This Months Recipe:
Avocado with Perch Re`moulade Moms Venison Stew
Here's another way to make your Wild Game taste GREAT!
Valentines Day is right around the corner, so how about fixing something up for your honey that will absolutely astound him or her. There is an endless variety of ways to prepare and fix all your culinary dreams with wild game. A tweak here and a pinch there and you have a gastronomic feast. Try a little something different, it really doesn't hurt. Ice fishing here in the Northeast is a right of passage. There is nothing I like more than to have the grandkids, their sleds, ice skates, ice fishing traps, nice small bait fish, good ice auger, and a cooler packed with food and drink to last us the whole day. Yellow perch, which some people don't care for, are missing out. A gentleman from Vermont gave me a good lesson on yellow perch. Skin and fillet the perch, and place in cold water, the fillets curl up and when cooked taste just like shrimp. He called it poor mans' shrimp. Try this first recipe and you will agree.
| 1/4 cup tarragon vinegar | 2 Tbls. horseradish mustard |
| 1 Tbls. catsup | 11/2 tsp. paprika |
| 1/2 tsp salt | 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper |
| 1/2 cup salad oil | 1/4 cup minced celery |
| 1/2 cup minced green onion and tops | 4 nice avocados |
| 2 lbs. fresh yellow perch fillets | |
Mix the vinegar, mustard, catsup, paprika, salt, and cayenne pepper in a mixing bowl. Slowly add the oil (canola is best), while mixing in a blender, after mixing pour into a bowl and add your celery and onion. While these flavors are intermingling, take your yellow perch fillets( if they are large, cut them length wise), and place them in a steam basket and slowly steam them till done. It doesn't take long so keep your eye on them. After they are cooked and cooled off, place them in a container and pour the Re`moulade over them and cover the container place in the refrigerator for at least 5-6 hours. On a nice pretty serving tray place your peeled and sliced avocados, which are lying on a bed of nice crisp, red and green leaf lettuce. Now take two or three of your poor mans shrimp and place on top of your avocados. The remaining Re`moulade sauce leave on the table so everyone can have more. This is such an excellent appetizer or salad course, or even for a cocktail party. You will get rave reviews.
Now for a venison dish that I made for my mother-in-law while she was still alive. She always claimed to not like venison, but little did she know that most of the food in our freezers was all wild game. Deer, moose, caribou, wild boar, etc. She never know the difference. So that should give everyone hope, that if cooked properly no one will know.
| 3 lbs. of venison, leg meat is best, cut into cubes | 1 cup flour |
| 1 1/2 tsp. rosemary | salt and pepper |
| 2 cloves of garlic( chopped) | 1 cup good white wine |
| 2/3 cup diced tomatoes | 1 cup peeled plum tomatoes cut into quarters |
Place flour into paper bag with venison pieces. Coat the meat by shaking bag over and over again. Take 1/2 cup olive oil and heat in Dutch oven until very hot. Sauté the garlic and rosemary until nice and golden. Now add your venison and brown on all sides. Add your salt and pepper and wine. Cook on high heat till begins to boil, lower heat and stir. Add your tomatoes and bring back up to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for an hour or more. Serve this with wonderful egg noodles, or next to some nice baked potato halves that are garnished with rosemary.
This last recipe is one which I do use ground venison. I don't particularly like ground venison, but when I grind it myself, I will use this recipe. A friend of mine from college, loved to make this and whenever I make it I think her, Pam wherever you are, this ones for you.
| 3 nice onions, chopped | 1/4 cup butter( use only butter) |
| 2 tsp. salt | 2 lbs. lean ground venison( no pork added) |
| 4 Tbs. tomato paste | 2 pinches of pepper( or 2 or 3 good turns on your peppermill) |
| 1/3 cup water Elbow macaroni for filling (1 lb. elbows cooked, 3 eggs, 1 tsp. salt) | |
| 1 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese Cream sauce ( 6 Tbls. butter, 3/4 cup flour,1 qt. milk, 3 eggs, 1 tsp. salt) | |
Sauté the onions in the butter till soft. Now add your meat and cook until there is no pink left showing. Add a small dash of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and your salt and pepper. Add your tomato paste to your water and simmer with your meat mixture for at least 5-6 minutes. Set aside. Cook your elbow macaroni, drain, and rinse. Stir in your slightly beaten eggs and salt. Stir until well mixed. Spoon have of your macaroni mixture in a buttered 9 X 13 dish or pan and sprinkle with 1/4 cup cheese. Place all the meat mixture on top. Pour remaining macaroni filling on top of meat and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of cheese. Cream sauce, Melt your 6 Tbls. butter, stir in flour and cook stirring until blended and softly bubbling. Slowly stir in the milk and the 3 eggs, cook until thickened. On top of your macaroni, now pour the cream sauce and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake this uncovered for 45 min to an hour. You can make this up to 8 hours before cooking. So if you want to plan ahead, do it early and just pop in the oven and your all set.
I hope this gives you some ideas to use, and don't be afraid to experiment. Until next month, keep well, and stay happy.
Here's another way to make your Wild Game taste GREAT!
Liz Wiesemann (Aiming and Angling Recipes)
co-owner of Pleasant Mountain Guide Service and ChaMaCha Lodge, located in Denmark, Maine. Member of
the New England Outdoor Writers Assoc., also columnist for the Northwoods
Sporting Journal, and other sites.
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