Cooking with Game

This turned out Great!! The duck was very tender and flavorful. The lemon, capers & asparagus make it very fresh. I served it with Penne pasta, but rice might be better since there isn’t really much sauce.

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Duck Scallopini

Start by brining* and tenderizing** in the morning:

4 skinned, boned duck breasts

Rest of Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tablespoon each coarsely ground black pepper, paprika, Italian seasoning

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup yellow onion, minced

2 tablespoons capers, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup asparagus tips, blanched and cooled

1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced

zest of 1 lemon (outside yellow part only)

2/3 cup tomato, seeded and diced

1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

In zip-lock, combine flour with salt, black pepper, paprika, and Italian seasoning. Drop duck into bag with flour mix. Shake to cover duck. Remove from bag and shake off excess.

Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add duck and lightly brown on both sides.

Remove duck when brown and keep warm. Do not over cook.

Add garlic, onion, capers, chicken broth, and lemon juice to skillet.

Then add asparagus and mushrooms, and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add lemon zest and tomato.

If desired, whisk in additional chilled butter for a creamier sauce.

Arrange duck on plates and spoon sauce over. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Serve with rice or pasta.

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*BRINE: Dissolve 1/4 course sea salt – 1/8 cup brown sugar (or 1 T granulated sugar) in 1 cup warm water in a large bowl. Fill the bowl with cold water, leaving enough room to add duck. Put in refrigerator for 4 -8 hours. Remove from brine and rinse and pat dry.

**TENDERIZE: Place duck breast inside a zip-lock bag. Do not zip all the way closed. Using the flat side of a mallet or a heavy skillet, pound the meat until it is about l/4-inch thick. Yes it may break up a bit, but it will hold together enough.

Cut each breast in half.

Venison Puttanesca with Zucchini Pasta

Brining and Tenderizing is optional. If you are brining you need to start at least four hours ahead.

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Zucchini Pasta

Use a vegetable peeler or mandolin to make slices from medium sized zucchini. Stack the slices and cut lengthwise in fourths to make fettucini style pasta.

Boil salted water like you would for pasta. Add noodles to water, cook for 1 minute. Remove immediately with a slotted spoon into a boil of cold water to blanch and stop cooking. Drain on a towel. Your hot sauce will reheat the noodles.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter – divided

2 tablespoons olive oil – divided

1 pound cubed venison, brined & tenderized*

1/2 cup chopped pepper, any color

1/2 cup chopped onion, any color

2 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced or minced

4 ounce can of sliced mushrooms (or 1 cup fresh sliced)

1/2 cup chopped black olives

25 ounce jar of Puttanesca Sauce (or Spaghetti Sauce)

Pasta from 3 medium Zucchini (see above)

Directions:

Prepare Pasta as above.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 of oil in large skillet over medium high heat.

Add cubed venison. Do not cook all the way through, just brown on all sides. Remove to a plate. Pour out any juice in skillet.

Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 of oil back into skillet over medium high heat. Add pepper, onion and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, sauté another 2 to 3 minutes. Add chopped olives. Add Puttanesca Sauce. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer and add venison back in, discarding any juices that have collected on the plate.

Simmer 15 minutes.

Serve over Zucchini Pasta with some nice bread and Shaved Parmesan Cheese.

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*BRINE: Dissolve 1/4 course sea salt – 1/8 cup brown sugar (or 1 T granulated sugar) in 1 cup warm water in a large bowl. Fill the bowl with cold water, leaving enough room to add meat. Then tenderize:

TENDERIZE: Place meat inside a zip-lock bag. Do not zip all the way closed. Using the flat side of a mallet or a heavy skillet, pound the meat until it is about l/4-inch thick. Add to cooled brine. Put in refrigerator for 4 -8 hours. When ready to cook: Rinse and pat dry.

GOOSE BREAST ROULADE

Prep time: 25 – 30 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes Serves 4

This is a very tasty and attractive dish. The goose turns out surprisingly tender, and very flavorful. I must say that it is a bit of a pain though. The recipe I followed is from the Ducks Unlimited Magazine. I tried to find it on-line, but could not.

I highly recommend making the sauce. It’s easy and really adds a lot. I also suggest serving with some crusty bread to sop up any left over sauce.

Ingredients:

2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms

Olive oil

4 skinless goose breast fillets

(I had 2 large ones so I cut in half thickness to make 4 pieces)

Salt & Pepper

2 cups spinach leaves (packed), stems removed

4 1-inch-wide strips of red bell pepper

4 1 1/2-by-4 inch pieces of white cheese like jack or gouda

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs *

4 pieces of bacon pounded out to flatten and thin **

2/3 cup dry red wine

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

4 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into chunks

Directions:

In the morning or the night before, place each breast in a zip lock bag and pound with a mallet until the thickness of a pencil. Dissolve 1/4 cup course salt, 1/8 cup sugar, in water in a large glass bowl. Place the pounded breasts in the bowl and add enough water to cover. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 4 hours up to overnight. This is a simple brining method.

1 hour before preparing, remove the breasts from the brine, rinse and pat dry.

In an oven proof medium size skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil over medium heat and lightly brown the mushrooms. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate lined with paper towels to drain and cool.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Rub breasts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Lay out flat on a work surface. Place an even layer of spinach leaves across the meat. Add 1 strip of bell pepper and 1/4 of the cooled mushrooms over the pepper. Lay the cheese over the mushrooms and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the bread crumbs * (If not seasoned, add 1 tablespoon italian seasoning and 1 teaspoon grated parmesan cheese) over the cheese. Snugly roll up like a burrito. Stretch and wrap the bacon snugly around the breasts. **(or use 12 thin slices prosciutto overlapped in place of bacon)

Reheat the skillet over medium-high heat and brown the bacon on all sides of the roll for about 2 minutes on each side (about 8 minutes total). Make sure the seam side of the roll is down, add half of the wine to the pan and cook 2 more minutes. Place the pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven and cook until the bacon is lightly browned, about 7 to 8 minutes. If it still needs additional browning turn on the broiler for 4 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven WITH A MITT – LEAVE MITT ON HANDLE.

Transfer the roulades to a cutting surface to rest for a few minutes. Place the pan on a medium-high burner, add remaining wine and balsamic vinegar. Stir to loosen bits and reduce liquid to 2 to 3 tablespoons. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in butter until melted.

Slice each roulade and spoon the sauce over.

NOTE:  If you have left over sauce warm it up slowly. If you heat it in the microwave or too fast it will separate and you won’t be able to use it.

If you breast out your duck or goose you end up with “parts”. My husband doesn’t like to waste anything, so here is how I make the parts edible:  I call this

Pot ‘O Parts

Ingredients:

1 T butter

1 T oil

1/2 onion diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

2 cups chicken stock (or 2 cubes of bullion in 2 Cups water)

1 cup water (or amount to barely cover)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

parts for 2 or 3 ducks or 1 large goose

Directions:

Add butter and oil to a stock pot over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted, add the onions and garlic. Sauté for 5 – 6 minute.

Heat the water and chicken stock. Don’t add yet

Add the parts and stir around just to lightly brown. Stir and brown for about 4 minutes. Now add the liquid and the rest of the ingredients.

Lower heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer 4 to 6 hours (goose could take longer) until meat starts to separate from the bones.

This is not a pretty dish and I guarantee your kids won’t eat it, but your hunter will!! If you are really industrious you could cool the meat, remove it from the bone and use it for taco meat or add to chili. We just eat it off the bones. I wouldn’t recommend doing the breast this way. It will get too leathery.

To store I remove the meat to a dish, strain the liquid into a fat separator and then pour the liquid back over the meat to keep it moist and dispose of the fat. I do recommend storing it with some of the liquid. If you don’t want to strain, or don’t have a fat separator just pour it all over the meat and refrigerate. The fat will solidify on the top and you can remove a lot of it then.

This really is very tasty. My husband loves it, and so do I actually. It just isn’t very pretty and you have bones to deal with.

I should address Giblets here. We like those too, so I sprinkle them with Adolf’s (or any brand) meat tenderizer and use a steel pronged meat tenderizer to poke them a lot. This isn’t real easy, but if you use your body weight you can break up the tough membrane pretty well. Then just add to the pot.

Cheesy Mini Elk Loaves

6 servings of 1 mini elk loaf (My Guy needs 2 of these)

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (about 1 slice)
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup, divided*
3 ounces white cheddar cheese, diced**
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish (less if you don’t like spicy)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (again regular to reduce spice)
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground elk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add breadcrumbs; cook 3 minutes or until toasted, stirring frequently. Or toast in toaster oven at 350° for 5 minutes.

3. Add onion and garlic to a medium sized microwave safe bowl. Spray lightly with cooking spray and mix. Cover with a plate or lid and microwave 3 minutes on high, stir and microwave another 3 minutes. Or heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes.

4. Combine onion mixture, breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup ketchup, and the remaining ingredients.

5. Shape into 6 (4 x 2-inch) loaves on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; spread 2 teaspoons ketchup over each.

6. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until done.

* If you like a little more spice, top the loaves with a spicy style ketchup.

** Use any cheese you have, even grated is fine.