I recently had the honor of cooking for the annual Wild Game Dinner at my church, The Vineyard, in Duluth, MN. We were expecting anywhere from 150 to 200 men and it turned out we served 180 in the final tally. It was so much fun for me that I can't properly express it. I had some great help in the kitchen thanks to the organizing efforts of my friend Charlie Plys. We cooked anything we could get our hands on to feed that many people and it worked out that all were fed aplenty and we had a smidgen of leftovers to boot.
My dishes for the dinner were Venison Confit with Smoked Onions, Mushrooms and Fettucini Pasta and Venison Bourguignon. I have done the Bourguignon before and it was a hit and I will share the recipe here but the big deal for me was the Venison confit. I have played around with this before and reported it here on this blog but with no really good conclusion to the dish. This time however, it was a real success. Here is the deal:
This will do a small amount for an appetizer or main entree for about 4 people.
1good sized Venison steak or 2 chops
1/2 t Fennel Seed
1/t Cumin Seed
6-8 Juniper Berries
Toast the spices above in a skillet over medium heat and then put in a spice grinder and pulse until coarsely ground and then into a small bowl. Add 1/2 t dried whole Rosemary, 1 t Kosher Salt, 2 scoops (about 2 T)
finely ground coffee, 1/4 t ground Rosemary, 4 bay leaves.
Coat the venison in light olive oil and place in a small baking dish. rub half the spices on one side of the venison and flip over, rubbing the other half of the spices on the second side. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and place in the refrgerator for 48 hours.
Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Remove the venison from the refrgerator and rinse off the spices with cool water. Place a little olive oil in the bottom of the baking dish and place the venison on top of it. Cover the meat completely with light olive oil. Cover the dish with aluminum foil very tightly and place on a sheet pan. Bake at 225 degrees for 6 hours. uncover the meat and pull it apart with two forks into shreds.
Smoked Onions:
I use an aluminum 9x13 cake pan with aluminum lid for my smoking chamber. Place about 1/2 cup Apple smoking chips in the bottom of the pan and place a sheet of aluminum foil poked full of hole over the chips. Take a medium sweet onion and cut into quarters.Set the onion quarters on the foil and place the pan over a gas burner or on your gas grill for about 20 minutes. the onions should have a nice golden brown look about them but may not be quite fully cooked yet. remove them from the pan and slice them into smaller pieces and saute them until nice and soft.
Meanwhile, to complete the dish, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook 1/2 lb of Fettucini for about 9 minutes until slightly al dente.
Place 2 T olive oil in a saute pan and add 1 T Anchovy Paste ot 2 oil packed anchovies and cook until the Anchovies blend into the oil as though they have disappeared, about 2-3 minutes.
Add 1/8 cup minced Garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Slice 1/2 lb of Baby Bella or Button Mushrooms and saute along with the Anchovy and Garlic until all the moisture has been released, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add about 1/4 cup Red Wine to de-glaze the pan and cook until the wine has reduce by about 1/3. Add the shredded Venison and Smoked onions and cook until heated through. Stir into the cooked Fettucini, drizzle with a little Olive Oil and serve.
