The first (that I've found) is in shepherd's pie.
If there's anything more common in Michigan than unemployment, it's deer. But we Michiganders don't limit ourselves to hitting these woods-loving herbivores with our cars at late night hours - we see their true value: food.
Matt, who lives upstairs, grew up in the UP (pronounced "you-pee"), and tends to have a lot of ground venison in his freezer. Being a messy bachelor living with another messy bachelor, he doesn't really have the means to cook it, so he passes the honor along to me from time to time. Shepherd's pie was done before at Devin's request (the other bachelor), so this time I went for something a little simpler. And by simple, I mean ridiculously easy. Especially if you have:
a large crock pot
a pink Kitchenaid food processor
lots of garlic lying around
The food processor doesn't HAVE to be pink, but I recommend it. Put your coarse slicing blade in for the green beans, your thin slicing blade for onions, and here we go.
Prepare the soup base in crock pot:
fill pot 1/3 full of water (you can add more later)
beef bullion/soup base - to taste
salt - to taste
soup bone or beef scraps (I had a little beef soup bone on hand...mmmm)
1 lb. ground venison
1 head garlic, finely chopped
Simmer these two together on the stove until browned with dashes of:
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. chili powder
bay leaves (take out when soup is finished)
black pepper (lots!)
salt (to taste)
Chop these raw vegetables, slicing onions very thin (I quarter mine and food process them)
sweet onions
green beans
Throw vegetables and venison/garlic mixture into crock pot with 1 pint canned tomatoes (if you don't have home-canned, use canned diced). Add:
1 cup uncooked barley
Simmer, covered, on low for 6 - 7 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. When vegetables and barley have reached desired tenderness, add:
1 can of drained peas
Cook until peas are warm - yum!
I served this over yellow garlic mashed potatoes. If you'd like my super-secret recipe for awesome mashed potatoes, leave a comment!
Here are Reagan, Matt and Devin enjoying Poor Man's Stew:
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4 comments:
First off, awesome blog and recipe...
Second... I am not the messy one and yes I know I am a bachelor, thank you for reminding me... multiple times :)
Third... glad I look so good in that picture... Ha
Well, I for one am always up for super secret recipes, especially for potatoes. :) But a question for you- is there an advantage to the slow cooker? I have one, but I've never taken it off the shelf-- it's just too easy to make soups in a big pot on the stove. Am I missing something here?
addressing Gretchen's question...the major advantage to the slow cooker is that you can leave it all day and come home to dinner ready to eat. it's also extremely handy for those foods that really need slow cooking, like corned beef, soup bones, black beans and lentils.
some soups are quickly made, but if you're cooking with beans, lentils, barley or rice NOT pre cooked (i.e. canned), the slow cooker allows you to throw it all in a pot, turn it on high and have it cook for several hours without the hassle of monitoring a stove.
in short, G, i used to only do stove-top also, and if your soup is mainly fresh veggie-based, short stove top cooking is still best. but for all the others, the crock pot is best for time efficiency and safety.
also, i promise i'll do a post on how to convert jeans to jean skirts asap. i'll have to lay one out and take some pictures to do a proper how-to post...give it a week or two - and share my posts on Digg, Stumbleupon - whatever!
thanks! p.s. i love you Gretch
Nice tablecloth! Jorie, do you remember eating Mike's venison chili or venison vermicelli? Pretty good stuff - in 24 years you must have had some. D.
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