Friday, February 13, 2009

Venison Pot Roast

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Hey! It’s game time! Here’s a wild game recipe you might try this weekend. If you don’t have wild game then use beef round, it works just fine. Just so you know what you’re missing here’s what a thick venison round steak looks like, almost 100% fat free.


The deck has finally thawed and the Weber grills are accessible after weeks of trudging through three feet of heavy snow dulled my interest in outdoor grilling. Soon grilling and BBQ’ing will be a daily affair but for now I am enjoying comfort food way too much. And that means weight gain. Oh well. That also means more soups, stews, chili, pasta, pizza and braised pots of beef and vegetables. Hawwwww!

Here’s a very tasty pot roast I highly recommend. Oddly enough the recipe comes from the Weight Watcher’s cookbook. This style of cooking is called braising which means placing all ingredients in a cast iron pot with a tight fitting lid into a 350 degree oven for a few hours. Tonight’s recipe called for a beef round cut.

As I have noted before, any recipe that calls for beef round is perfectly suited for ultra-lean whitetail venison steaks or roasts. Elk or antelope rounds work equally as well.

As luck would have it I have one top round steak of venison in my freezer that weighs almost two pounds and is 1½ inches thick.

Prep time is about 30 minutes and cook time is 220 minutes. Here goes.

Ingredients

Pam or store brand oil in an aerosol can
2 lb well trimmed thick-cut top round of beef or venison
½ t cracked black pepper
¼ t table salt
2 large onions sliced
2 C water
I packet Lipton’s onion soup mix
1 ½ T balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 t dried thyme
8 small or 5 medium uncooked red potatoes quartered
1 lb carrots (we use baby carrots)
1 T chopped parsley for garnish

Place oven rack in lowest position then preheat oven to 350 degrees. Next, coat a medium to large Dutch oven (iron pot with a lid) with cooking spray and place on the range over medium high heat.

Salt and pepper meat, place in pot and brown, about three minutes per side. Remove meat from pot and reserve. Add onions to pot, brown onions stirring occasionally for about eight minutes, remove onions. Mix 2c water with onion soup mix, vinegar and thyme. Add liquid to the medium-hot pot to deglaze residue. Add onions and meat back to pot. Bring all to a boil. Cover pot and bake in the oven for 90 minutes.

CAUTION: DO NOT CLICK ON IMAGES if you are somewhat hungry.


After 90 minutes remove the pot, place carrots and potatoes on top, quickly cover and return to the oven.


Cook for 1 ½ - 2 hours more until vegetables are tender.


This is an outstanding recipe, one already enshrined in the Bambi section of the comfort food wing at the Gerry From Valpo Culinary Hall Of Fame.


Let me know how yours turns out.
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6 comments:

Dan from Madison said...

DAMN. Looks great, doe or buck is my only question.

Gerry from Valpo said...

Doe.

Xend Krazley said...

Would it work with lamb?
Xend
Valpo expat
now residing in New Zealnd,
a very small lilly pad in a really big pond

Gerry from Valpo said...

Hey Xend,

Are you from Valparaiso Indiana or Valparaiso Chile?

New Zealand? I'm jealous! You have some fine lamb down there.

Why not? Try the lamb and let me know how it turns out. I would probably add in a lot of garlic and fresh rosemary, but that's just my taste in lamb, which is an outstanding meat. I suggest you remove as much fat from your meat as possible. I like to rotisserie roast boneless leg of lamb on my gas fired Weber.

Good luck to you and please get back with your results.

Xend Krazley said...

Valpo, Indiana, was home for many years, and yes, they do have fine lamb down here on the lily pad, but the strange thing is, though, the kiwi I married doesn't much care for it. Silly boy. Nevertheless, he loves my midwest cooking.
They use a lot of mint sause down here with their lamb, they use a lot of mint period. I was skeptical at first, but mint sauce, as well as the herb, are mighty tasty -- if you can find the sauce, give it a go -- I'm guessing it would go real well with venison. I don't recall ever seeing any in Town & Country, but I never really looked.
Have a good week!
Xend

Gerry from Valpo said...

We actually grow mint but rarely use it as an herb. I will give it a try. Town & Country is my favorite grocery store. Valpo lacks exotic food choices but recently have been stocking more foreign items.
Thanks for visiting and drop in often!