Venison and Pumpkin Roulade

November 10th, 2011 |

Author: Susan

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Venison and pumpkin roulade.

Itâ€™s tough living withâ€”and cooking forâ€”a meat and potatoes guy when Iâ€™m trying not to eat potatoes (or bread, or rice, or anything like that). Fortunately, itâ€™s the rut and that means Rick isnâ€™t home for dinner. I get to do anything I want!

What I wanted this time was see what mashed pumpkin would be like, and then see how it would work in one of my venison roulades. Rick wonâ€™t eat pumpkin unless itâ€™s in a pie, so this was my opportunity to go into the kitchen and experiment.

If you are a pumpkin lover, then you will like this. Really, how can you go wrong adding cream and butter to anything? Rickâ€™s comment was â€œwhy would you ruin a beautiful piece of meat like that?â€ I decided not to share it with him after that. He wasnâ€™t crushed. Fine. All the more for me!

: Venison and Pumpkin Roulade

1 pound venison flank roast
1 recipe mashed pumpkin (see below)
1 tbs fresh sage
1 tbs fresh rosemary
1 tbs fresh thyme
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
6 slices applewood smoked bacon

Prepare the mashed pumpkin and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Chop the sage, rosemary and thyme. Mix with the olive oil and set aside.
Butterfly the venison flank steak, cover with parchment paper, and pound until the meat is about 1/4 inch thick.
Spread the mashed pumpkin over the venison.

Spread the mashed pumpkin over the meat.
Loosely roll the meat.
Rub with the herb and oil mixture over the meat.
Wrap the venison in bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Lay the bacon on a cutting board. Set the meat on the bacon and wrap the bacon tight, securing each piece with a toothpick.
Heat a large skillet. Brown the venison for about 2 minutes per side, enough for the bacon to get a little brown.
Place in the oven and cook for 45 minutes.
Venison pumpkin roulade fresh out of the oven.

Remove and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

adjust the amount of the herbs to your liking. I like sage, so I use a lot of it!

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 45 minute(s)

Diet tags: High protein

Number of servings (yield): 4

5 :Â â˜…â˜…â˜…â˜…â˜… 1 review(s)

: Mashed Pumpkin

: a nice variation on mashed potatoes

Mashed pumpkin.

2 tbs butter (unsalted), divided
2 leeks
3 cups pumpkin, chopped
Â¼ cup venison or beef stock
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbs heavy cream
1 to 2 tsp kosher salt
Â¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Melt 1 tbs of the butter in a skillet over medium heat
While the butter melts, coarsely chop the leeks.
Saute the leeks in the butter until just tender and brown.
Add the pumpkin, stock, and cayenne pepper. Cover and simmer until the pumpkin is tender, about 6 minutes.
Put the pumpkin in a food processor (using the blade) along with the remaining butter, cream, 1 tsp of salt and pepper. Pulse until creamy.
Taste and add more salt or pepper to taste.

This version is very creamy. If you want to bulk it up, add a sweet potato. Prepare the sweet potato like the pumpkin, add it to the leeks and cook until almost tender, then add the pumpkin.

If you can’t eat dairy, simply omit it and add more butter to get the creamy consistency you want.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 15 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 6