Shepard's Pie (Venison Style)
Just a little read before we get to the recipe.
Hubby tried as he might to get a deer for the freezer this year, came up empty handed, but not without a few encounters with the Conservation Police. That's another story, one he's not ready to share. haha.
We are very lucky to have people care about us. We, we're given a skinned, dressed and hung deer by a friend. What a blessing! Helped with the conservation thing. Hubby worked with the deer, cutting the meat from the bone, grinding it for use, seasoning it for cooking. Even smoked a few sausages.
I really like Shepard's pie, and wanted to make some for a meal, wondered what it would taste like with the venison. This is what I come up with after all the online recipes I viewed.
Here's what I did:
1/4 cup bacon grease
1 small onion, chopped
2 pounds venison, ground with beef suet
Melted the grease in a 2 quart pan, added chopped onion, cooked til tender, added the venison.
While that's cooking:
Peel and quarter about 4 medium potatoes, bring to a boil in a small saucepan, cook until soft.
When potatoes are soft remove from the heat and drain. Prepare potatoes as you would for mashed potatoes. Cover with a lid and set back on stove to keep warm, until you need them to finish the dish.
While potatoes are cooking, continue to crumble the cooking venison, to resemble sloppy joe mixture.
When the venison has fully cooked, add about 1 cup frozen carrots, and 1 cup frozen peas, to the cooking venison, heated thoroughly.
Drain meat mixture, add 1 dry package of brown gravy mix to the hot mixture, after it is all combined, add 3/4 cup water, stirring to combine. Put the mixture back on the stove and heat, just enough to stiffen the mixture.
I used a 1 - 1/2 quart glass baking dish, use what ever you like. Place the meat, carrots and peas mixture in the baking dish and cover with mashed potato mixture.
Place in 350* oven until it begin to bubble, about 45 minutes.
Add shredded cheese to top, place back in the oven until cheese is melted.
In the words of, Miss Kay Robertson, (Duck Dynasty on A&E)
"eating squirrel brains will make you smart."
til next time,
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