Give Me a G…. Give me an R…
 | Author:
Eileen Clark, Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Give Me a G…. Give me an R…
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
It seems like grilling weather — comfortable grilling weather, that is — will never get here. But the osprey nest on Highway 12, near the Silos, is now occupied. A pair has settled in and, with that, spring cannot be far behind. This week, I’m scrubbing winter from my grill, checking my propane tank and doing a test fire. If all is A-OK, the next step is the marinade. This is one of my favorite grilled recipes because it’s essentially a one-pot meal.
Those red sweet peppers in the photo? Cut 1 full-sized pepper in half lengthwise, then across, so you have four mini cups. Divide 1 cup salsa and 4 ounces grated Monterey Jack cheese among the pepper bowls, and grill, starting them 10 to 15 minutes before the kabobs and cooking until the pepper looks charred on the bottom and the cheese has melted. For those who don’t cotton to over-the-top, super-sweet barbecue sauces, this sweet and tart mustard sauce makes a vibrant statement.
Old World Marinated Venison and Potato Kabobs
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
1 pound venison, cut into 2-inch chunks
1/4 cup malt vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons prepared Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 pound new potatoes
1 red onion, sliced thick
4 slices bacon
Preparation
1. Trim the steak chunks, and wrap with a double layer of paper towels. If the steaks are drippy, as they often are when frozen and then thawed, give them a gentle squeeze with those paper towels, too. You don’t want the flavor of the marinade diluted by meat juices.
2. In a re-sealable plastic bag combine the vinegar, sugar, mustard, oil, and pepper. Add the meat, seal, and refrigerate 24 to 48 hours.
Cooking
1. Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. About 450F. With charcoal, start the coals, and spread them out when they’re pretty ashy. To test the heat, carefully wave your palm about 3” over the grilling surface. If you can hold it still, for about 4-5 seconds without pain, blistering or otherwise abusing yourself, that’s about 450F. Adjust the bottom and top vents of the grill to raise or lower the temperature: closing the vents lowers the heat, opening them raises it. (Adjust a little at a time.)
2. Microwave the potatoes on high for about 2 minutes, or until just fork tender, but still firm enough to be able to put on the skewer. Remove the meat from the marinade and arrange on the skewers, alternating with the potatoes and onion slices and threading the bacon along the skewer as you add ingredients. Fold and skewer the ends of the bacon slices to keep them anchored.
3. Cook about 2 minutes a side, until the bacon is browned all over, turning four times. Remove from the skewers and serve hot, with more mustard. (Use the same mustard in the marinade or honey mustard, smoked mustard, horseradish mustard, whatever.) Heck, put them all out on the table and put a dab here and a dab there.
****New potatoes are the golf-ball-sized, first-picked potatoes. You can cut up mature potatoes for these kabobs, but new potatoes don’t need any prep work.
From *Slice of the Wild: 100 venison recipes*, just one of Eileen’s wild game cookbooks. PS: her husband’s a long-time writer for *Rifle* and *Handloader* magazines, a current rifle columnist for *Sports Afield*, who’s written several handloading/rifle troubleshooting books available all at https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273.
Eileen Clarke
https://www.riflesandrecipes.com
406-521-0273
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