Venison Chorizo

Mexican Chorizo Sausage is a wonderful thing!   The flavors of chili, oregano and garlic, a hint of acidity that compliments your breakfast eggs and it’s so versatile too.  I’ve used chorizo with shrimp, chicken, potatoes and eggs.  I’ve served it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it never disappoints. As you know my freezer is stoked with wild game, some of which isn’t cut out for BBQ or stew.  When you bring home the deer it’s not all prime cuts, you know.  So what do you do with that round steak that really isn’t so fun to chew on?  I make sausage.  In this case, Chorizo Sausage.   So this morning I got busy and turned some out using the following recipe.  We enjoyed it fried up in the pan and scrambled some eggs into it.  I sauteed some mushrooms and bell peppers on the side and served it with flour tortillas and hot tea topped off the morning.

ingredients:

• 1 lb ground venison (any lean ground meat will do)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 Tablespoons chili powder
• 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano ( I used menudo seasoning)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced fine
• 2 Tablespoons vinegar

method:

Mix all ingredients in a food processor to bring the meat into a finer grind (not too fine) and allow all the spices to blend well.   Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.   There are so many uses for Chorizo and easy recipes too!  Like Shrimp and Chorizo in terra cotta on the BBQ for an appetizer, or Chorizo and egg burritos for breakfast.  Use the sausage in your tacos instead of ground beef, YUM! Leave me a comment and tell me how you like your Chorizo?

 

  Ecclesiastes 3:13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

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Fresh Homemade Flour Tortillas

My family loves homemade flour tortillas!  I don’t make them often but when I do we can eat a couple of dozen in a day or two.  They’re great with breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack and you can stuff just about anything in them.  We like ’em hot with peanut butter and we like ’em traditional burrito style, stuffed with beans, rice, meat, cheese and salsa.  

I learned how to make flour tortillas from my mother-in-law, Virginia.  She was a great cook and taught me how to relax in the kitchen and not be so uptight about mixing and measuring when it comes to casual and ethnic style foods.  

I remember the first time I watched her make tortillas.  She never measured a thing… just thew it all together and ta da! tortillas that were perfect.  She had been making them since she was a little girl and had perfected her skill and style.  

I still have to measure everything if I want them to turn out as good as hers.  🙂  I do hope you try making these someday.  They’re great in a pinch, when you don’t have any bread for sandwiches.  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

4 c. flour 
1 tbs. salt 
1 1/2 tbs baking powder 
1/2 c oil 
1 1/4 c warm water, +/- just to bring the dough togther

Method:

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl or food processor

Cut oil in with a pastry cutter or pulse in the food processor just till crumbly

Add warm water a little at a time being careful not to handle the dough too much.

DON’T KNEAD!

Once the dough comes together, divide into 24 balls.

With a rolling pin, roll on lightly floured board and cook on a dry skillet on both sides just until slightly browned on both sides and bubbles rise up in the tortilla.

Use a clean kitchen towel to ‘nest’ the tortillas in until you have completed cooking all the tortillas.  Keeping them covered will prevent them from becoming dried out while they are awaiting their delivery to the dining table.

Store in a zip lock bag after completely cooled. (Flour Tortillas will ‘sweat’ and stick together.  Avoid this by sorting/separating them part of the way through the cooling processes and again before storing.)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Servings: makes about 2 doz 8 inch tortillas.

 

Proverbs 25:21-22 If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee. 

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Chili in August

A few days ago my oldest daughter and friend came by for dinner.  She had called me earlier in the month saying she was craving my chili so we decided it would be nice, even in the heat of August, to cook up a batch.  So I put a pot on using ground venison in place of hamburger.  Yummy!

Ingredients:

2 14.5oz cans mexican style stewed tomatos

1 lrg./32oz can pinto beans

1 15oz can black beans

1 15oz can kidney beans

• (or cook up a batch-o-beans from scratch if you like)

1 lb. hamburger (or ground meat of your choice- I like wild game)

1 yellow onion diced small

2-4 tbls chili powder (to taste)

1 tbls cumin (to taste)

salt and pepper to taste

 

Optional:

substitute 1 Lawry’s chili seasoning package in place of seasonings and ease up on the salt

sauté chopped celery and/or 1 green bell pepper chopped with the onion.

 

Method:

1. brown the hamburger in a large heavey dutch oven (be careful not to over-cook and dry out the meat)
2. add onion just to carmelize slightly.
3. blend the mexican stewed tomatos quickly in a food processor. (looks like salsa)
4. add tomatoes, beans, and seasonings.
5. bring to a slow boil, stir occasionally so as not to scorch on the bottom of the pan.
6. reduce to simmer and cook for 20 min. to incorporate flavors.  
7. taste test for salt and pepper.
8. serve with cornbread or tortillas.

enjoy!

Proverbs 23:1  When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you;

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