Venison Stuffed Jalapenos

With the Holidays here, you probably need an appetizer to serve or share at parties.  This is a great one that pairs well with beer, wine, ice tea or soft drinks.  It started  from a recipe for stuffed jalapenos that my niece would bring for Thanksgiving appetizers and I just kept experimenting until I arrived at this recipe, this year. 
You could use any type of ground meat that you like.  Chicken or Lamb would probably be just as delicious.

About 5 dozen small to medium Jalapenos
4 slices of Bacon, finely chopped before cooking
1 medium Onion, finely grated
1/2 pound of Ground Venison
1 teaspoon of Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of Tarragon
1 Tablespoon of Orange Zest
2 8-ounce packages of Cream Cheese
3/4 cup of Taco Blend Shredded Cheese, divided

Wash jalapenos and with a sharp knife, cut jalapenos in half and remove seeds and ribs.  Set aside. I wear plastic gloves when cleaning the peppers to keep getting burned from the juice.
In a large skillet, cook bacon until done but not brown, do not drain fat.  Add onion and cook until done.  Add venison, salt, pepper, tarragon, and garlic powder.  Cook until done.  Remove from heat and add orange zest, cream cheese and 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.  Mix together and fill the jalapeno halves.  Arrange on greased, foil lined cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Top with remaining cheese. At this point you can refrigerate the peppers until later, up to 24 hours or you can return to the oven and bake until the cheese just starts to brown.  If you refrigerate the peppers, you will need to let them return to room temperature before baking or the middles will still be cold and the top will be hot. This makes about 10 dozen.

Enjoy!

Deloris

Fried Venison (Deer Meat)

We are in the heart of Deer Season and I hope that the deer are flocking to your feeders.  From the reports I am getting, you may have already shot your limit.  If so, then you probably want this recipe.
There a many people who do not like venison because of the strong flavor.  Hopefully, the person who is hunting knows how to clean the deer properly, prior to processing it. How the deer is cleaned affects the meat.
Assuming that the deer was dressed properly, the way to eliminate part of the gamey taste is to soak the meat in one of these: milk, vinegar, buttermilk/sour milk or lemon.  Each one lends a different flavor by extracting some of the "gaminess".
Milk removes most of the offensive flavors but it does little to soften the meat fibers. Vinegar softens the meat fibers but leaves a tanginess to the meat.  This is not an unpleasant flavor, it is just different.  Buttermilk or Sour Milk does a little of both.  It softens the meat fibers, but not as well at vinegar and removes most of the gamey taste but adds a slight tanginess. Lemon and lemon zest are used in ground venison. Because the meat is not soaked in lemon juice, It just offsets the flavor and does not remove anything.
Most people have a preference to the method used in cooking venison.  I use all three of the soak ingedients and the lemon and lemon zest in ground venison. The choice is determined by the cut of meat.
For cooking the backstrap, I use milk. For frying any other steak, I use buttermilk/sour milk and for a roast prepared in the oven or cooked on the pit, I use vinegar.
But this recipe is specifically for fried deer meat, so I soak the thawed venison, at least 8 hours, in buttermilk or sour milk.  If you do not have buttermilk on hand, make sour milk by adding  1 teaspoon of vinegar per 1 cup of milk and let it sit about 5 minutes to clabber.

1 package of deer steak
enough buttermilk or sour milk to cover and marinate
eggs
milk
flour
salt
pepper
oil or shortening for frying

Cut the venison steak into the desired sized pieces, cutting away any connective tissue or "silver skin" that has been left during processing. (You can leave the tissue on but it makes the meat chewy.) Place deer steak in a shallow dish and pour enough buttermilk or sour milk over to cover. Place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.
Remove the deer steak and rinse. Then pat dry.
Season with salt and pepper. In a shallow bowl, mix 1 egg to 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup water. Beat until combined. In a second bowl, combine 2 cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.
Heat the oil to 275 to 300 degrees in a skillet.  This is where a large electric works great because you can cook a pound of steak all at once. Remember to leave enough room between the top of the skillet and the oil so that the oil does not boil out.  Also, you will have to cook the meat in batches if your skillet is not extremely large because you have to leave room between the pieces of meat.
Now, dredge the meat in the seasoned flour first, then in the egg wash, and then back in the flour.  Carefully add the meat to the hot oil.  You may need to make more of the seasoned flour and the egg wash as you go, depending on how much meat you have to fry.
Fry the steak until it is golden brown on all sides.  Any left over meat can be refrigerated and used for sandwiches the next day.

Enjoy!

Deloris

Venison, Beef, and Beer Meatballs

It is getting close to Deer Season again, so I thought you might want a few new game recipes.  This is the first of several that I hope you will try.  Let me say here that you do not have to use game to make these tasty dishes.  For this recipe you could use many types of ground meats.  I have made these meatballs with all beef, but you could use all pork, chicken, turkey or lamb or any combiniation.  Whatever you decide, I hope that you try the recipe and that you will enjoy it.  This makes 48 meatballs and serves 8 to 10. But it also freezes well, after cooking, so you can have some now and some later. You will need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Venison, Beef and Beer Meatballs

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, more if you use lean meats such as Venison, Turkey or Chicken
1 16 ounce can of Beer or 2 cups, (divided)
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup of dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons of salt, (divided)
1 pound of Ground Deer Meat
1 pound of Ground Beef
2 large Sweet Onions, halved and then thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons flour
1 beef (or chicken) bouillon cube
3 teaspoons of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of vinegar
1 teaspoon of fennel seed
1 teaspoons of dry tarragon

In a large skillet heat Olive Oil.  In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup beer, eggs, bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon of salt and mix and add Deer Meat and Ground Beef.  Mix well.  Divide into 48 even parts, and roll into balls.  Brown the meatballs on all sides, in Olive Oil. Transfer to a 15" X 11" X 3" oven proof baking dish.

In the same skillet, cook onions til golden brown and then stir in flour. Add remaining Beer, bouillon cube, brown sugar, vinegar, fennel seed, tarragon, and salt. Cook until thick and bubbly.  Pour over meatballs.
Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.

Serve with noodles.
Enjoy!

Deloris

ps: for a lovely Olive Oil or Vinegar, visit Peggy at http://www.sepayoliveoil.com/