Sorry Bambi But Your Meat Is Just So Good

Its been a long time, too long, since I have last posted. I was going to post about my Thanksgiving Dinner but I figured it was to easy to talk about it. Then I was going to talk about my Christmas Eve dinner that I cooked but I didn't. I also could have blogged about the Christmas Day Dinner but I got lazy. I have cooked some great meals and some not so great meals. I was going to blame it on being busy with work and life, but the truth is I have been too lazy to blog. One of my many New Year's Resolutions is to blog more.

To ring in the New Year, Noel and I went and visited our friends Erik and Sami J on Martha's Vineyard. Two of the best people I have ever met. We had a few great meals, drank good wine and beer, and watched some great fireworks. Erik is the ultimate outdoors man!! One day when he got home he noticed a deer in his backyard. He grabbed his bow and got the doe. How bad ass is that?! I bribed Erik with a few bottles of wine and he sent me home with a few venison steaks and a roast. They had a great cookbook on how to cook venison, and I found a few great recipes, so I couldn't wait to get home and try them out.

Tonight's recipe is Saffroned Venison and Beans from The Complete Venison Cookbook. Sounds easy enough, and I love using Saffron. All you need is a cup Navy Beans (these are called Navy Beans not after their color but because they were a staple in U.S. Navy cooking. I was looking for 20 minutes before reading labels), a  pound of venison cut into cubes, bacon fat (venison is very lean meat and bacon fat helps. Its easy to cook up some bacon for the fat), three tomatoes quartered, small onion sliced thin, can of corn, bell pepper quartered, 1/8 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp saffron, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1/2 cup dry white wine and two tsp salt.

You need to first cook the beans. This is easy, but takes a long time. First, make sure to rinse the beans. Then put them in a saucepan and add enough water to cover the beans. Bring them to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer for two hours. Add the salt and cook for another hour. As the beans are finishing, take a few strips of bacon over medium/low heat in a skillet. Render the fat off the bacon (this is my favor part...eat the bacon). Brown the venison. Add the tomatoes, onion, salt, pepper, saffron, brown sugar and wine. Let simmer until the meat is tender. Drain the beans and add them with the bell pepper and corn to the venison and cook until the bell pepper is tender.

The meal came out well. The beans could have cooked a little longer, I could have used smaller, riper tomatoes and, had I known it would come out more like a stew, I would have cut the bacon up and added it to the mix. But for the first venison meal I've made in more than 10 years it came out better than expected. I can't wait to make the other cuts of venison I have.

So what do you drink with venison? Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, Chianti, Gigondas (or anything from The Rhone Valley), Syrah- the choices are endless. Venison has a great gamy taste that goes really well with many big, bold, bad-ass wines. If I had a Cab Franc in my cellar right now, I would have opened that. But, sad monkey, I didn't have one. So I opened my BOOM BOOM Syrah. This Columbia Valley Syrah comes from one of my favorite wine makers, Charles Smith.This wine is perfect Washington wine. Bright, fresh and smooth. Full Bodied, dark meaty fruit with a touch of spice and sweet tobacco. 

The Love of Shucking and Wine

Noel and I had a great weekend on Martha's Vineyard visiting our friends Sami J and Erik. They live year round on the island so all we have to do is get our asses to the island and we have, not only have a place to stay, but awesome tour guides to shuttle us around the island. Sami is a great garden artist on the island. She has many famous and rich clients that depend on her to make their million dollar homes look even more outstanding. Erik is an all around outdoorsman. He runs a very cool and very successful kayak tour on the island, Martha's Vineyard Eco Adventure. If you are ever on the island make sure to take a tour, he grew up on the island and knows it like the back of his hand.

The first night after dinner and a few bottles of wine we went down Lambert's Cove it's a bioluminescence beach. As we played in the water, we made the ocean glitter in color. It was so magical!! Saturday we went to State Beach, but the most amazing thunderstorm rolled over us and we had to vacate the beach bumming for a few hours. When we did get back to the ocean we went to a small beach near their house. It was very picturesque beach in the harbor over looking the Cape. After a little sun bathing, I went out and braved the cold Atlantic water. Later on that night we made it to a local food truck, the Artcliff Diner. This when I realized how cool and hip Martha's Vineyard really is. I had a lobster taco that was pretty good, the pig sandwich I also got was outstanding. After a fierce round of Apples to Apples (I didn't win, didn't even come close), we ended the night at Backdoor Donuts. They make an apple fritter that men would kill over!! You can smell this place blocks away. They open at 730pm, that's right-  they open at night and they sell out of the backdoor of Martha's Vineyard Gourmet Cafe and Bakery. They make the donuts and fritters fresh, always making sure they are available for the hungry fans, until they close at midnight. There is always a batch in the oven, so they come out warm, and just melt in your mouth. These people have something here, open a bakery late at night, make warm, fresh, donuts for all the drunks and late night munchers of the world, just genius. This place is a must go to next time you are on the island. The last day we spent hanging around Oak Bluffs shopping, having lunch and going to the arcade. Noel bought some really good fudge from Murdicks and I got a really cool clay whistle made in Peru made in the shape of an owl. To avoid traffic going home, Noel and I decided to set the GPS to avoid highways and went back roads home to have one more adventure on our perfect weekend.  

Sami J is a huge foodie and a wonderful chef. She made us mussels in coconut milk that would knock your socks off. We also had Cherrystones, for those of you that don't know your raw bar menu, Cherrystones are a type of clam that are delightful raw. They are have light salty flavor and the meat is a bit sweet and chewy. On the island clams are cheap, about $3 a pound, and Sami J knows how to shuck them! She even taught me!! Saturday on our way back to Sam's house during the thunder storm I decided I wanted more clams. There was so much traffic, Sami left her windows open and we really didn't have time to stop, but as I said traffic was real bad. I jumped out of the car ran in ordered clams, when I went to pay I realize my wallet was in the car, so I had to run after the car to grab money, run back to pay for the clams and get back to the car all before they hit the stop sign (Sami did pull over but only for a minute or two). It was a great Chinese fire drill style move and I was able to buy 18 more clams. As soon as we got back I couldn't wait to open all of them. I got pretty good at it!!

Holding a clam in your hand with the point of the shell facing away from you use a pairing knife, find the edge of the two shells and lightly force the knife in the clam (making sure not to cut yourself) and pull it straight across the two sides until you have cut the mussels and opened the shell. Then cut around making sure get up all the claim, squeeze  lemon or a lime in with the meat and enjoy.

For the wine the first night I made sure to bring us a bottle of Durenburg L&T Gruner Veltliner. The L&T stand for light and dry. This wine is great wine for a hot summer night and shell fish dinner. Very crisp with citrus and light apple fruit flavor, this wine is very food friendly and can pair well with a lot of the foods that are difficult to pair wine with, like asparagus and artichokes. It was a perfect pick for Cherrystones and mussels dinner. Gruner Veltliner is the most widely grown grape in Austria. Slowly over the years the quality of this wine really began to shine. It keeps on with my whole drink something different. Gruner Veltliner is the next Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. This wine will make everyone happy, from the old ladys that need their glass of Pinot Grigio ever night, to the real wine lover.

Sami J and Erik thank you for the great weekend! I can't wait to make lavender chicken with some of the lavender you gave us! Noel and I were talking on the boat ride back to the main land and next we want to take the last boat out of town and cook you two a nice Sunday night meal!! And Chef Timmy don't think bacon pesto won't be on the menu, it's my new signature dish!!