Mamushka's Cabbage Rolls

Steamy and packed with a little torpedo of rice and meat, these Holubtsi (read Cabbage Rolls) were a bowl of sweet and savory. Cabbage rolls don't look like much, but they are these wonderful little wrapped packets of wonderful comfort. They involve a concentrated bit of flurried preparation in the kitchen and then ... they get popped in the oven to smell up the place with the best homey aroma! Served piping hot with a cold dollop of dilled sour cream, you will be wishing you had an old kerchiefed Mamushka living with you to tweek your cheek, pour you a nip of vodka, slap a loaf of crusty bread down and holler for you to get to the table.

Mushrooms and Marsala Wine with Venison Medallions

Although this dish feels like fall and winter, I have a cache of venison in my freezer, dark Baby Bella mushrooms that need using, and copious amounts of garden vegetable that will be a snap to roast and steam, as I sear the venison and prepare a rich sauce to put around them.

In thinking about this meal, it occurs to me that much of the main ingredients come from our garden and from SB's passion for the hunt. Is this where I let out that primal scream that announces our sure ability to survive longer than the regular schmoe, should the apocalypse happen?  I'm not that smug, but it sure is satisfying to know that when I look at tonight's plate I can be a happy backyard gardener and look across the table at the hunting hick !

Inch thick blade steaks - trim the sides of the silver skin, but leave the center strip of fat)

Now, here's a good way to make venison ... pound out a couple steaks  (these are blade steaks, but tenderloins or chops work also!) and cut them into burger-sized medallions. Heat a grill pan until it's searing hot. Toss a pat of butter on the pan and push it around to grease the ways. Plop on the medallions and set the timer for one minute. Flip them and set the timer for another minute. Remove them to a platter and cover loosely for a couple minutes while you finish whatever sauce you've started making. Drizzle some of the sauce over top and serve them immediately.

That's it!

Pounded to about 1/3 inch thickness, sprinkled with salt, pepper, steak spice and drizzled with just a bit of olive oil

Sautéed in a bit of butter until browned and beginning to crisp at the edges, soaked in some Marsala wine and set aside to soak up the flavors... finished with cream and butter just before serving

Now, about this sauce ... it's Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced thickly (because we like a bit of chew to our food), a couple tablespoons of butter, a couple sprigs of thyme with the leaves stripped off, some salt and pepper, a couple tablespoons of Marsala wine, and some light cream and butter pats to finish the sauce.

That's it!

Pour the wine and enjoy. 

If venison is not your thing, you could do this meal with beef tenderloin and it would be pretty darn good. Go for it !

A Note About Venison ...

The big thing with venison is to have really simple side dishes (or sides that you can fuss over earlier in the dinner prep process.). In our case, we have new potatoes and rosemary for roasting and fresh green beans for the steaming. I know that I've ranted on this in earlier venison posts, but it's really important. there's nothing worse than overdone venison ... think shoe leather. It must be cooked medium rare to rare in order to maintain its moisture and tenderness. Venison is so very lean that it dries out fast and then it's useless ... make it into Slim Jims or something equally gross.

So ... keep it rare. Simple as that ...

Venison Kefta with Harissa and Yogurt

They look like little cigars on a skewer. They're full of coriander, cumin, caraway, cilantro, parsley, onion, red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper, and very lean venison. Incredibly spicy, grilled medium, piping hot! Wrap them in a whole wheat pita, layer on some yogurt and hot spicy Harissa and you have a Moroccan hotdog!

Venison and Winter Squash Tagine

 

If this were a scratch and sniff photograph, you would be in seventh heaven right now. Imagine a meaty cinnamon and paprika scent that has a hint of sweetness and the pungence of the fresh cilantro.
This dish is just what a cold raw winter day demands ...

Venison Sloppy Joes

If you went to public school, you KNOW the Sloppy Joe shuffle. My elementary school had Sloppy Joes on Mondays ... surely a way to use up any burger that had languished in the fridges over the weekend and the burger buns from Friday's hamburger and hotdog lunch ... it was also such an easy recipe that it got the lunch ladies back into their work week with minimal effort.  The Sloppy Joe lunch always had carrot and celery sticks alongside and some sort of canned fruit in those sad-looking plastic dishes behind the glass shelf shields. A carton of milk, napkin, straw, and there you have it ... public school lunch fare!

Venison Hand Pies with Kale, Apples, and Onions

 

Today's lunch in the grey cottage was a delicious and lazy affair...  grab a hand pie and knosh while puttering away at this and that.

Okay, if you didn't know the title on this post, wouldn't you think this was just another fruit turnover pastry ? Silly you! This is how things started today.

Clay Pot Venison Chili ...

It is SO cold here today! I have been getting the hint from Silent Bob, my partner in crime, to make a warm something for supper. You see, it's wood cutting season here in the Northeast. Once the snow is on the ground, it's a lot easier to bring the wood out of the woods, if you've a small woodlot to manage. So, Silent Bob has been cutting and stacking wood, but now it's time to load it on a sled and haul it out of the woods and up to the woodpile. This will be next winter's wood ... an investment in more snug winters at the grey cottage. He definitely deserves a big pot of  'warm something', as he puts it!

 After cruising the blogs and touching base with Foodbuzz, I am seeing so many chili posts that I caved to offering another version. We make chili with venison in the winter. After hunting season, the freezer is stocked with tenderloins, steaks, ground sausages, and an occasional roast. Today, I'm using loose sweet venison sausage to make a big pot of chili. I have this nice flameware pot that will keep it warm after I've simmered it a bit. A big bowl of steaming jasmine rice and bottles of beer to cool the palate ... and a Christmas movie. We plan to hang out on the couch with the warm blankets and the Christmas tree lights for dinner and a movie! Tonight it's 'The Polar Express' which seems strangely á propos!

Trouble In Paradise ... Paddling Toward Bliss!

Let's just say that life in the cottage on the hill has been better. We woke up to rain ... rain ... and more rain. No gentle Spring showers, no! Torrents, 'sheets and pillowcases', buckets! You get the idea. Our cellar has about four inches on the floor and it's rising. The sump pump is trying hard, but it looks like it's not strong enough ... the old hoses have been pressed into service as siphons to aid the poor little pump that thought it could.

Late Winter Dinner ...

Last week, we received a visit from my sister and her hunter man! He'd been out with the boys hunting deer in Arkansas and scored big time! Oh, I love those guys! They shared the wealth! I currently have venison steaks, sausage, and stew meat in my freezer and I am psyched! I share with you a recipe that I developed after having an excellent venison entree at an inn up (over, down, whatever)  in Henniker (the only Henniker on Earth!), New Hampshire.

Welcome to January!

It's cold, it's snowy, and we're rosy-cheeked from shoveling all the drifts away from the doors. This latest storm was a beauty, but it went on forever! Silent Bob has made it his full-time job to run the snow-blower, haul wood, stock the birdfeeders, and clear a sledding run down the hill behind our grey cottage.

While he has been busy outside, I have diligently
 cleared out all traces of the holiday dietary debauchery that mounted up in the refrigerator (as per New Years Resolution #2). It's amazing the amount of detritus that accumulates over the course of the holidays! As I puttered away at the sorting, composting, trashing, washing, drying , refitting, and organizing of said fridge, I thought about dinner. What can I make with a red cabbage, carrots, a couple parsnips, celery, lemons, a green pepper, and condiments that are perfectly fine, but jumbled ? I have sworn to Silent Bob that we will not shop for more food until I have used up what's in this fridge... thank goodness there is meat in the freezer!