Deer seasons are winding down, but fine dining is just beginning.
When a miracle happens and one of us at Camp See No Deer bags a buck or doe, most of the meat ends up as ground venison. It's delicious, nutritious and can be used in any recipe that calls for ground meat.
There are more recipes for venison chili than you can shake a set of antlers at. There's tacos, spaghetti, cheeseburgers and more.
Those are all Camp See No Deer favorites. Another dish we started fixing this hunting time of year is venison stroganoff. It's a tasty take-off on beef stroganoff, but with venison as a main ingredient. The recipe is as easy as it is delicious. Here's all you do.
In a large skillet, brown one pound of ground venison or any ground meat you like. Stir in one 12-ounce jar of beef gravy and one-half cup of sour cream. Drain a can of mushrooms and add those to the skillet. Stir everything together and let it simmer.
Meanwhile, cook half the noodles in a 16-ounce bag of egg noodles. Serve the meat mixture over the warm cooked noodles and enjoy.
We're big on getting kids involved in the kitchen, and this venison stroganoff is so simple even a child can do it, as they say. It's even more of a festive occasion if the recipe uses venison that a young hunter bagged during the Arkansas youth deer hunt or any family hunting trip. Talk about one proud boy or girl.
Or let's say your significant other does most of the cooking around the house. Venison stroganoff is a fine dish to fix and give the regular kitchen chef a break.
We like to sprinkle on a little Cavenders All Purpose Greek Seasoning, made in Harrison, or a dash of salt and pepper. A shake or two of parmesan cheese also is a nice addition.
At Camp See No Deer, any ground venison dish is hardly a dish without onions. We always chop a little onion and add it to the meat while it's browning. A slice of onion goes on every venison cheeseburger that comes off the grill. Like Jimmy Buffett sings in his great "Cheeseburger in Paradise," song, it's heaven on earth with an onion slice.
One meat option is to cook bite size pieces of odds and ends venison cuts and brown them along with the ground venison.
A cool garden salad and some warm bread are good sides for venison stroganoff. Such a fancy dish calls for a glass of wine, but what wine goes best with venison stroganoff?
At Camp See No Deer, it's whatever box happens to be under the counter. A computer search tells us venison stroganoff "pairs best with heavier red wines that feature hints of earth, herbs and smoke." Well, fill up my Dixie cup.
There's plenty of time to bag the main ingredient for venison stroganoff, chili or other favorites. There's a three-day modern gun deer season Dec. 26-28, a private land antlerless-only season Dec. 29-31 and a youth-only modern gun season Jan. 7-8. Archery deer season is open through Feb. 28.
Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected]