This Months Recipes

This Months Recipes:

Alright everyone take out your elegant tablecloths, dust off the good china, polish the silverware and make ready for a gourmet feast using the bounty of your hard labor. There is no reason why you should not use the game meat for your Christmas and or New Years' dinners. The ideas are endless. You can do anything you want with what you have on hand. It is not hard. Make this a tradition, make this once a year commitment to honor the end of the year with your fruitful bounty. I hope some of you have not cut up all your venison into steaks. You should always have a few roasts, and especially a shoulder roast. The following recipe is easy and delicious

Stuffed Provencal Venison Shoulder

3 lb. boned shoulder roast	Olive oil
1/2 lb. ground pork	2 cloves garlic (minced very fine)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion	1/2 cup sliced pimento-stuffed green olives
1/4 tsp. each salt and whole thyme	Pepper ( to taste)
1 egg	3 slices whole wheat bread
2 Tbls. milk

Mix (lightly) the pork, garlic, chopped onion, olives salt, thyme, pepper and slightly beaten egg, bread crumbs and milk. ( cut the bread into small cubes) After boning the shoulder use the cavity to fill with the stuffing mixture. Tie the opening closed with heavy kitchen string to keep stuffing from falling out. Rub the olive oil liberally over the outside of the roast. Place the roast on a rack in a 325 degree oven for about 2 1/4 hours. If you have a meat thermometer ( and you should) place it in the thickest part. When the temperature reaches 170 degrees it is safe to serve. Remove the strings, place on a serving platter and slice thinly. You can use the pan juices to make a sauce, just add a little white wine and deglaze the roasting pan. The sauce will taste great.

The wine to serve with this meal would be a nice light red wine, nothing to heavy. A nice Merlot, possibly.

Venison Veronique

1 lb. venison boneless round (from the butt area) cut 1/2 inch thick	2 Tbls. flour
salt and pepper	2 Tbls. olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine	1/4 tsp. grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp. crumbled rosemary	1/2 lb. seedless grapes

Cut the venison into serving size pieces. ( 4) Mix the flour, salt and pepper and gently pound into the venison pieces. Heat the olive oil in skillet and add the steaks. Brown the meat on both sides, add the wine, sprinkle with the grated lemon peel and rosemary. Cover and simmer slowly for about 15 minutes. Add the grapes that have been rinsed and separated from their cluster, cover again and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until tender. Delicious!!!!

Venison Roast Orloff

4 lb. venison sirloin tip roast ( or close facsimile)	salt and pepper
Soubise sauce ( look below for recipe)	1/2 lb sliced fully cooked Canadian bacon
6 oz. Gruyere cheese	3 Tbls. shredded Gruyere cheese

Instructions for making the sauce follows the roast recipe: Sprinkle roast that has been rolled and tied with kitchen string with salt and pepper. Place, fat side up on a rack in a shallow pan. Roast in a 325 degree oven for about 2 1/4 hours or till the internal temperature reaches 160 degree on a meat thermometer. Take out of the oven and let the roast rest for at least 5 minutes. Remove the strings. Cutting to within 1/2 inch of the bottom of the roast cut into slices 1/2 inch apart. Spread 1 cut side of each slice with the Soubise Sauce, reserving the other half to use for a topping. Insert a think slice of Canadian bacon next to the sauce on each slice. Insert 1 thin slice of Gruyere cheese between bacon and each of the un-spread surfaces of the venison. Tie a string around the roast to hold it together. Spread the remaining sauce over the top, sprinkle with the shredded Gruyere. You can make this ahead of time, just make sure to cover and keep chilled. Return the roast to the 325 degree oven and bake about 45 minutes or until the meat is heated through and sauce is light brown. When serving, cut between the slices.

Soubise Sauce

1 cup chopped onion	2 Tbls. butter
1/2 cup flour pinch of salt	1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg yolk	1/2 cup each chicken broth and heavy cream
dash of pepper

Cook chopped onion in butter until soft. Puree the onion and return to the pan. Blend the flour, salt, nutmeg, and pepper, stir into onion puree and cook about 2 minutes. Gradually add chicken broth and heavy cream. Cook, constantly stirring, until sauce is thick. Beat the egg yolk, blend in a little of the hot sauce. Blend into remaining sauce and cook. Stir until it becomes thick and smooth, no lumps, please.

On the subject of cooking with wines if they call for a white wine, then use a Chablis, dry Sauterne, or Rhine wine. Some times even dry Vermouth can be used. A dry red wine would be a Burgundy or Claret type or a Italian red wine. The longer the dish is cooked the more subtle the taste. Alcohol is almost immediately gone once heat is used. The only thing left is the flavor of the wine, it tends to help blend flavors and add a touch of fragrance to the dish. Always make sure that if you cook with wine, make sure it is of good quality, if you wouldn't pour a glass of it to drink, don't cook with it. Any good side dish will work well with these recipes.

(Elizabeth Wiesemann is part owner of Pleasant Mtn. Guide Service based at ChaMaCha Lodge in Denmark, Maine. She is a member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association, writes for 2 outdoor publications and 6 outdoor web sites. She will be hosting the first Women in the Outdoors event in Maine, next June. The National Wild Turkey Federations women's organization. You can email her with questions at her email address pmgspmt@nh.adelphia.net or www.mainelodges.com. )

Here's another way to make your Wild Game taste GREAT!

View a list of all recipes here!

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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