venison stew Archives - Good Food St. Louis

Blackberry Farms Stew

This recipe is from the kitchen of Blackberry Farms. I use beef chuck, if venison is unavailable. This makes a lot of soup, so you might want to half the recipe.

Cuisine Soup

Ingredients

4 lbs. venison or beef, medium diced chunks
2 Vidalia onions medium diced
Apple cider vinegar dash
Kosher salt
1-1/2 gallons chicken stock
4 cups carrots cut on diagonal
4 cups parsnips cut on diagonal
2 cups turnips. medium diced
2 cups rutabagas medium diced
8 Tbs. tomato paste
½ bottle red wine
3 cups gold hominy about 2 cans, drained

Instructions

In a very hot stock pot, add venison(or beef) chunks and sear till golden brown. Add vegetables and cook for 5 minutes. Spoon in tomato paste and continue cooking to caramelize the paste. Deglaze with red wine and cook to reduce the wine by 25%. Add stock along with a sachet of herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage, peppercorns, garlic, and parsley) tied in a small cheesecloth bundle. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer for 2 hours. Taste for seasoning and add more salt/pepper, as needed.
Serve topped with a Potato Mousseline:
Rub Yukon Gold potatoes with olive oil (Yukons are best for creaminess). Roast in oven until done. Remove skins. Pass potatoes through a food mill or ricer to puree. Add 2 sticks of butter, 1/4 cup heavy cream, and salt to taste. (I boiled the potatoes and used a hand mixer to mash.)
Place stew in a bowl and top with the Potato Mousseline and a few bits of parsley for garnish.

Robin makes Venison Stew in preparation for the weekend.

Stock Up, Cook Ahead, Hunker Down

Snowzilla is headed our way, my friends. Time to run to the store and stock up on survival essentials. Yes, if we believe the reports, the area will soon look like a Currier and Ives Christmas card. Schools and offices will close and store shelves will be emptied by panic-stricken shoppers. Snow plows will come out of mothballs and swarm the roadways, putting down gunk that will stay in our wheel wells till spring.

“Let it snow. . . let it snow . . . let it snow!”

Snowstorms of Yesteryear

We all recall the snowstorms of our youth. They were much worse than today’s—as memory would have it. We ate whatever was in the freezer or languishing in the back of the fridge. We played board games and talked to each other. And since we walked to school, having a foot of snow meant the trip was all the merrier.

If you must run out and join the snow shoppers, go quickly, the park lots are filling and the shelves emptying. If you enjoy the social aspects of racing from aisle to aisle or snatching the last marble rye from some old lady (a la Seinfeld), this is your time of year.

Let Me Help

While you’re out there, here’s a few things to put on your list:

candles and batteries (never know)
bananas (good subsistence food)
Easter eggs (in the event snow lingers longer than expected)
one carrot (for nose on snowman)
anything covered with chocolate (soothing)
lemons and limes (to prevent scurvy during long confinement)

A Pre-Storm Dinner

Robin, having made a jumbo pot of venison stew and a couple of loaves of sourdough bread, invited me and a few others for dinner last night. We finished off the meal with a chocolate vodka cake. The venison stew is from a recipe that Tom got from the chef at Blackberry Farms and it has become a family favorite. It can be made with either beef or venison, though I prefer the venison.

It’s meals like this that make you wish it snowed more often.