Posts Tagged ‘recipes’

Southwestern Backstrap Fajitas Recipe

September 10th, 2017 by BTC Editor

When it comes to fresh venison, the meal I most look forward to is fajitas! For this meal, I used the backstrap from my 8-point taken during last archery season. I love taking all that fresh, organic, grass fed meat into my kitchen and turning out this Tex-Mex classic. It’s filling, full of protein, includes fresh veggies, (my favorite- avocado!), and goes great with chips and salsa, and a cold beer if you want one!

 

Making them is super simple as well.  We process our own deer and package it in portion sizes big enough for serving 2, which in this case is about 1lb of meat. (If you don’t have a FoodSaver for preserving your harvest, do yourself a favor and get one!)

 

Ingredients:

-1lb venison backstrap, fresh or frozen

-1 Bell Pepper (red, green, or any color)

-1/2 white onion

-1 Hass Avocado

-Flour Tortillas

-Cheese- your choice. This recipe used Jalapeno Munster

-Garlic Salt

-Worcestershire Sauce

-Southwestern Seasoning (or mix of cumin, coriander, oregano, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper)

-Chips and Salsa, of course

-2-3 tablespoons of butter

Recipe:

-Take your meat and slice it in 1/2in thick medallions.  Add the Worcestershire Sauce, Southwestern Seasoning, Garlic Salt, to taste. If you can, marinate your meat in the spices overnight, but if you can’t it will still taste great.

-Add butter or olive oil to your pan and turn to medium heat. When hot, add your meat and sear on both sides to medium doneness.

 

-Add butter to a second pan (or use your current pan after removing the meat) and saute your sliced onion and bell pepper once you have sliced them in strips. Saute until tender and easy to bite through.

 

-Dice/shred your cheese, slice your avocado, and prep your fixins’! I arrange the ingredients along the bar and let everyone (and by that, I mean, all of this is just for my husband and I….mostly me!) Warm your tortillas, top with meat, veggies, avocado, cheese, and throw in some salsa if you’re feeling fancy. Then chow down!

 

-This should make enough for about 6 fajitas, and these are great as leftovers as well for lunch the next day. Crack open a Cerveza with salt and lime, and enjoy!

 

Jenny Burden is a successful competitive triathlete through the Spring and Summer, but Fall and Winter are all about hunting for her. She is an avid hunter and is also a member of Huntress View, a team dedicated to strengthening the ever-growing community of women hunters.

Easy Wild Turkey Tacos Recipe

May 7th, 2017 by BTC Editor

Of all the game meats, wild turkey is by far my favorite. I love making wild turkey nuggets—small chunks rolled in egg and covered in Italian breadcrumbs, then fried. Yum! But lately, I’ve been looking for new, healthier ways to cook my turkey harvest. I decided to try making crockpot turkey tacos. Good decision, because they were delicious…and super easy!

What you need:

  • 1-1/2 lbs. wild turkey breast meat
  • 1 tbsp. chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 1-1/2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic (can replace with 1/4 tsp. garlic powder)
  • 16 oz. of your favorite salsa
  • Optional: 1/2 tsp. hot pepper flakes*
  • Optional: 1/2 cup water

 

*I like spicy food, so I use a mix of dried cayenne and habanero peppers. You can substitute with red pepper flakes, or eliminate for less spice.

 

Instructions:

  • Place whole chunk of wild turkey breast in crockpot
  • Mix all dry ingredients together in small bowl, then sprinkle onto turkey breast
  • Pour salsa over turkey; if the salsa is extra chunky, add water
  • Cook on low 5-6 hours (or high for 3-4 hours)
  • Before serving, use two forks to shred the meat and stir all ingredients together

 

Serve immediately with desired taco toppings such as shredded cheese, sour cream, avocado or guacamole, lettuce, tomato, hot sauce, rice, corn, etc. There are so many options, and you can personalize it to whatever you prefer.

 

Ingredients can be adjusted to your personal tastes, or you can also use store-bought taco seasoning in place of the listed dry ingredients (I prefer to make my own to eliminate the salt and preservatives).

 

Sarah Honadel is an avid outdoors-woman from Kentucky who enjoys hunting turkey, deer and elk. She is a Team Member at Huntress View and Brand Champion for ReelCamo Girl, two organizations that work to support, encourage and empower women in the outdoors. Follow her on Instagram @waddysarah and @arrowridgecreations.

Venison Meatball Recipe

February 26th, 2017 by BTC Editor

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb ground venison

¼ cup half and half

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 medium white onion – finely chopped

3 tablespoons chopped garlic

2 large eggs

1/4 cup dried parsley flakes

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

 

DIRECTIONS

This recipe is by far the best wild game recipe I’ve ever tasted!  I must preface this by saying that up until a few of years ago, I was actually a vegetarian.   Not because I was trying to save the animals.  I did it because I just didn’t care for meat.  However, what I realized when I met my husband, who is a hunter and ultimately the one whom got me into hunting as well, is that what actually bothered me about meat is that I didn’t always know where the meat from the grocery store had come from.  I was growing a few veggies in my backyard, and purchasing the rest through a farmers market or local CSA.  So I have always been aware of where my food came from; but the meat remained a mystery.  Then along comes hunting.  The first time my husband brought a whitetail deer home for us to process I started asking questions.  I began cooking it for my family and realized my kids could never tell the difference between ground venison and ground beef.  Thus began my journey in creating wild game friendly recipes.

Now I am extremely picky with how my food tastes.  I do not like having a gamey taste to it at all.  This meatball recipe is so perfect.  Every time I make it, it gets better and better as I modify ingredients.

Begin by preheating your oven to 425 degrees and coating the bottom of your 9×12 baking dish with olive oil.  Next, place 1 pound of ground venison in a large mixing bowl.  Add ¼ cup half and half (regular milk works as well, however I have not tried this recipe with dairy substitutes) and then set this bowl aside.

 

In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  Add 1 diced onion and 3 tablespoons of chopped garlic to the skillet.  Be sure to dice your onion into very small pieces.  Saute until the onion is clear.  I tend to like a lot of onion, so this may look like more than 1 medium onion. Never enough onion or garlic in my house!

 

 

Then, add the onion mixture to the ground venison bowl.  Add 2 eggs, ¼ cup dried parsley flakes, ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and 1 teaspoon oregano to this same mixture.  Salt and pepper to taste.  You are now ready to mix with a wood spoon or your hands. I typically use my hands, but am careful for the hot onion/garlic mixture.  Don’t burn your fingers!

 

 

Using the same medium skillet as you cooked the onions (as you can see in the photo I do not clean out the skillet), add 2 tablespoons olive oil and turn on heat to medium.  Roll meat mixture into 1” diameter meatballs.  Don’t look to close at mine.  They are never perfectly round because my kids are always starving.  Place meatballs into heated skillet; browning on at least 2 sides.  You are not cooking them all the way through, just browning the edges.  This makes the outside of the meatballs yummy and slightly crispy.  Once you have browned the meatballs on 2 sides, place meatballs into your greased baking dish.  Bake 20 minutes, turning once after 10 minutes.

 

 

My husband and I tend to eat them plain (that’s how good they are) or dipped in barbecue sauce.  My kids like to put them on Hawaiian rolls with cheese and barbecue sauce.  Either way, I think you will love them! Enjoy!

 

By Tammy Bashore

 

Tammy Bashore is an outdoor enthusiast from South Dakota. She is a professional photographer, the wife of a professional walleye angler and the mother of 2 kids, plus one fur baby, a GSP named Bentley (pictured above). Tammy is also a member of the Huntress View team, an organization formed to help strengthen the ever growing community of women hunters.

Wild Game Thanksgiving Dinner

November 13th, 2016 by BTC Editor

It’s that time of year again, where we sit down with family and celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s a time to reflect on all that we are thankful for. For a hunter, this includes the memories in the field and the wild game that was harvested. In my opinion, there’s no better time than Thanksgiving to serve wild game. If you prefer a more non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner, here are a couple of simple recipes to try that you and your family are sure to appreciate.

The main course and side is a dinner kit from Hunter Gatherer Game Dinners.

dinner-kit

 

 

[Main course]

Seared Venison with Red Wine Chocolate Sauce

INGREDIENTS

  • 12 oz. venison, elk, buffalo, filet mignon or rib eye steak (I prefer venison filet mignon)
  • You’ll need to buy:
    • 2 oz. pancetta or Italian bacon
    • 1 – 8 oz. can low-sodium chicken broth
    • 1 stick unsalted butter
    • 1 cup Red Wine
  • There are seasonings for the meat in individual packets labeled with numbers, as well as step-by-step instructions so it’s super easy to make!

[Side]

Wild Rice with Cranberries

  • The wild rice and cranberries are also included in this kit, along with preparation instructions.

 

seared-venison-hunter-gatherer-dinner

[Dessert]

Persimmon Bread

Most know that deer love to eat persimmons, but have you ever tried one? If you’ve ever tried one before they are ripe you probably think cooking anything with persimmons sounds like a bad idea, as they are awfully bitter. But once they turn ripe they are sweet and are great to use for pies, breads, cakes and cookies. Once they turn a purple/gray color and get soft they are ready for picking, usually after the first couple of frosts.

persimmons

 

This recipe is my pumpkin bread recipe, but I swapped the 15 oz can pumpkin for 15 oz of persimmon pulp. To me, ripe persimmons taste very similar and have the same consistency as a pumpkin. To get the pulp you will want to smash the persimmons into a bowl through a cone shaped collander, this way you don’t get the skins or seeds in the pulp. We picked these and after smashing all of them through the collander we probably have about 4-5 cups of persimmon pulp. I put the pulp into zip-loc baggies, about 2 cups per baggie, and store them in the freezer until ready to use for cooking.

INGREDIENTS
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 cup cooking oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 15 oz persimmon pulp
DIRECTIONS
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 loaf pans.
  • In an extra large mixing bowl, beat sugar and oil with electric mixer on medium speed. Add eggs & beat well; set sugar mixture aside
  • In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon & nutmeg. Alternately add flour mixture & the water to sugar mixture, beating on low after each addition until just combined.
  • Beat in the persimmon pulp.
  • Spoon batter into pans
  • Bake 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
  • Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Wrap & store overnight before slicing (The recipe calls for this, but I never do this. I absolutely love warm bread right out of the oven!)

By Andrea Haas

Andrea Haas is a Pro-Staffer from Missouri who enjoys hunting deer, turkeys, and upland birds. She is also the founder of the Huntress View, an organization formed to help strengthen the ever growing community of women hunters.