servings (yield): 4

Meal type: dinner

This post is the first in many (I hope) to post in the Food Renegade Fight Back Friday blog. I’ve always been interested in sustainable food practices, but in the past few months I’ve been taking a more proactive stance in clean eating. Access to a steady supply of wild game and an organic garden where I can grow produce (I use the term “I” loosely…Rick does all of the hunting and gardening in our household. I do the cooking and eating) helps. So does sharing it with others.

It’s a beautiful late summer morning and I’m sitting alone on my couch drinking my morning coffee. My hunter is in a tree, no doubt happy as can be. Bowhunting season in Virginia opened today, and it’s about time too…our freezer is almost empty.

It will be interesting to see what the season is like. For the past few years, our county has been slowly expanding an urban hunting program in the parks in an effort to control the population. Rick’s hunt club participates in it, and they were very successful in their park last year. This year the park next to his favorite private hunting spot is on the list. While that’s good for the park, he’s a little worried about how that will impact his success. We will see. I’m glad the county is running the program. We have such an overpopulation problem. And I’m really not too worried; I’m sure Rick will fill our freezer and have plenty to give to all of our friends and to donate to Hunters for the Hungry!

Now I have to focus on my job—finding more good recipes to test with venison!

The preparations are under way for St. Patrick’s day. In our house, that means the venison roast is in the brine, getting ready to become corned venison. This year, we decided to try out another pub delicacy, this one famous in Scotland. Scottish Eggs are hard boiled eggs wrapped in breakfast sausage rolled in breadcrumbs or oats and fried. What’s not to love? I made them with a twist—I made Irish Sausage with venison to wrap the eggs in. Delicious! These little delicacies are eaten cold, making them the perfect breakfast or snack.