Venison
Roast venison with asparagus, roast potatoes and a side of scallops and bacon
I am lucky enough to know a good butcher who provided me with a most glorious cut of venison steak. Until this, I had never eaten, let alone cooked, venison but this turned out wonderfully. I also have never cooked with duck fat but decided, after reading several recipes, it seemed like the flavor would be better so I gave it a try. The scallops and bacon were just a man-requested extra. If you've never tried a scallop with its foot (the orange bit) on, you should. It's weird and wonderful and worth trying.
Ready for its close-up
Cod
Royston is a market town, which means on Wednesdays and Saturdays there is a wonderful market selling all kinds of things from antiques to fish and household cleaners to vegetables. I've been meaning to get my veg from the market but haven't until this weekend. I have, however, bought a silver tray and some eggs there. On this past Saturday we bought (more) eggs, parsnips, sprouts, and carrots from the vegetable stand and some fresh cod from the fish monger. It all looked and tasted so fresh and there was plenty more English vegetables I haven't tried that I've already planned a few things to cook next week with what I've seen there. I'd much rather buy my food from someone who can tell me where my food came from, because they brought it from the source to the market, than from a big super market where "fresh fish" can be up to three weeks old. It also brings people in the community together and you never what you're going to find.
Cod with sweet potato, parsnip, and carrot.
This, apparently, isn't a very photogenic dish.
Pork chops with sprouts, carrots, and mashed potatoes
Sadly, this pork isn't from my favorite butcher or the market but was still quite good. I put a bit of honey on it but probably should have brined it. The sprouts had some carrots, onions, salt and pepper and only took about 15-20 minutes to cook. The mashed potatoes had some cheese in them because of the vast amount we received over Christmas and couldn't finish and now have to finish before it goes off. Another easy meal that doesn't take too long to make but still tastes wonderful.
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| Same old plate, new meal |
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| Yum |
Recipes
Venison
- Venison- make sure it's in season and ask your butcher how much they would recommend
- 2 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- If venison is wrapped in plastic, rinse and lightly pat dry with paper towel
- Cut small holes into the venison and insert the garlic
- Coat lightly in olive oil
- Season with salt and pepper as desired
- On a hot pan, sear each side of the venison for about 2 minutes each
- Lower heat on pan and flip venison regularly until cooked to your liking - about another 10 minutes
Roast potatoes, cooked with duck fat
I don't usually skin potatoes but if you're into that, go for it!
- 2-4 potatoes
- 1/4 cup duck fat
- Salt and pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons flour (optional)
- Cut potato into similar sized chunks- about a cubic inch
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees
- Boil potatoes for about 5 minutes or until they're just soft
- Once oven is hot, put duck fat you into baking tin and leave in the oven for 2-5 minutes
- Drain potatoes and rough up slightly in colander - if you want them extra crispy, add the flour
- Put potato into the fat, sprinkle lightly with salt, making sure all surfaces have sufficient fat
- Cook for 15 minutes then turn
- Cook for another 20 minutes or until potatoes look so glorious you must eat them
- Be careful - potatoes stay hot!
Asparagus
- Steam for 3-5 minutes, until bright green and bend slightly when picked up with fork
- Rinse and pat scallops dry with paper towel
- Separate the scallop from the foot
- Heat frying pan
- Place the scallop onto the hot pan, turning after about 1 minute
- Place the foot on the pan, turning after about 30 seconds - the foot is much thinner than the scallop so it doesn't take as long to cook
- If you'd like to be sure that the scallop is cooked through, keep on the pan 1:30 before turning
If you don't know how to cook bacon, you can google it. It's easy.
Cod
- Cod- make sure it's fresh and locally sourced- ask your fish monger how much they would recommend
- 2 tbs of mustard
- 3 tbs olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Rinse and lightly pat dry with paper towel
- Mix olive oil and mustard together - if you have balsamic vinegar reduce the amount of mustard and mix it all in with the olive oil to your taste
- Season the fish lightly with salt and pepper then coat with the olive oil and mustard
- On a heated pan, place the cod skin down for 4-5 minutes before flipping
Root vegetable medley
- Sweet potato
- Parsnip
- Carrots
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Pre-heat oven to 350 f
- Cut veg into similar sized sticks
- Coat lightly in olive oil
- Season with salt and pepper as desired
- Shake veg on tray so that the oil is evenly coated
- Cook for 30 minutes, shaking the tray every 10 minutes
Pork Chops
- Pork chops
- 1/2 tbs honey per chop
- Olive oil
- Preheat oven to 350 f
- Coat each chop with honey
- Pour olive oil onto a pan/skillet
- Place chops on pan and cook each side for about 1 minute, then transfer to pre-heated oven
- Cook for 4 minutes then turn
- Cook for another 4 minutes or until done
Sprouts, Onion, and Carrots
- 1/4lb sprouts, 1 onion, and 2 carrots
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Pre-heat oven to 350 f
- Sprouts- trim and half
- Cut carrots and onion into small chunks
- Season with salt, pepper, and olive oil
- Put into baking tray and cook for 15 minutes
As usual, these recipes are very imprecise and, hopefully, simple. All measurements are eye-balled and based on what I think would taste good. Give them a try and feel free to post any suggestions!
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