First tomato of spring

Isn't it perfect? Tomatoes have arrived at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market. But be warned -- you must get there early (well before 9 am) to get the first tomatoes of spring.

Dinner tonight - pepper venison, fried potatoes, salad with lemon vinaigrette and (not shown) Fresh Air Flavours rhubarb relish. Every bit of it from Saskatchewan!

Soup Week 2 - VENISON SOUP

Week 2 and my New Year's resolution is still going strong ~ to make a pot of soup each week.

This week's soup is made with venison from our friend Leon and juniper berries I picked last summer at Cranberry Flats.

The recipe came from chef Tina Nordstron of Sweden, who did a Scandinavian cooking show for PBS television. You'll find the recipe here. Note: Tina's recipe is a stew so I added more water (I didn't use beer, as she did) to make it into a delicious soup. I also used Saskatchewan morels for extra local flavour. Very good when it's ~30 outside!

Thanks Leon - VENISON STEW

Fabulous venison stew tonight. This recipe is from Ducks Unlimited Adventure in Cooking, which I picked up at a used book store in Regina on the weekend. Everything was local from Saskatchewan except the chocolate and cinnamon. (I didn't use kidney beans, but put in extra local pinto beans instead.)

It's a beautiful cookbook and I think I'll use it often.

So thanks, Leon, for the gift of venison, and I hope you're having a good hunting season. (A very self-serving sentiment!)

Locally made paté - Do it yourself!

A birthday gift to myself -- Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. Charcuterie refers to the processing of meat by smoking, curing, salting, drying, etc., and includes bacon, ham, sausages, paté, terrines, confit and more. I began with paté: Venison and Dried Sour Cherry Paté (wild venison and Saskatchewan sour cherries) and Paté de Grandmere (pork with chicken liver - pictured above). All major ingredients were locally procured. Making paté was a bit time-consuming, but not hard to do. These early forays into charcuterie were quite successsful. Next... I'm looking for a hog's head to make headcheese. (Which, contrary to popular misconception, does not include the brains!)

Hug a venison hunter - VENISON STEW

What is it about hunters that makes them so generous? Not only did Darlene and Leon invite us to share their fabulous dinner of venison osso buco, morel omelets, roast root vegetables and apple crisp (all local, I might add), but Leon gave us three hind quarters from a recently nabbed deer. My culinary prowess is a little more plebian than Leon's - I lean more toward peasant stews. So I share with you a great stew adapted from a recipe for pork from Saveur magazine (Dec. 2005).

Venison Stew with Apricots and Prunes
3 lbs venison cut in 1” pieces
Salt and pepper
6 tbsp canola oil
6 carrots, peeled and sliced crosswise
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup pitted prunes
1 lb (about 5) onions
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Flour for thickening (optional)

For the best results, start the stew on the morning or even the day before you plan to eat it.

Heat 3 tbsp of the canola oil in a heavy pot on medium-high heat. Season the venison with salt and pepper. Brown the meat on all sides, about 5 minutes. Stir in the carrots and cook until slightly tender. Add the tomato paste, apricots and 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 2-3 hours. Add the prunes.

Test the meat for tenderness. If the venison is not yet tender, simmer longer. At this point, you can turn off the heat and let the stew rest until mealtime.

Before serving, peel and cut the onions into wedges. Heat the remaining 3 tbsp of canola oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they soften. Sprinkle on the balsamic vinegar. Continue cooking until the onions are caramelized and browned. Stir the onions into the hot stew.

If you like a thicker stew, scoop some of the hot liquid into a cup. Briskly stir in 2 tbsp flour until there are no lumps. Stir into the stew and simmer until thickened.

Serve with boiled potatoes or hardy bread.

Newspaper Column - VENISON STEW

Published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, 20 Oct 2008.

My husband came home from work the other day with a leg of venison under his arm. He doesn’t hunt but we have plenty of friends who do. And lucky for us, they like to share. I didn’t grow up eating wild meat, but I’ve come to appreciate it in many ways.

Wild meat is pure, lean and healthy—very little meat we eat these days is as naturally-raised and unadulterated as wild game. It’s guaranteed to be fresh and local, something we can’t always ascertain when buying meat at the grocery store. I also appreciate the fact that wild animals live free and unfettered lives, doing what comes naturally to them; that can’t be said of most of the animals raised for human consumption.

Thanks to our friends who hunt, our freezer has been blessed with venison, moose and elk—some in the form of sausage and pepperoni sticks—as well as goose, duck and grouse, all cut and wrapped.

Some people dislike the “gamey” flavour, but I maintain that if the animal is slaughtered correctly and cooked properly, most picky eaters could not tell the difference. Just the other day, I made my husband’s favourite meatloaf with a mix of grass-fed beef and elk. One of my most successful recipes is a slow-cooked stew from Portugal which is flavoured with cinnamon, cumin and allspice. The recipe calls for beef but I make it with moose.

Another successful recipe is beef bourguignon, a traditional stew from France made with bacon, red wine and vegetables. I made it with elk and the meat was delicious. My husband John has a nice touch with venison: cut the meat in 3/4 inch slices, cross-hatch it with the edge of a plate (to flatten and tenderize), soak in milk 5 minutes, shake in a bag of flour, salt and pepper, then quick fry in hot lard.

The goose came to us as a bag of freshly cut breasts which I flattened and rolled with a mix of potato, apple and caraway seeds (a Mario Batali recipe) which we ate at Christmastime. It wasn’t exactly the golden goose of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, but I thanked my benefactor all the same.

A couple of years ago, I decided to try hunting myself. I enrolled in an online hunter education course that could be completed at one’s leisure, but somehow I never found the time—always too busy with my own garden, picking and canning and cooking. Hunting season came and went. Now I’m having second thoughts. Perhaps back in prehistoric times, my ancestors were the gatherers and the farmers, not the hunters of the tribe. Perhaps it is their legacy that I should wield a hoe, not a gun, and rather than take up hunting, I should cultivate friends who do.

So to Jeff, Sue, Vance, Rick, Greg and Mark (of the leg of venison) thank you for sharing your bounty. Would you like some potatoes?

This recipe comes from Saveur magazine (for original recipe, click here). For more recipes with wild Saskatchewan ingredients, click on the word "wild" at the bottom of this post.

Venison Stew
1/2 tsp. whole allspice berries
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. whole cloves
4 lbs. venison roast
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup tomato purée
(I use my own tomatoes, peeled)
3/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Salt
16 slices day-old soft French or Italian bread
Leaves from 3 sprigs mint

Put allspice, cumin, and cloves on a small square of cheesecloth, gather corners, and tie shut with kitchen twine. Put spice bag, meat, garlic, bay leaves, onions, tomato sauce and purée, wine, ketchup, cinnamon, 3 cups water, and salt to taste into a large heavy-bottomed pot. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until meat is very tender and falling off the bone, 5–6 hours. Adjust seasonings.

Transfer meat with a slotted spoon to a large bowl, then shred with two forks, discarding fat and bones, and put into a large serving dish. Skim fat from meat broth and discard bay leaves and spice bag. Arrange bread in another large serving dish and scatter mint on top. Ladle broth over bread and mint and set aside briefly to allow bread to swell and absorb broth before serving. Serve meat and broth-soaked bread together.

Leg o' venison

John came home today with this lovely leg of venison, shot this morning near Saskatoon by our friend Mark. I love wild meat, and I love it when our hunting friends decide to share with us. Just last week, Jeff showed up with a box of venison, elk and moose, including bratwurst and pepperoni sticks. (I made elk bourguignon.) What exactly becomes of this leg o' venison will be the subject of future posts.

(A few days later...) John made this fabulous venison stew with all the little tidbits left over after cutting up the leg. He sautéed them in bacon fat. Added carrots, cooked potatoes and frozen peas, with enough water to simmer everything. I added some chanterelle mushrooms (which had been sautéed in butter and frozen), crumbled sage, fresh thyme and fresh oregano. We also added some of that lovely jelly left in the pot after cooking a ham. Seasoned it with salt and pepper. Yummy...

The rewards of babysitting - VENISON GOULASH

This recipe is adapted from Saveur magazine, October 2006. The venison came from our friend Rick, who hunts near Saskatoon, as payment for babysitting his kids. Even though this recipe comes from Hungary, almost every ingredient is produced locally (except the vinegar and allspice).

1½ – 2 pounds venison, cubed
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
Four slices of good bacon, diced
1 big onion, finely chopped
1½ tsp paprika
½ tsp fresh thyme
¼ tsp mustard powder
4 allspice berries
1½ tbsp tomato paste
½ green pepper, finely chopped
1 cup chicken stock or water

Put the meat in a bowl, toss in the vinegar and cover with boiling water. In a heavy pot with a lid, fry the bacon until cooked. Add the onion and cook until soft. Drain the venison and add to the pot to brown on all sides. Add 1 cup of water plus the paprika, thyme, mustard powder, allspice, tomato paste and green pepper. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours.

Add the chicken broth or water. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer on low heat without the lid for another two hours, or until the sauce is thickened and the venison is fall-apart tender. Serve with boiled potatoes that have been tossed with melted butter and chopped parsley.