being reminded of the important stuff

I happen to live in a little corner of the world where people flock from around the world, the country, the state to experience it's awesomeness......and I can't blame them.  I love that others love my home as much as I do but there are days, like today, where just going to the grocery store after a day of work is crowded and exhausting and annoying and frustrating and crowded!!! 
Tonight when I braved my way home from the grocery store Steve and Chewy were MIA sssooo I called Steve to see where the heck he was and he said "we're on the beach, come join us!"  Leaving my groceries on the table I quickly threw on a pair of flip flops and headed west.

After a glorious walk on the beach soaking in the earths splendor.....the grocery story doesn't seem so bad.

sunday dinner - grilled salmon with rosemary and garlic

Hurray, Steve caught a salmon today!  It's only natural to prepare it for dinner.  This recipe was first introduced to me by my neighbor (thanks Roz).  It's super simple and super deliciouso.  There's no measurements for ingredients but don't worry, you really can't mess it up.

to start you'll need a few cloves of garlic-chopped and a handful of fresh rosemary-washed and stemmed

coarsely chop rosemary

incorporate garlic and rosemary

now together, finely chop rosemary and garlic, set aside

to prepare salmon, drizzle with olive oil

cover salmon with rosemary and garlic combo

once prepared you can set aside while preparing the rest of your dinner

Prepare for grilling-get grill nice and hot, really hot.  Once grill is ready place salmon skin side down and cook for about 4 minutes on each side depending on the size/thickness of the fish.  The trick is to cook it quick and hot and NOT to overcook it!  Yuck, dry overcooked fish.



easy dinner for a long, long, long day-pasta bolognese with bear sausage and spaghetti squash

Tonight the thought of dinner felt like an impossibly exhausting task.  Thankfully I had all the ingredients to make pasta bolognese with spaghetti squash.  I've made lots of variations with this dish using pasta-pasta, venison sausage, added veggies, etc..

pre-heat oven at 375 degrees

cut spaghetti squash in half, scoop out center, place in a shallow dish with 1" water

cook spaghetti squash for about 45 minutes to an hour or until fork tender

while the spaghetti squash is baking start preparing the sauce



once the squash is done remove from the oven and cool until easy to handle

using a fork scrape out "spaghetti"

sometimes I saute squash with butter or olive oil and season with salt and pepper before serving

yummy

I'm gonna go eat now.......

 

sunday dinner-marinated venison steak tacos

When deciding what dinner to create with our venison I'm confronted with 2 challenges.  1. the fact that it's venison and 2.  my limited "cuts" of meat.  I have a choice of elk/deer/antelope steaks (pre-cut), a few elk roasts (which I hoard like gold), ground venison burger, cube steak, and bear sausage.
I'm constantly thinking of ways to tenderize and flavor this stuff so I can marry my favorite dishes with wild game.  So tonight's dinner morphed into............. a marinated venison steak taco with summer salsa.

This recipe calls for 1 pound thawed steaks.  Place steaks in a shallow dish and season generously with Kosher salt, set aside.

Marinate:

3 cloves garlic

1/4 onion-cut in half, then cut half in half

1 cup cilantro leaves

Juice 1/2 a lime

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 tablespoon fish sauce-for some reason I love this flavor

optional 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Pulse the crap out of it in a small mixer until it becomes paste.  Spread paste over seasoned steaks and make sure each piece of meat is covered.  Cover and let marinate for a minimum of 1 hour. While that's marinating you can start making the summer salsa.

Summer Salsa:
Combine

1 ear corn husked, cooked, cut off the cobb

1 tomato diced

1/4 cup diced white onion or more if you like

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 avocado

juice of 1/2 to 1 lime

pinch or two of kosher salt
Make sure you taste and adjust seasoning as needed.



Grill each piece of meat to your liking.  Our packages of venison steaks vary in size and thickness so cooking time can also vary. Slice grilled venison against the grain into 1/4 inch strips.

After steaks are grilled throw about 10 small corn tortillas on the grill to warm up. 

Make a spread on the table so everyone can make their own taco. Serve with lime wedges or any other condiment you would like.

I would love some other ideas for a summer venison dinner.  Post your favorites on http://www.recipesfromthewild.com/

quinoa and vegetable stew with leftover salmon

Tonight I was at a loss for dinner ideas so I went to my large stack of magazines for inspiration and as I thumbed through Cooks Illustrated Light & Healthy 2012 magazine I found just the recipe, Quinoa and Vegetable Stew.  I changed it up a little by adding leftover salmon a few prawns and used chipotle instead of paprika.  It sure didn't turn out like the picture in the magazine but it tasted AWESOME

                                                      

 

 

 click on "Quinoa Recipe"

Not sure what the heck Quinoa is? 

Here's a helpful blog post,  What is Quinoa? by Skinny Chef.

my evening commute "rush hour"

This reminds me.  Does anyone have any yummy elk recipes?

Post them on

 www.recipesfromthewild.com

summer flava feat. "funky fresh" basil pesto

Pesto! Not only do I love saying Pesto! but I love it's bold fresh flavor even more.  It's so diverse and soooo easy to make.  It just so happens that I was given a basil plant for my birthday and I've already made a few batches of pesto with it's harvest WHILE keeping the thing alive!  I'm not much of a gardener........poor me:(   HA! I love that I managed to get the word "harvest" in there as if I know what I'm doing with a plant.



my little plants doing pretty good

It's growing new leaves......that's a good sign

This little buds a goner (captured moment before being chopped to bits)

Thank you little bud, you were delicious

 My pesto recipe and mixing method is not exactly how I was taught in culinary school but it comes out just the way I like it every time, so there.

Things I like to do with my pesto:

1.  Add it to a cream sauce or even tomato sauce to give it a kick of flava

2.  Make it a little thinner (thinner then photo above) by adding olive oil then, toss it in fresh cooked pasta

3.  Smother it on a fillet or steak of fish and either broil in the oven or throw on the barbie

4.  Add a spoonful to some mayo for a yummy sandwich surprise

5. Place one large spoonful in my chocolate chip cookie dough before baking......just kidding!  Just seeing if anyone is actually reading this!

            

click on the title below for my recipe

     Bethel's Basil Pesto Recipe    

a day on the river

ps: no fish were caught this day BUT I did capture some great pics!