Tomfoolery and Trickery in the Kitchen

We had company over for dinner!  What's the big deal you say?  Well, typically we have Pig Pen's Posse once or twice a week.  So to have company over from across the river, as in 'my side', it doesn't happen often enough!  Phyllis and Coil are long time friends and we were delighted to have an evening with them and their Grandson, Richard.

I spent the entire day, cooking, cleaning and in general running around like a chicken.  I don't clean for Pig Pen's Posse since they are "perps" in the messy house anyway!  Now I had told my friends that I would reach in the freezer and grab out a roast.  Would it be beef?  Would it be venison?  One never knows....and never would!  I'd place $$$$$ on it!

Here's the trickery:

Venison Roast(s)
4 Carrots
3 Celery Stalks
1 Medium Onion
4 Garlic Cloves
Beef Broth
Red Wine
Seasonings:  S&P, Granulated Garlic, Lemon Pepper, Parsley, Marjoram, Tarragon, Thyme
2 T Flour +/-

Cut into large chunks, the carrots, celery stalks and medium onion.  Peel the garlic and leave whole.  I ended up with about 8 cups of veggies for two small roasts.  Adjust yours accordingly and to your own tastes.  There is no right or wrong amount.

Start by cutting your roast into thick slices.

Then take your aggression out by pounding it flat with a meat mallet.  Cover with parchment or wax paper and beat them to within 1/4".  Now, season with Granulated Garlic, Lemon Pepper, lightly salt and pepper. 

Once seasoned, I hit them with the tenderizer.  In my little head it beats the seasonings in.  No point in the paper at this point, just let it fly!  Give them a flip, re-season and tenderize again.  Cut into large, pieces before throwing into the pot.

For this job, I like to use my enamel cast iron dutch oven.  It can go from stove top to oven with a lid.

Heat your oil of choice and then drop in the meat and veggies.

The water from the veggies will be your liquid.  It takes a few minutes for this to 'come out', but not to worry.  Stir occasionally for even browning.

Once you see the liquid coming to, you can now sprinkle your flour in.  Disperse evenly.  This is when I like to add my Parsley, Marjoram, Tarragon and Thyme -make it pretty.  Continue to cook.

You should start seeing some browning.  Check the bottom of the pan, you should see it start to stick but not burn.  

Now you are ready to start de-glazing.  Add about 1/4 C. of beef broth and work up those bits off the bottom of the pan.   Cook down again.  Keep checking the bottom of the pan and repeat the de-glazing several times until you have used about 2 cups of broth more or less.

For the final deglazing, you may now add 1 1/2 to 2 C. of whatever red wine you have on hand.  Tomfoolery may begin at this point...

Place the lid on and put the entire dish in a 250 degree oven.  I simmered mine for 6 hours and checked it only after about 4.  Here is the 4 hour check:

After about 6, it cooked down to this:

Now, I don't know what to call this actually.  Is it stew?  Is it slop?  How about stew-slop?  Regardless, you can fool the most discriminating meat snobs with this one...I guarantee it!

The nice part about this meal, it's very hearty and goes a long way when served with say...fresh bread and homemade apple pie!

Don't forget a healthy accompaniment of your garden veggies from the summer!  We had hillbilly green beans (beans, bacon, onion), mashed potatoes and corn. 

It was delish!

The Tomfoolery was all about enjoying each other, picking on the young'ens and of course, forgetting to take pictures because you were too busy just having a good ole time and catching up!  We don't see Phyllis and Coil as much as we should which is a shame because they are kindred spirits!  I am looking forward to regular intervals of horsing around with them, talking Chickens and Gardening.  We made a vow we would get better at this!  And we dooooo love to eat!