Slow Cooked Wild Venison Masala

So if you haven’t guessed already, I’m a super busy woman. I run the behind-the-scenes of my husband’s brick and block laying business, I’m a stay-at-home mum of a 2 year old boy (pregnant with another, due Christmas day, yeah yeah, laugh it up...), chase around after our two lively English Springer Spaniels allllllll day, have a part-time job, we own 22 acres which requires daily attention, all while trying to build my own empire with ‘Hunter &Wife Homeware’, ‘Hunter & Baby Babygear’ and ‘www.howtobeahunterswife.com’. And in between all of that, I keep the house in some kind of order!

So basically, rule number one when it comes to prepping and cooking dinner for the team is – Must be simple and versatile. That’s why the slow cooker is pretty much my best friend.

The following recipe is a goodie that’s super adaptable, use any red meat (works particularly well with goat), no biggie if you don’t have one of the spices, you can use cream or sour cream if you don’t have yogurt, use fresh tomatoes if you don’t have a can. Don’t be too fussy about quantities, except maybe the cayenne... unless you like it HOT!

Ingredients

 

500gm Cubed Venison

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Cumin powder

1 tsp Fenugreek

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Paprika

3 garlic cloves (or 3 tsp of minced garlic)

2 tsp minced ginger

1-2 cups plain yogurt

1 can diced tomatoes

1 diced white Onion

Oil

Method

Combine cubed meat with spices, garlic, ginger and 1 cup of yogurt and place covered in the fridge for as long as possible – anything from a couple of hours to overnight would do!

Preheat a good slug of oil in a large pan, add marinated meat and brown quickly. Transfer to warming slow cooker (or casserole dish with lid if going to cook in the oven).

Add diced onion to pan and sauté till softened. Add can of tomatoes, cook to combine. Use a wooden spoon to get all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan.

Carefully pour over the browned meat and stir to combine. Meat should be just covered in liquid, if not, add a small amount of liquid beef stock.

Allow to cook on low for 6 hours +. If cooking in the oven, cook at 100 deg Celsius for 3 hours.

Add remaining yogurt before serving, on fluffy white rice.

Chinese Spiced Duck Breast with Greens in Noodle Broth

This is such a yummy, warming meal for a cold winters night post duck shooting! My hubby wasn’t too keen on the weird numbing sensation Szechuan pepper has on your mouth, so it’s optional. As for the greens, be super relaxed about these, whatever you have in the fridge/freezer will do. Frozen pack mixed vege would even do, but of course... fresh is best.

Ingredients

Duck breasts – trimmed (1 per person)

Chinese Five Spice
Szechuan Pepper (optional)
Fresh or Minced Ginger
Fresh or Minced Garlic
Fresh or Minced Chilli
Soy sauce
Beef (or chicken) stock
Honey
Hokkien or Udon Noodles (1 slab per person)
Bok Choi/Spinach/Silver beet/broccoli (Any leafy green)
Green Beans
Red Pepper
Spring Onions (sliced in rings)
Salt & Pepper
Oil (Peanut/Olive/any cooking oil)
Lemon or Lime juice
Fresh coriander and bean sprouts to garnish

Large bowls to serve

Method

Trim your duck breasts of any dodgy bits (pellet or dog bruise).

Put a medium pot of water on to boil with stock cube (or 1 t-spoon of powder), frying pan on med-high heat.

Pound your Szechuan pepper in the mortar & pestle (or in a zip lock bag with a rolling pin or other heavy round object – bottle of beer/wine/bourbon?).

Put a pinch of Szechuan pepper, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, garlic (1/2 t-spoon, more or less depending how your garlic tolerance is) ½ t-spoon of ginger, ¼ t-spoon of chilli (more or less), 1 t-spoon of honey and a handful of sliced spring onion in the bottom of each of your serving bowls.

Sprinkle the breasts with salt and pepper, Chinese five spice and the remaining Szechuan pepper. Drizzle the meat with olive oil and rub all the spices in.

Put duck breasts in frying pan to cook, if you’re lucky to have skin left on, skin side first, approx 3 mins each side for med/rare. Then wrap in tin foil and set aside.

Put noodles into boiling water, with your leafy greens, green beans, sliced red pepper. Allow to boil for a couple of minutes.

Divide noodles and greens into each serving bowl, use tongs to toss through the ingredients at the bottom of each bowl then pour over a good amount of the broth.

Slice duck breasts on the angle into 1cm strips, and divide over your noodle and greens in broth.

Sprinkle with coriander leaves and/or bean sprouts to garnish. Squeeze over lemon or lime juice.

Present with pride to your lucky dinner guest/s.

Cedar Planked Salmon

I found the hardest part of this recipe was finding a piece of Cedar, and even that was pretty easy! I just asked really nicely at our local building supply store for an off-cut, fluttered ye olde lashes a bit and BAM, Cedar. The second hardest part was lighting the pizza oven... such a chore... NOT!
Obviously, if you don't have a wood-fired oven, your normal oven will suffice!
Yet another seriously easy but impress-your-friends style meal from yours truly.

Ingredients:

Salmon Fillets (de-boned - demote a pair of tweezers)
S & P
A piece of Cedar plank, 1-3cm thick
Tin Foil
Oven Tray

Method:

Soak your Cedar plank in water for an hour or so, you'll probably need to weigh it down as it'll want to float.
De-bone you Salmon fillets if your fishmonger hasn't already done the honours.
Place the Salmon fillets skin side down on the Cedar plank in an oven dish, pour water into oven dish to almost cover the plank but not touch the Salmon.
Salt and Pepper the Salmon.
Cover in tin foil (aluminium foil).
Bake in oven till cooked! (About 15-20mins depending on thickness of fillets, and how you like them cooked)

I served ours with a creamy mushroom & parmesan pasta bake, but you could serve with salad and new potatoes, risotto, roast veges & asparagus or pretty much any of your favourite side dishes!

Bacon Wrapped Quail

Californian Quail are small, fast and often elusive birds. They thrive in the semi-arid conditions of Central Otago, and can be found roosting in Matagouri, Broom, Manuka and Gorse. A good bird dog is essential for flushing and retrieving these small birds, especially one who is willing to jump at/into bushes.

Guess who does most of the work!?

Quail hunting is a favourite for my hunter. It's exciting, fast but sneaky hunting that makes best use of our two English Springer Spaniels. It can however be frustrating as Quail numbers in our region have been rather unpredictable this season. So, there's not a lot of Quail in the freezer this year. Having said that, it rarely makes it to the freezer as it's far too yummy to not eat straight away!
It's best not to do too much to Quail meat, as you don't want to over power it's delicate flavour. If you have the patience and steady hand you can de-bone the small birds... but bugger that. Just eat it off the bone like you were born to!

Ingredients:
Quail birds (plucked, beheaded, gutted and checked for shot pellets)
Streaky Bacon
Cranberry Sauce

Method:
Thoroughly check your birds for any shot, nothing ruins a beautiful meal like breaking a tooth on a bit of shot!.
Rinse the cavity after gutting.
Wrap each bird in about 3 strips of streaky bacon.
Glaze with Cranberry Sauce
Roast in an oven preheated to about 180 deg Celsius.
Serve with - roast veges or new potatoes & salad or risotto (I served it with pumpkin & parmesan risotto)

Uncle Aitchy's Baked Trout

Uncle Aitchy is a bit of a classic kiwi bloke. The strong, silent type. Accomplished digger driver. Always has a classic line at the most unexpected times. And in good hunter gatherer style, is a keen fly-fisherman.
Over the years the hunter has often provided Uncle Aitchy with a feed of venison, or duck (or what ever else it was that met it's end over the weekend...), so every now and then we are lucky recipients of a beautiful, fresh Alpine Trout.

This is Aitchy's recipe and a fun way to serve trout, especially to people who think they don't like it.
Note that in this case I used a side of trout, but you can just as easily use a whole trout and just stuff the filling in the gut cavity.
This is a blokes recipe so it's pretty hard to mess this one up.

Ingredients:

A side of Trout
1-2 Tomatoes
1 small red onion or large spring onion
1/2 Red Pepper (Capsicum)
2 mushrooms (any type)
1 Lemon
Olive Oil

Method:
Finely dice the tomatoes, onion, capsicum, and mushrooms.
Pile evenly onto the flesh of the fish. Chuck a few of slices of lemon over the top. Pour on a good glug of quality olive oil.
Bake at 180 deg Celsius until cooked through (20+ mins).
Serve with a fresh green salad.

Baked Spanish Meatballs

Baked Spanish Meatballs

This recipe is easily adapted to pretty much any mince or meat you like, just be sure to brown it first. You could also use chicken pieces (wings, drums, thighs, breasts) or rabbit pieces.

In this case I used rabbit mince, see rabbit burgers recipe for instructions for the mince.
This could also be made in a slow cooker.

Ingredients

Rabbit Mince

3-4 chorizo sticks, sliced about 1cm thick

olive oil

2 peppers, (red, yellow or green mix, not fussy!), chopped chunky

2 red onions, chopped chunky

8 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved

1 can of tomatoes, bash them up a bit with a fork

1 cup of chicken stock, make it in the can the tomatoes were in if you're using powdered

big handful of green or black olives, roughly chopped or whole (pitted ideally)

couple of tablespoons of capers, roughly chopped or whole

1 teaspoon of smoky paprika

1 teaspoon of turmeric

Method 

Preheat the oven to 180 deg Celsius.

Fry the sliced chorizo in a large non stick fry pan until browning and fragrant and set aside.

Form the mince into golf ball sized balls, roll in flour and brown in the same pan with a splash of olive oil. Place them into your roasting dish.

Return the chorizo to the fry pan and add the red onion, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, stock, capers, paprika & turmeric. Bring to the boil and pour over the meat balls.

Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes (check the meat is cooked).

Sprinkle with the olives and serve with rice, pasta, mashed spud or couscous!

'What's in the fridge' Venison Roast

Despite us having a new addition to the family, I've been insisting that the Hunter continue to have his 'man time' in the mountains. Not only is it vital to his mental health (and mine in a way!), but it keeps the freezer full! Unfortunately, I have less time to get creative in the way I used to, and instead have to get creative in a whole new way. A way in which I am bound by the ingredients that are in the fridge. Gone is the luxury of being able to whip in to town to grab some vital ingredient from the super market. Now I have to make do with what I have. Hence, 'What's in the fridge Venison Roast' was born!

Ingredients:
1x Lump of Venison meat (Pretty sure this was shoulder? Not really important)

Photo was taken before I added the stock, oops

1x small jar of basil pesto
Cranberry sauce
Minced garlic
Beef Stock
S & P

Method:
Sear the meat on all sides in a hot frying pan with a little olive oil to seal the meat.
Place in a roasting dish and baste with a sauce made with the pesto, cranberry sauce, minced garlic and S & P.
Pour approx 1 cup of beef stock into the dish, this will help keep the meat moist.
Cover in foil and roast for about an hour at 100 deg Celsius. Continue to baste in any leftover sauce and the juices throughout cooking.
Serve with creamy mashed spuds, or new potatoes and salad. I made a quick jus from the juices in the dish too.

This time and temperature is very approximate, it totally depends on the size of your piece of meat. I recommend using a meat thermometer if you have one. If you don't have one, pierce the meat with a thick skewer, if it the blood oozes out on it's own very quickly it may be too rare, if you have to apply pressure to the meat to get blood out it'll probably be about medium. We like ours medium/rare so cooked ours for about 30-45 minutes, and let it rest wrapped for about 15 minutes. This photo is kind of deceiving, it wasn't actually that bloody, I'd just poured some of the cranberry sauce jus over it.