Showing posts with label Wild Foods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wild Foods. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 07, 2017
A Culinary Lesson from Hannibal Lecter
Monday, November 10, 2014
Prairie Kitchens - Bigos
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Eva Sylwestrowicz, who grew up in northern Poland, remembers wonderful winter picnics when friends and family went into the woods by horse-drawn sleigh and ate bowls of bigos warmed over a bonfire. "Someone went ahead to prepare the bonfire," she says. "There was bigos and bread, vodka and wine. And hot chocolate for the children. It was a special time."
Eva came to Saskatoon in 1982, escaping communist Poland with her husband Thomas and their young children, Magda and Wojtek. Their journey is intriguing. Thomas, a physician, had gone to London, England, for a research fellowship but his family was not allowed to go with him.
On the pretext of entertaining his colleagues – and making a good impression – he asked Eva to send him his mother's silverware and the good linens. Thus they spirited some family treasures out of the country.
On a cold winter day, Eva and the children left for a vacation in Tunisia, an approved holiday destination, with nothing but a suitcase of summer clothes. They had to go to East Germany to catch their flight, but as soon as they got there, they changed directions for London and from there to Canada.
Bigos (bee-gōs) is considered better with each reheating. Leftovers are added to the pot creating a "perpetual stew" that lasts a week, ready to reheat for unexpected company or a winter picnic.
Bigos
1/2 cup dried mushrooms
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tsp paprika or 2 juniper berries, finely crushed
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 lb bacon, chopped
1 lb smoked sausage, sliced
1 cup leftover roast meat
6–8 canned tomatoes, chopped
1/2 medium cabbage head, shaved
1/2 lb sauerkraut
2 tbsp plum jam or honey
Soak mushrooms in boiling water to soften. Heat oil in a stew pot. Cook onion until soft. Stir in paprika or juniper berries, salt and pepper.
Add garlic and bacon. When bacon and onions are cooked, add the rest of the meat, tomatoes, cabbage, sauerkraut, mushrooms and mushroom water.
Add enough cold water to almost cover the contents. Cover the pot and simmer for several hours, until the cabbage is meltingly soft. Stir in plum jam or honey.
(This article first appeared in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.)
Monday, May 12, 2014
Prairie Kitchens - Jugged Rabbit
Are gophers good to eat? That question was posed by the Saskatchewan Herald newspaper in 1890. Apparently, the answer is yes. Some pioneers found gopher to be quite agreeable and, the article goes on to say, "The Indians are especially fond of them. When fat they are of a very sweet and delicate flavor."
Wild game such as gophers, rabbits and deer were an import food source on the prairies after the bison disappeared but before homesteads had established cattle and hogs.
In 1952, the University of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Archives asked old timers what the pioneers ate. One fellow, John Bird of Broadview came west in 1882. He said their primary meat was "rabbit, more rabbit and still more rabbit" along with prairie chickens, ducks and the occasional deer. He said a typical menu was rabbit stew for breakfast, rabbit and potatoes for lunch and rabbit again for supper.
Another family who came as Barr Colonists in 1903 was devastated when their winter cache of rabbits, which were hanging frozen outside, was eaten by coyotes. The Métis made a dish called rabbit rababoo, a type of stew with turnips, potatoes and carrots that went back to the days of the fur trade.
A recipe for jugged rabbit is found in many old cookbooks. Traditionally, it was cooked in an earthenware jug. Come to think of it, gophers might taste pretty good this way, too.
Jugged Rabbit
1 rabbit, cut in pieces
1/4 cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper
3 tbsp butter
1 big onion, chopped
4 cups beef stock
1 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb button mushrooms
Extra flour for gravy
Lightly dredge rabbit in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp butter in a Dutch oven or other stove-to-oven pot. Brown rabbit on both sides and remove from pot. Add onion to butter and cook until soft. Return rabbit to pot.
Add beef stock, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cover and cook in 350F oven for one hour. Add mushrooms. Top up with water to cover mushrooms. Continue cooking for about 2 hours, adding more water if needed, until rabbit is tender. Remove bay leaf. Lift out rabbit to a serving plate and mushrooms into a bowl, keeping warm while making the gravy.
With your fingers, mix remaining 1 tbsp butter with enough flour to make a crumbly dough. Add to the hot liquid, whisking vigorously while bringing to a bubble on the stove, cooking until gravy is thickened. If it's not enough gravy, add more hot water. Taste gravy and adjust salt and pepper if needed. Pour gravy through a strainer to remove any lumps. Serve with mashed potatoes.
Do you have a prairie recipe to share? Tell me! Follow me at twitter.com/prairiefeast.
In 1952, the University of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Archives asked old timers what the pioneers ate. One fellow, John Bird of Broadview came west in 1882. He said their primary meat was "rabbit, more rabbit and still more rabbit" along with prairie chickens, ducks and the occasional deer. He said a typical menu was rabbit stew for breakfast, rabbit and potatoes for lunch and rabbit again for supper.
Another family who came as Barr Colonists in 1903 was devastated when their winter cache of rabbits, which were hanging frozen outside, was eaten by coyotes. The Métis made a dish called rabbit rababoo, a type of stew with turnips, potatoes and carrots that went back to the days of the fur trade.
A recipe for jugged rabbit is found in many old cookbooks. Traditionally, it was cooked in an earthenware jug. Come to think of it, gophers might taste pretty good this way, too.
Jugged Rabbit
1 rabbit, cut in pieces
1/4 cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper
3 tbsp butter
1 big onion, chopped
4 cups beef stock
1 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb button mushrooms
Extra flour for gravy
Lightly dredge rabbit in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp butter in a Dutch oven or other stove-to-oven pot. Brown rabbit on both sides and remove from pot. Add onion to butter and cook until soft. Return rabbit to pot.
Add beef stock, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cover and cook in 350F oven for one hour. Add mushrooms. Top up with water to cover mushrooms. Continue cooking for about 2 hours, adding more water if needed, until rabbit is tender. Remove bay leaf. Lift out rabbit to a serving plate and mushrooms into a bowl, keeping warm while making the gravy.
With your fingers, mix remaining 1 tbsp butter with enough flour to make a crumbly dough. Add to the hot liquid, whisking vigorously while bringing to a bubble on the stove, cooking until gravy is thickened. If it's not enough gravy, add more hot water. Taste gravy and adjust salt and pepper if needed. Pour gravy through a strainer to remove any lumps. Serve with mashed potatoes.
Do you have a prairie recipe to share? Tell me! Follow me at twitter.com/prairiefeast.
(This article first appeared in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.)
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
New Year's Food Resolutions
(Originally published in the Star Phoenix)
It’s time for New Year’s resolutions, and for that, I usually look to the kitchen. My resolutions always seem to revolve around food. One year I resolved to eat more potatoes. My dad grows enough potatoes to feed an army so it’s “free” food to boot. Another year, I resolved to make a pot of soup for each week of the year. Two years ago, I resolved to eat more berries. Before that, I resolved to eat more beans.
In all instances, by “more” I am referring to more of these products that are grown in Saskatchewan so that, as the year progresses, I am also delving deeper into the local food economy. These resolutions may seem frivolous compared to more serious pledges for personal self improvement, but I have the satisfaction of having never failed to meet my goals. Gain without pain.
In that spirit, here is a list of delicious, achievable and painless New Year’s resolutions that may spice up your year.
2. Visit a farm in 2013. More specifically, resolve to visit a farm at which you can buy farm products. Two good options near Saskatoon are Pine View Farms at Osler, which sells their own meat products, and Robertson’s vegetable farm on Valley Road. Both have on-farm stores.
3. Go berry picking. Berries are the most abundant fruit on the prairies and they are also the healthiest fruit to eat. Picking wild berries such as saskatoons, cranberries and blueberries is an adventure in itself, if you know where to look. U-picks offer the convenience of growing the berries for you, including saskatoons, raspberries, strawberries, haskap and cherries. The fruit growers association produces a map of u-picks around the province.
4. Eat wild foods. If you pick wild berries, you’ll have this one covered. Other wild foods found in Saskatchewan include mushrooms, dandelion and chickweed greens, muskeg tea, juniper berries and, of course, all manner of wild fish and game.
5. Eat more lentils. Saskatchewan is now the world’s largest producer of lentils. Not only do we grow the most lentils, we also grow the greatest variety of lentils – brown, black, green and red. If you are not accustomed to cooking with lentils, check out some cookbooks of world cuisine or ask someone whose family heritage comes from those parts of the world where lentils are eaten every day.
6. Eat your vegetables. Saskatchewan imports well over 90 percent of our fresh vegetables. Both Manitoba and Alberta supply a far greater percentage of their vegetable market. Support our local vegetable growers by asking for and choosing fresh produce that is grown closer to home.
7. Prepare one all-local meal, whether you define local as close as your backyard or as broad as the province. For extra challenge, resolve to cook this meal in the wintertime. For an easier challenge, make it a potluck and share the experience.
8. Be a food tourist: where ever you travel in the province, look for food “souvenirs” that reflect the passion and produce of this varied land.
Finally, my 2013 New Year’s resolution: to eat myself out of house and home. Dig to the bottom of the freezer, clear out the canning cupboard, use up the various bags of lentils, dried mushrooms and oat groats, eat up dad’s potatoes. So by summer, I can start all over again.
Venison Stew
This hardy winter stew makes use of many Saskatchewan ingredients, including frozen peas from my garden. I picked the juniper berries while walking in a city park.
2 pounds venison or beef
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp canola oil
8 potatoes, peeled
2 carrots, peeled
1 big onion
2 garlic cloves
Handful of mushrooms, fresh or rehydrated in water
3 crushed juniper berries
1 tsp crushed dried thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tsp salt and some freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup frozen peas, optional
2 cups water or beef stock
Cut the meat into one-inch cubes. In a large pot or Dutch oven, brown the meat in melted butter and canola oil. Remove the meat from the pot. Meanwhile, chop the potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic and mushrooms. Place the vegetables in the pot and cook until the onion is soft. Return the meat to the pot. Add the juniper berries, thyme, whole bay leaves, salt, pepper and peas (if using). Pour in two cups water or beef stock. Cover. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender, two or three hours.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thanks Leon - VENISON STEW
Fabulous venison stew tonight. This recipe is from Ducks Unlimited Adventure in Cooking, which I picked up at a used book store in Regina on the weekend. Everything was local from Saskatchewan except the chocolate and cinnamon. (I didn't use kidney beans, but put in extra local pinto beans instead.)It's a beautiful cookbook and I think I'll use it often.
So thanks, Leon, for the gift of venison, and I hope you're having a good hunting season. (A very self-serving sentiment!)
Monday, October 20, 2008
Newspaper Column - VENISON STEW
Published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, 20 Oct 2008.
My husband came home from work the other day with a leg of venison under his arm. He doesn’t hunt but we have plenty of friends who do. And lucky for us, they like to share. I didn’t grow up eating wild meat, but I’ve come to appreciate it in many ways.
Wild meat is pure, lean and healthy—very little meat we eat these days is as naturally-raised and unadulterated as wild game. It’s guaranteed to be fresh and local, something we can’t always ascertain when buying meat at the grocery store. I also appreciate the fact that wild animals live free and unfettered lives, doing what comes naturally to them; that can’t be said of most of the animals raised for human consumption.
Thanks to our friends who hunt, our freezer has been blessed with venison, moose and elk—some in the form of sausage and pepperoni sticks—as well as goose, duck and grouse, all cut and wrapped.
Some people dislike the “gamey” flavour, but I maintain that if the animal is slaughtered correctly and cooked properly, most picky eaters could not tell the difference. Just the other day, I made my husband’s favourite meatloaf with a mix of grass-fed beef and elk. One of my most successful recipes is a slow-cooked stew from Portugal which is flavoured with cinnamon, cumin and allspice. The recipe calls for beef but I make it with moose.
Another successful recipe is beef bourguignon, a traditional stew from France made with bacon, red wine and vegetables. I made it with elk and the meat was delicious. My husband John has a nice touch with venison: cut the meat in 3/4 inch slices, cross-hatch it with the edge of a plate (to flatten and tenderize), soak in milk 5 minutes, shake in a bag of flour, salt and pepper, then quick fry in hot lard.
The goose came to us as a bag of freshly cut breasts which I flattened and rolled with a mix of potato, apple and caraway seeds (a Mario Batali recipe) which we ate at Christmastime. It wasn’t exactly the golden goose of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, but I thanked my benefactor all the same.
A couple of years ago, I decided to try hunting myself. I enrolled in an online hunter education course that could be completed at one’s leisure, but somehow I never found the time—always too busy with my own garden, picking and canning and cooking. Hunting season came and went. Now I’m having second thoughts. Perhaps back in prehistoric times, my ancestors were the gatherers and the farmers, not the hunters of the tribe. Perhaps it is their legacy that I should wield a hoe, not a gun, and rather than take up hunting, I should cultivate friends who do.
So to Jeff, Sue, Vance, Rick, Greg and Mark (of the leg of venison) thank you for sharing your bounty. Would you like some potatoes?
This recipe comes from Saveur magazine (for original recipe, click here). For more recipes with wild Saskatchewan ingredients, click on the word "wild" at the bottom of this post.
Venison Stew
1/2 tsp. whole allspice berries
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. whole cloves
4 lbs. venison roast
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup tomato purée
(I use my own tomatoes, peeled)
3/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Salt
16 slices day-old soft French or Italian bread
Leaves from 3 sprigs mint
Put allspice, cumin, and cloves on a small square of cheesecloth, gather corners, and tie shut with kitchen twine. Put spice bag, meat, garlic, bay leaves, onions, tomato sauce and purée, wine, ketchup, cinnamon, 3 cups water, and salt to taste into a large heavy-bottomed pot. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until meat is very tender and falling off the bone, 5–6 hours. Adjust seasonings.
Transfer meat with a slotted spoon to a large bowl, then shred with two forks, discarding fat and bones, and put into a large serving dish. Skim fat from meat broth and discard bay leaves and spice bag. Arrange bread in another large serving dish and scatter mint on top. Ladle broth over bread and mint and set aside briefly to allow bread to swell and absorb broth before serving. Serve meat and broth-soaked bread together.
My husband came home from work the other day with a leg of venison under his arm. He doesn’t hunt but we have plenty of friends who do. And lucky for us, they like to share. I didn’t grow up eating wild meat, but I’ve come to appreciate it in many ways.
Wild meat is pure, lean and healthy—very little meat we eat these days is as naturally-raised and unadulterated as wild game. It’s guaranteed to be fresh and local, something we can’t always ascertain when buying meat at the grocery store. I also appreciate the fact that wild animals live free and unfettered lives, doing what comes naturally to them; that can’t be said of most of the animals raised for human consumption.
Thanks to our friends who hunt, our freezer has been blessed with venison, moose and elk—some in the form of sausage and pepperoni sticks—as well as goose, duck and grouse, all cut and wrapped.
Some people dislike the “gamey” flavour, but I maintain that if the animal is slaughtered correctly and cooked properly, most picky eaters could not tell the difference. Just the other day, I made my husband’s favourite meatloaf with a mix of grass-fed beef and elk. One of my most successful recipes is a slow-cooked stew from Portugal which is flavoured with cinnamon, cumin and allspice. The recipe calls for beef but I make it with moose.
Another successful recipe is beef bourguignon, a traditional stew from France made with bacon, red wine and vegetables. I made it with elk and the meat was delicious. My husband John has a nice touch with venison: cut the meat in 3/4 inch slices, cross-hatch it with the edge of a plate (to flatten and tenderize), soak in milk 5 minutes, shake in a bag of flour, salt and pepper, then quick fry in hot lard.
The goose came to us as a bag of freshly cut breasts which I flattened and rolled with a mix of potato, apple and caraway seeds (a Mario Batali recipe) which we ate at Christmastime. It wasn’t exactly the golden goose of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, but I thanked my benefactor all the same.
A couple of years ago, I decided to try hunting myself. I enrolled in an online hunter education course that could be completed at one’s leisure, but somehow I never found the time—always too busy with my own garden, picking and canning and cooking. Hunting season came and went. Now I’m having second thoughts. Perhaps back in prehistoric times, my ancestors were the gatherers and the farmers, not the hunters of the tribe. Perhaps it is their legacy that I should wield a hoe, not a gun, and rather than take up hunting, I should cultivate friends who do.
So to Jeff, Sue, Vance, Rick, Greg and Mark (of the leg of venison) thank you for sharing your bounty. Would you like some potatoes?
This recipe comes from Saveur magazine (for original recipe, click here). For more recipes with wild Saskatchewan ingredients, click on the word "wild" at the bottom of this post.
Venison Stew
1/2 tsp. whole allspice berries
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. whole cloves
4 lbs. venison roast
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup tomato purée
(I use my own tomatoes, peeled)
3/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Salt
16 slices day-old soft French or Italian bread
Leaves from 3 sprigs mint
Put allspice, cumin, and cloves on a small square of cheesecloth, gather corners, and tie shut with kitchen twine. Put spice bag, meat, garlic, bay leaves, onions, tomato sauce and purée, wine, ketchup, cinnamon, 3 cups water, and salt to taste into a large heavy-bottomed pot. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until meat is very tender and falling off the bone, 5–6 hours. Adjust seasonings.
Transfer meat with a slotted spoon to a large bowl, then shred with two forks, discarding fat and bones, and put into a large serving dish. Skim fat from meat broth and discard bay leaves and spice bag. Arrange bread in another large serving dish and scatter mint on top. Ladle broth over bread and mint and set aside briefly to allow bread to swell and absorb broth before serving. Serve meat and broth-soaked bread together.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Newspaper - GROUSE AND BEAN STEW
Deep in my genetic makeup, I believe you’ll find the DNA of an ancient hunter-gatherer. Hunter-gatherers existed long ago before we learned to farm, when we had to hunt for meat and forage for plants in the wild. I love to forage, especially when it’s easy and convenient. There’s a certain sense of pride in accumulating good food for nothing but a few hours in nature.
Summer just wouldn’t be summer if I didn’t get out and forage for saskatoon berries. Last summer, I learned to forage for chanterelle mushrooms in the forest near La Ronge. So, I couldn’t pass up an invitation to forage for wild rose petals in the Nisbet Forest. Everyone knows that rose hips make a nutritious tea, but I didn’t know you could eat the flowers, too.
Marie Symes-Grehan lives in a log cabin where she has perfected the technique for making rose petal jam. The petals are suspended ever so delicately in pink that it looks almost too good to eat. We set out in the morning after the dew was gone, down a sandy road through the forest where the wild roses grow abundantly in the roadsides.
"The scent of roses is so intoxicating, I believe it really does affect your well being," says Marie. "It’s like prairie Zen."
After we collect the petals in cotton sacks, we sort them and sift out the stamens. Wearing a big hair net, Marie boils up some water and organic sugar, adding the petals at just the right moment. Then into the jars. She sells her wild jams and syrups under the label Lily Plain Summer, which are especially popular at the Granville Island Market in Vancouver. The jam is too pretty for ordinary toast, so I serve it on crackers with blue cheese. Very chi-chi and delicious.
While the gathering side of my genetic makeup is strong, I am not much of a hunter. But who needs to hunt when you have a friend like Jeff, a woodworking buddy of my husband’s.
One day there was a knock at the door, and there stood Jeff with a box of frozen moose and two grouse breasts, cut and wrapped.
Not sure how to cook them, I delved into my stack of Saveur magazines. I found a Cuban recipe for quail and beans, and a Portuguese dish of beef and Moroccan spices. Both were perfect, proving that even wild Saskatchewan foods are right at home in world cuisine.
The other night, we had Jeff and Susan for dinner with their three children and Jason, another woodworking friend. I served the moose, and for dessert, ice cream with Saskatchewan cherries.
Since April, I have been eating almost exclusively Saskatchewan foods in my own home and it’s going great – with a little help from Mother Nature and from my friends.
(The recipe for Portuguese moose "sopas" is at 4 Nov 2005)
GROUSE AND BEAN STEW
I think this stew might be nice with chicken, though I haven’t tried it yet.
Marinade
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp vegetable oil
juice of one lime
Stew
1/2 lb. dried Saskatchewan pinto (or other) beans
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/21 tsp. cumin
oil
2 grouse breasts
1 onion, chopped in half
handful of chives, chopped
4 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
handful cilantro, chopped
leaves from one sprig of oregano, chopped
pepper
The day before: Put the beans in a large bowl, cover with 6 cups of water, and leave it to soak overnight. Make marinade: crush the garlic cloves with the salt in a mortar and pestle until they form a smooth paste. Stir in the cumin, vegetable oil and lime juice. Mix this with the meat in a large bowl or a ziplock bag and marinate overnight.
The day of: Put the beans and soaking water into a large pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add half the onion, cover and boil. Lower heat and simmer until the beans are soft, about 1.5 hours. When they are cooked, remove and discard the onion.
Take one cup of beans and mash them with a fork until they are quite smooth. Put this back into the pot of beans.
In another pan: Take the meat out of the marinade. Heat some oil in a frying pan and brown the meat on both sides. Remove. In the same pan, lower the heat and add 2 cloves of chopped garlic, the other half of onion (chopped), and the chives. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, cilantro, oregano and cumin. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook this down until it forms a paste, 7-10 minutes.
Put everything, including the marinade, into the bean pot. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F until the meat is cooked through. (About an hour.)
Summer just wouldn’t be summer if I didn’t get out and forage for saskatoon berries. Last summer, I learned to forage for chanterelle mushrooms in the forest near La Ronge. So, I couldn’t pass up an invitation to forage for wild rose petals in the Nisbet Forest. Everyone knows that rose hips make a nutritious tea, but I didn’t know you could eat the flowers, too.
Marie Symes-Grehan lives in a log cabin where she has perfected the technique for making rose petal jam. The petals are suspended ever so delicately in pink that it looks almost too good to eat. We set out in the morning after the dew was gone, down a sandy road through the forest where the wild roses grow abundantly in the roadsides.
"The scent of roses is so intoxicating, I believe it really does affect your well being," says Marie. "It’s like prairie Zen."
After we collect the petals in cotton sacks, we sort them and sift out the stamens. Wearing a big hair net, Marie boils up some water and organic sugar, adding the petals at just the right moment. Then into the jars. She sells her wild jams and syrups under the label Lily Plain Summer, which are especially popular at the Granville Island Market in Vancouver. The jam is too pretty for ordinary toast, so I serve it on crackers with blue cheese. Very chi-chi and delicious.
While the gathering side of my genetic makeup is strong, I am not much of a hunter. But who needs to hunt when you have a friend like Jeff, a woodworking buddy of my husband’s.
One day there was a knock at the door, and there stood Jeff with a box of frozen moose and two grouse breasts, cut and wrapped.
Not sure how to cook them, I delved into my stack of Saveur magazines. I found a Cuban recipe for quail and beans, and a Portuguese dish of beef and Moroccan spices. Both were perfect, proving that even wild Saskatchewan foods are right at home in world cuisine.
The other night, we had Jeff and Susan for dinner with their three children and Jason, another woodworking friend. I served the moose, and for dessert, ice cream with Saskatchewan cherries.
Since April, I have been eating almost exclusively Saskatchewan foods in my own home and it’s going great – with a little help from Mother Nature and from my friends.
(The recipe for Portuguese moose "sopas" is at 4 Nov 2005)
GROUSE AND BEAN STEW
I think this stew might be nice with chicken, though I haven’t tried it yet.
Marinade
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp vegetable oil
juice of one lime
Stew
1/2 lb. dried Saskatchewan pinto (or other) beans
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/21 tsp. cumin
oil
2 grouse breasts
1 onion, chopped in half
handful of chives, chopped
4 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
handful cilantro, chopped
leaves from one sprig of oregano, chopped
pepper
The day before: Put the beans in a large bowl, cover with 6 cups of water, and leave it to soak overnight. Make marinade: crush the garlic cloves with the salt in a mortar and pestle until they form a smooth paste. Stir in the cumin, vegetable oil and lime juice. Mix this with the meat in a large bowl or a ziplock bag and marinate overnight.
The day of: Put the beans and soaking water into a large pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add half the onion, cover and boil. Lower heat and simmer until the beans are soft, about 1.5 hours. When they are cooked, remove and discard the onion.
Take one cup of beans and mash them with a fork until they are quite smooth. Put this back into the pot of beans.
In another pan: Take the meat out of the marinade. Heat some oil in a frying pan and brown the meat on both sides. Remove. In the same pan, lower the heat and add 2 cloves of chopped garlic, the other half of onion (chopped), and the chives. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, cilantro, oregano and cumin. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook this down until it forms a paste, 7-10 minutes.
Put everything, including the marinade, into the bean pot. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F until the meat is cooked through. (About an hour.)
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