Blog Archives

Venison Dinner 1

11/30/2011

We love venison and we eat it all the time. Tonight's dinner is still stuck in my teeth. I had to share - and there will probably be others - this is a typical meal at our house...
Tonight I harvested the tomatoes from the ripening basket, onions from the garden, parsley from the greenhouse and the sprouts from my kitchen counter. I wanted to get a picture but it was gone too fast. Luckily there is some leftover salad.
Enjoy!

The Menu:
Venison Tips
Brown Rice
Sautee'd Mushrooms and Onions
Cold Orzo Salad
Banana Bread

Several Hunks of Venison - left in the fridge for 3-5 days to tenderize. (We leave our steak meat in perfect uncut hunks - to be cut as we need them.)
Slice into strips, chunks or small steaks.
Place in a stainless steel bowl.
The Marinade:
Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar
Tamari
2 dashes Hot Sauce
Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Whip it up - pour it over venison and toss.
Refrigerate.

Prepare Brown Rice
Measure 2 cups brown rice - add to saucepan with a tight fitting lid.
Add water to rinse - use a sieve to drain.
Measure double the water plus a little.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to simmer, cover.
Don't touch for 45 minutes or so.
Serve with Liquid Aminos

Prepare Orzo
Bring a Med. panful of water to a boil.
Add entire bag of Orzo - 16 oz. - boil until tender, drain.
Cool with running water, drain.
Add to a large stainless steel bowl.
Add to that:
5 small green onions, minced
4 cloves minced garlic
5 sprigs of parsley, chopped
6-8 smallish tomatoes, quartered
2 apples, chopped
1 or 2 large carrots, washed and peeled with the peeler - into curly strips
1 pan mixed alfalfa-based sprouts
1 pan mung bean sprouts
Make a vinaigrette:
Olive Oil
White Wine Vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
2 squeezes Dijon Mustard
garlic powder
salt
cracked pepper
soft goat cheese - whipped in.
Add to salad - toss.

Prepare 2 Cast Iron Pans
Add Grape Seed Oil to a large Cast iron pan and heat.
Add Grape Seed Oil to a med. Cast Iron pan and heat.

Mushrooms and Onions
1 container of mushrooms - any kind, cleaned and chopped
1 large onion - roughly chopped
Add onion to hot pan and lightly toss in oil.
When the onion starts sweating, add the mushrooms and continue.
Add a wad of butter right at the end - toss.

Add Venison and Marinade to large cast iron pan - spread it out to sear.
Leave it be.
(Go back to chopping for the salad.)
With a hot pan, sear the crap out of that venison - these niblets love to have crispy tips. Wait until you can't stand it to flip them.
Turn the pans off when the venison is quite seared and the mushroom mixture is caramelized.
Call the boys. Get Cord from the shop.
Make Wulfgar a plate.
See you next time. (Better go get started on that Banana Bread...)

Orzo Salad - what's left.

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Rabbit Soup

11/26/2011

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After the first attack - the leftovers!

Okay - I am way behind on recipes - this one happened right before Thanksgiving and it was a dandy. Cord and Beau have been talking about cooking up a mess of rabbit for so long they had it all figured out in advance.
First let me say that we have deer fence for our gardens but we share with the little critters unless the little critters start taking more than their fair share. Some years the rabbit population is too many - perhaps the neighbors are shooting coyotes - who keep things balanced, or perhaps it was a mild winter so the populations soar. It is then that we try to simply decrease their numbers - no annihilation - just manage their numbers. We get a small game license - it's crazy how many critters you can legally kill with no license - but since bunnies are considered food - we need one and occasionally a bunny goes into a ziploc bag in the freezer. Beau has often been my bunny provider - he is a crack shot and takes care of all of it - the dressing out, the skinning, the cleaning. He washes them, freezer bags them, labels and dates them and into the freezer they go. He says proudly, "I made meat Ma!" which we love to say - an old mountain man term.
So - when we got 5 deer this year we needed room in the deep freeze. "Let's cook up some rabbits Dad!", Beau yelled, and so they did. Out came the 20 qt. stock pot and into it went cold water and 7 frozen rabbits. They began to thaw.
Here's the very large recipe for:
Rabbit Soup
7 rabbits
water to cover
1 whole onion - in quarters or whatever.
1 whole Garlic Head
1 Tbsp Whole Peppercorns
1 Tbsp Crushed Fennel Seed
3/4 Tsp Crushed Caraway Seed
2 -3 Bay Leaves
Rubbed Sage
A Little Salt
Boil for a good spell - until the rabbit is fully cooked and easy to pull off the bone.
Let cool enough to handle.
Remove the rabbits and strain the broth to remove above ingredients.
De-bone the rabbits - add the meat back in and bring to a boil.
Add Roux - (brown 1 stick of butter with a couple of handfuls of flour into a paste).
1 Handful of Seasoning Bacon (the kind in chunks).
5 potatoes - diced small - cook until el dente - then add:
Carrots - chopped
Celery + Leaves - chopped
Mushrooms - roughly chopped
Salt
Sage
Italian Seasoning.
Boil again for 10-15 minutes.
Add Kluski noodles - boil for around 15 minutes or until noodles are tender.
Serve with Tearable Bread (Bread you can tear.)
Freak out!!!
So good - so crazy good - so rich - so scrumptious we almost hurt ourselves.

So pretty I had to take a pic!

Obviously you can reduce this recipe to the amount of rabbits you have but we usually cook in a big way. As Thanksgiving approached we jarred the leftovers in Mason Jars 3/4's full, labeled and dated them and put them in the freezer. They are in single servings this way for the guys to have an easy lunch or snack.
Also - we called it soup because it was quite brothy - perfect for dunking bread. Of course - over time - it became a stew.
Enjoy! - Coming next - my mother's famous Venison Stroganoff recipe!

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Harvesting Carrot Seed

11/12/2011

1 Comment

The Kinko 6" is ready for gardens worldwide! I am working on threshing it today - my first time. So of course I called Steve Peters - famous carrot man - he was Production Manager for Seeds of Change before they ran away to California. He is now in charge of the Family Farmers Cooperative.
Some seed is more developed than others. Some blooms further along than others so as I cut them I got better and better at making sure only mature seed was included. Steve says even if there is some underdeveloped seed in the bottom of the tub when I'm done, it's light enough to be winnowed out.
This is special seed to us, not only because we've grown it and loved it for so many years but right when we began to learn about seed saving, Kinko went off the market - no seed - no growers. Well, I had seed! I sent some back to Bill McDorman of Seeds Trust to send to his grower and then whipped out a bag of perfect roots from the fridge - we intended to eat them when we left for Seed School. When we came back, we held them until the ground thawed - March 14th and planted 117 roots in for seed! It took all spring, summer and fall and now my tiny living room has tubs of seed heads waiting for me.

The other seed in the above pic is a native Aster - I was very careful removing the carrot tops and left the Aster behind.
It was a day before a storm - again the pressure to beat the snow was with me - storms sure help me get things done!

Into the kitchen it comes - check out this pic - you can see loose seed in the bowl - but you can also see how much seed comes on one flower head - amazing! Such abundance! Genetic vigor has been addressed - if you save seed from only one carrot root - you have the genetic vigor of one carrot. When the bees and bugs fly from plant to plant, mixing the genetics of each root - and then all of the seed is mixed together - genetic vigor remains. Carrots are famous for inbreeding depression - losing their vigor - so we were thrilled to have over 100 plants to work with. Hopefully the Native Seed/SEARCH will be pleased with our efforts as well.

I can't stop staring at them. And photographing them. Soon I will be boxing them up and shipping them off into the hands of famous seed gurus. Wow - it's been fun. Especially after such a poor year for us in the gardens - this carrot seed was the highlight of my harvest for sure. It's a lot of food my hand is holding - from one bloom!
Be sure to look at past blogs to see us planting in the roots, admiring the flowers and now - bringing in the seed.
I hope you enjoy seeing this process - nature rocks!!!

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Deer Meat Schmeer Meat

11/9/2011

7 Comments

I've been held captive by the deer meat. We process our own meat and we were blessed with 5 deer this year - the most we've ever gotten. My brother was here from Alaska, Beau was fierce on the hunt and the bucks were on our land again. Max, Cord, Beau, me and Michael all filled our tags - all off of our land. I couldn't believe our good fortune.
But then the fun begins. Everybody is willing to hunt, shoot, dress out, skin, even part out - but the butchering - the real, all the way down to perfect meat butchering - nobody wants to do - especially me.
But we do - I do, they do, my friend does, the boys' friends do - until I am begging for relief. I am only writing now because Cord and Beau are going to finish the very last bits tonight. They are preparing as we speak. The picture above is how a pile of meat arrives in the kitchen. This happens to be neck meat - what I call 'less desirable' - or "grinder" - that's what would be on the package. This buck was big and in the rut so his neck was enlarged. It's riddled with tendon and sinew which does not make for yummy steaks.

Here's what it looks like taken off the carcass - covered in fasciae - another undesirable part of the meat. So I clean it off - it's very handy to have a blacksmith for a husband - he forged these knives for us, they are the sharpest you've ever seen and they fit our hands just so. It makes for swift work - when you can get us to our stations!

Although this is grinder (hamburger) meat - I have still cleaned as much 'white' off as possible. Cord and I believe trimming as much away as possible makes for milder, sweeter meat. The 'gamey' taste people talk about with venison comes from leaving bone on or sinew, tendon and fasciae - which taints the meat. This is why we do this chore ourselves and don't send it to a processor.

To prep for packaging, I cut this huge neck piece into pieces. This will be frozen as is, then brought out for hamburger or sausage and ground on the spot.

Packaging begins with freezer paper, tape and a Sharpie. We always use great descriptions on our packages because sometimes when a piece of meat is perfectly lean, red and, well, just perfect, I describe it on the package - I want to know what's in there.
We label the packages with "V" for venison, the year, 2011 and a brief description - like - 1 Large Hunk - Beautiful!, or, 3 Sm. Perfect Hunks - Lovely, or even, 1 perfect hunk, one not - stuff like that.
This happens to be my brother Michael's buck so I labeled that too.

Ready for the freezer! Three large neck pieces - I see sausage in it's future - yum! All that's left is taking it outside to the bear-proofed deep freeze.
We await the test results for CWD - Chronic Wasting Disease - something we do every year. If it comes back positive, it's doubtful we'll eat the meat but if not - we will feast - recipes to follow. Right now - I need a break - we had pork chops tonight.
I just made plans to eat venison with my mother for Thanksgiving - a perfect menu. I will prepare my mother's famous Venison Stroganoff with all the trimmings.

Full freezer - not organized - just dumped in - but ready to feed the masses.

Great news! While I was writing the guys finished the VERY LAST OF THE MEAT!!!! We are done! Yippee - "We made meat Ma!" Thank you Mother Earth for the glorious bounty from our land.

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Free Food

11/6/2011

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1st year Beetberry.

I love free food. It's everywhere in my garden. The other day I walked around my garden and took pictures of it. Free food is any food that comes back, keeps on a-comin' or otherwise surprises us with it's abundance and ability to survive.
Biennials are wild and free - some people like this - some people don't, but no matter whether the free food is a perennial, an annual or a biennial, it's still food.
The free part means these plants either eaily and readily reseed, multiply by runners, crowns or rhizomes, basically they just keep on multiplying - something a plant does well.
Beetberry - aka Strawberry Spinach or Chenopodium capitata, a favorite biennial of mine and pictured above. The leaves are delicious in the spring as a first year rosette and continue to be all year. Next year they will bolt - sending up a tall stalk with bright red berries clinging to the stem - yummy! They are sweet and juicy and seedy. If you leave some behind when you are sweetening your oatmeal they will reseed for sure. The whole berry dries on the stalk and drops when ready. Flash flooding delivers the seed all the way down the driveway.
Another favorite freebie is Mizuna - a snappy mustard ready to grow anywhere!

Mizuna often comes to us in mesclun mixes, offering the bite in spicy mixes. Mizuna will instantly spread and even take over an entire bed if you let it. It will also sprout here there and everywhere in the cracks of the pavement it is so vigorous. It often acts like a perennial - even though it's a salad green. It blooms like crazy inviting pollinators in and they are quite fragrant too. Sometimes one blooming Mizuna completely scents my greenhouse in winter. Seed comes quickly with Mizuna - spreading along in the rain without you even realizing it. The seed is tiny but comes easily in pods like any Brassica. A little seed goes a very long way. Prolific, delicious, and ready to feed the world even in the driest conditions.My mountain is semi-arid desert and the pathways are mostly decomposed granite. The driveway is hard but still the Mizuna finds a way to take hold. I am amazed when we drive over it.

Mountain Spinach - Orach - ruby and golden.

Orach - Mountain Spinach - love it! If you've never grown Orach this is your year - try it any time - it is very forgiving and succulent no matter how you neglect it. Plump and delicious, mountain spinach grows upright - into a tall, gorgeous thing you pluck meaty leaves off of. You won't believe the amount of seed it delivers. The reds and purples are simply gorgeous but I am also a fan of the golden - it shines bright in the shade. This plant is a candidate for the outside garden and in the greenhouse, in salad mixes as well as the flower garden. The leaves are so good anytime - I'm always surprised. You can get it in a mix of colors or buy it by the color. A carefree plant - I let them traipse around the garden.

Wild Mizuna seed pods - taking over my seat!

Beetberry's drying on the stem - see the black seeds?

The place is dripping with free food and free seed - which is more free food - for years to come. Let something wild happen - when food is growing out of the driveway - it's not such a bad thing. Don't forget Arugula, Purslane, Lamb's Quarters and Johnnies will do this too - all salad greens. Enjoy the bounty!

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Author

Penn Parmenter is a high altitude gardener, seedswoman and student of the earth. She is married to Cord Parmenter - an awesome gardener, gorgeous man and a master blacksmith. Together they own and run a sustainable greenhouse design company, Smart Greenhouses LLC and Penn grows seed for her seed business, Miss Penn's Mountain Seeds. She is a mother of three sons and an outdoorswoman. Penn forages wild food, hunts big game, fishes, preserves, maintains a huge organic forest garden and occasionally makes dinner. At home you can find her in her greenhouses as well as in the wilderness - nose to the ground, butt in the air, trying to identify Colorado natives.