Venison Round

Once again, I didn't take a picture of the first night's meal.  But here is what I did:  I thawed out a venison round roast and cut it into pieces about 1 1/2 inches thick.  I trimmed off all of the silverskin and excess fat and then put them between two sheets of plastic wrap.  Then I pounded the crap out of them with a meat mallet, dredged them in flour and put them in a frying pan with a little olive oil.  I cooked a few minutes per side until medium-well done.  I had never tried this with venison before and I think that I would do things a little differently next time.  I think that I would dredge the meat in a beaten egg first and then in cracker crumbs instead of flour - just to give it a bit more texture.  Then I think that I would only cook them to medium-rare.  I served them with salad and bread.  They were pretty good, but like I said - I will do things differently next time. 

Next night - I cut up the venison and stir-fried it with garlic and veggies.  I started the rice first, and then chopped up all of the vegetables.  I used kale, beet greens and winter onions.  I chopped the garlic very fine and kept it separate.  Then I heated about 2 tsp of olive oil in my wok (you could use a frying pan instead) and added just the garlic. 

I stir-fried the garlic for about 30 seconds before adding the vegetables.  After these had wilted I added the meat - I added it last because I didn't want it to overcook.  When it was heated though I served it on a bed of rice, with roasted asparagus and popovers.

Yum.

This is one of many recipes that I have used for popovers.  This is the one that I grew up with and it is always a hit.

Popovers

1 cup bread flour - this is one recipe that I haven't gotten to work with wheat flour yet - but I will keep trying.
1 cup milk
2 TBL salad oil - I use a bit more than this.
2 TBL sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs

Mix everything and beat really well with an electric mixer (very, very well - you want to get air in there!).  Pour into a very well greased popover pan (I used a muffin pan for years - it works fine - but only use eight of the cups).  Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

I like to put butter and jam on mine, but they are great plain too!

System Cooking with Salmon

I forgot to take a picture of the whole salmon fillet that we cooked for the first meal.  Use your imagination.  :o)   I had a sockeye salmon fillet that was about 1.75 lbs.  We seasoned it fairly lightly with my version of the Potlatch Seasoning that you can buy at Williams-Sonoma.  We bought it once and I liked it so I just read the ingredients on the back and mixed up my own.  Here are the ingredients.  I have no idea how much of each spice I put in, but I added them in decreasing amounts:

Kosher salt, paprika, crushed red pepper, chili pepper, oregano, basil, coriander

It also says that they add safflower oil, but I don't.  Anyway, place fish on some aluminum foil,  and sprinkle lightly with the seasoning.  Grill over medium heat until the fish flakes easily with a fork.  Don't overcook!   Serve with rice and roasted asparagus and fiddleheads (if in season).   Don't eat too much - you will want plenty of leftovers (and besides, salmon isn't exactly cheap!) 

The next night I made omelets.  I took the leftover asparagus, fiddleheads, and some of the rice and salmon and added some chopped winter onions from the garden (you could use a couple of scallions instead - basically the same thing).   I sauteed everything together until the onions were cooked through and then set to the side.

I love omelets and I usually make them with milk, but I recently saw a Jamie Oliver video where he fixed them without milk.  If you have never made omelets before or even if you have, watch the video.  It isn't very long and he does a great job of explaining how to make them.  I made them exactly the way he does in the video.  Three eggs, pinch of salt, a little freshly ground pepper, whisk well, pour into a hot pan, tilt and cook, add the salmon mixture, sprinkle with some cheese, fold it over and serve.  Mine didn't fold over as nicely as his, as I am sure you can see, but omelets are a great way to use up leftovers.  Jake has informed me that soup season is over.  I am not so sure, but over the summer I usually use up my leftovers in different ways other than soup.   

The third night we had a salmon pilaf.  I didn't have much asparagus left, but I had a bit, so I chopped it up fairly small and put it into the pan first with a bit of olive oil.  While that was cooking I chopped up three stalks of celery, three winter onions (scallions) and a couple of handfuls of kale and flaked the remainder of the salmon.  When the asparagus was cooked through I added the rest of the rice, vegetables and salmon.  I would have added some garlic, but I am currently out (gasp!).  I cooked together for a few minutes and then stuck it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  You could skip this step and just saute it until the vegetables are cooked through.  I just felt like an oven baked pilaf that night.
 

Leg of Lamb, etc

 

Another "system cooking" adventure with Laura.  I started out with a leg of lamb on Sunday.  This worked out well since I cooked it for 5 1/2 hours in the oven and basted it every 1/2 hour for the last two hours.  I really didn't need to do that.  But it came out rather lovely, I think.

Anyway.  I combined a couple of recipes from some of my favorite cookbook authors:  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jennifer McLagan, and then added my own twists.  I can't seem to help it most of the time.  I first cut up a bunch of veggies: carrots, onions and potatoes and put them on the bottom of my dutch oven.  I also used turnips, but for some reason, they tasted awful.  I love turnips, but either the ones I had were not good, or they just don't go well with lamb.   So - skip the turnips.  Cut up as many veggies as will cover the bottom of the pan in a double layer, according to your preferences - I tend to use a lot of carrots if I have them - but we run out of them quickly around here.  Then I stuck my knife in the lamb several times, peeled and cut garlic into large slivers, roughly chopped some anchovies and stuck the garlic and anchovies into the lamb.

 

Then I put the lamb in on top of the vegetables, filled the pan with about an inch and a half of water, poured about half a bottle of white wine over everything (I would have used a whole bottle if I had one), and stuck it in the oven at 350 degrees F for two hours. I was going to use lamb stock instead of water, and I had some in my freezer, but it was in a Ziplock and when I opened the fridge door after letting it defrost in there overnight, out came the lamb stock.  Oops.  There was a hole in the bag and I foolishly didn't put the bag in a container.  Messy, messy!  Not very thrifty to waste it, and very time consuming too.  After cleaning my fridge thoroughly, and after the two hours had passed, I took off the cover, basted the leg, and turned the temp down to 300 degrees F.  I basted the leg every half hour for 2 1/2 hours - don't replace the cover.

The meat was really tender and wonderful.  The vegetables were fantastic and it is not a difficult recipe at all.  It is a little time-consuming, but just the cooking part, and it only takes a couple of minutes.  I suppose that if you had a very large crock pot this could work in there too. 

Next night - I made a kind of hash with the leftover potatoes and some of the meat and onions.  I didn't add any kind of oil or fat.  There was enough on the veggies and meat already to cook it nicely.  My husband loved it.  He put sour cream on it and devoured.  The kids weren't quite as sure - even with the sour cream.  I am not sure why - to many vegetables I suppose.  Grin.  I forgot to take a picture of the hash, but it looked like a normal hash, so you aren't missing much.

Last night - Naan and rice and lamb.  Another favorite dish around here.  I love this naan recipe.  I don't tinker much with this one.  I used 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat bread flour and 2 cups of white.  I think that I will increase the wheat flour next time.  I had never made it that way before, and wanted to make sure that it was still going to be as great as usual.  The other change I make is to roll out all the dough inside, and then bring it out to the grill and brush butter on before I put it on the grill rather than after.  I have cooked it inside on a very hot pan before too and it has worked out just fine.  Naan is a little time consuming, but very worth it.  We will have plenty of naan for the next couple of days.  One time saver would be to mix it up in the morning and leave it out all day if you ave a cool kitchen, or stick it in the fridge if you have a warm kitchen.  Or you could mix it the night before too.  Then take it out 1/2 an hour or so before you want to use it.  I would put it on the stove top next to where you are cooking your rice and lamb so it warms up more quickly.  

Rice:  I like parboiled rice myself.  I am trying to accustom myself to brown rice, but so far I just don't like it.  Oh well - win some, lose some.  I usually cook about two cups of rice with four cups of water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  When you can see the little bubble holes in the rice and it looks like the water has been absorbed when you stir it, it is done.  This usually takes around 15-20 minutes.

Lamb:  All I did for this was tear off a bunch of leftover lamb from the leg bone with my fingers.  I kind of shredded it a bit too so that it was in bite-sized pieces.  Then I put it directly into a cast iron skillet (my absolute favorite pan), again there was enough fat on the lamb meat to allow it to crisp up nicely without any additional fat added.  I was going to add some kind of vegetable to this, but I didn't have any peppers and I thought that salsa would make it too fajita-like.  I didn't even have any salad around here, which is unusual.  So, we went vegetable-less for one night and my five year old told me that it was the best supper I had ever made.  Aaargh. 

      

I put teriyaki sauce on my rice, but my husband loves soy sauce.  Now - on to eating.  My favorite way it to tear off a piece of naan and use it to grab some rice and meat, then take a bite.  The ultimate finger food.  It was fantastic, but I have to say, it could have used some vegetables....

Now, three guesses as to what I am making tonight.  SOUP.  Of course!  I haven't made it yet, but I think that I will do a separate post later.  I am thinking about a lamb and white bean soup, but we will see, you never know what I will do - it is a mystery even to me!