ELK Lasagna

I started this dinner last hunting season... I shot my first elk. I have hunted deer, pigs, an alligator and birds but an elk was a dream come true for two reasons. One, for the excitement, my heart was beating so hard, ohhhhh... and two, for the meat! I love ELK MEAT! Elk meat is lean and flavorful.

Even though I live on a cattle ranch I used venison and elk meat a lot... like 90% of the time (Okay we do have an outfitting business too... Four Horse Outfitters! Let me know if you are interested) So today, I made lasagna with ground elk meat.

My meat sauce starts with browning the meat and adding seasoning... I really like flavoring the meat as if I would eat it alone! I add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic and Italian seasoning (Basil, rosemary, thyme and parsley).

I cook it long enough that all of the 'juice' is cooked off...

Chop onions, mushrooms and green pepper... and cook in oil and butter... salt and pepper!
(Matt loves olives so I add them at the end with the parsley...)

Cook it so that the onions are translucent then you can add the garlic... make sure that the peppers and mushrooms have some color... Color is FLAVOR!

Add Whole San Marzano Style Tomatoes... I have heard so much about them... they are sweeter and less acidic and they are from a small town of San Marzano sul Sarno, near Naples, Italy where the soil goes the best plants! One of these day I am taking a trip... goal? To eat and drink! ***Day Dreaming!

Now it needs to simmer... the tomatoes will break down. For a little more intense flavor I add tomato paste...

You will see how bright the color was when I added the tomatoes. As you cook it down it will be deeper in color and it picks up all of the good bits from the bottom of the pan... You can add the meat now. I add a lot because thats how the cowboys like it... also the more you cook the veggies before adding the tomatoes and simmer for a long time the less the guys see the veggies but you get all of the flavor...

*** If I made this for me I would have added red wine... My guys don't like wine in cooking so I guess I save it for another day!

And I love anything herb-y... grass-y...

In a sauce pan, add four tablespoons of butter and melt...

Add the same amount of flour as butter.... and whisk!

Salt and Pepper... whisk in milk... Just enough simmering away as it thickens. I love this roux in place of ricotta. Have you ever tried this before... It makes it stable and you can cut through it. I like it so much more than ricotta.

Okay... grab a spoon and make sure that it "grips" a spoon... you will get it.

Meanwhile... boil water and salt it for the pasta.

I think that we are ready to put this together...

Okay... If you do not know me... I have a confession!

I AM THE CHEAPEST PERSON YOU WILL EVER MEET!

BUT... get fresh good mozzarella please...

And slice it....

Sauce, noodles, sauce, white sauce, mozzarella, parmesan... again and again... top with anything left over! Kinda sounds like a dance...

Right? Right!

I am sorry... They ate it before I could take a baked finished product... OH Buckets!

Garlic bread and a nice salad! Happy Hunting! Thank you for checking in... Blog  you soon!

Clam Chowder... Comfort Food!

You know that thing that reminds you of HOME... for me it is Clam Chowder! I was born in San Luis Obispo, California and my Mother Liz and Auntie Sandy (okay and Splash Cafe) used to make this beautiful soup that screams Comfort Food to me! 

This is my take on it...

Start with bacon. I know I said that butter makes everything better... so does BACON!!! So render, or melt the bacon fat, low and don't move it too much.

Let it leave some pieces on the bottom to flavor the next level... which is potatoes... I love keeping it rustic and leave the skin on!

*NOTE: I cut the thick part of the celery in half. I cut the celery like a "rainbow" to cut through the fibers... it you run through celery the other way you might not make it through and you have a "string" machine... try to make is uniform and the same size as you potatoes and onions. One onion, three ribs of celery and three potatoes...

Drain off the bacon pieces and leave about a tablespoon of bacon grease in the pan and try to leave the bits of bacon in there... 

 

Use about 4 tablespoons on butter to flavor and coat the base layer... it will keep it creamy.

Potatoes, onions, celery...

Salt and Pepper, thyme, red pepper flakes, garlic and onion powder.

Depending on how you like your chowder... do you like it more broth-E or really thick. Today I am making it chunky and thick! I add a couple tablespoons of flour, cook it a couple minutes and then add JUST of the clam juice. 

Transfer the goods to a pot and add milk (2%) slowly and bring it to a gentle simmer. Taste... Salt? Pepper? Ohhh, garlic salt... yeah! I also added half of a can of corn. The kernel milk and kernels are sweet and a great contrast with the bacon and clams. Add that back into the mixture.

*2% milk... I could use cream or whole milk although I don't think it is necessary... use your potatoes for texture... cook it through and you don't have to use extra fat. 

Let it simmer... notice as you cook this soup the texture. I let the potatoes get disfigured, fall apart and turn into texture... the celery will turn more translucent and you won't even hardly see the onions. It is all about the texture... it will coat the spoon! (plus, with the corn)

Bubble, bubble, bubble... stir, stir, stir... gingerly and tenderly finish your creation. Don't hurry it (even if Matt is starving and says, "Come on babe... it's ready.")

NOW... and only now are we ready to add the CLAMS... and parsley. If you add them when the juice is added the clams will be tough, chewy and you will not even taste them. You loose the sea! And the fresh or grass-ness or the parsley. 

Mix, heat, plate, EAT...

Yeah... that is what I am BLOGGIN' about!

This is how Matt eats it... Saltines and Cholula Hot Sauce. (Two bowls!)  

And I add Red Chili Flakes and Sriracha...

I am missing THREE THINGS:

MY FAMILY

SOURDOUGH BREAD

and

WHITE WINE! 

Add AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!

XOXO

Biscuits and Gravy...

I am really excited to get started to write a blog...
I would like to start off by saying that LIFE IS GOOD!
I really have had a great and exciting life but these days I am so HAPPY!

I have an AMAZING best friend, Matt... AKA boyfriend. He is handsome, fun, adventurous, smart and supportive... Ahhh, and the best part he is a cowboy, hunter and a stock contractor... CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!

We live in Wyoming on his ranch and built a beautiful house last year! These days I cowboy (Ride, gather, fence, feed, etc.), help Matt raise some bucking stock, haul stock to the rodeos, hunt and COOK A LOT!

The ranch is in the North Eastern part of Wyoming and it takes a dozen ranch hand to run. And I am to ranch cook! A typical day I cook for 6-8 guys but some days the neighboring ranch hand will come to help and it will be more like 30 hungry cowboys.

Needless to say... Life has changed and it is GOOD!

Happy Saturday... Let's make some Biscuits and Gravy! (Per Matt's request)

The guys are out feeding bucking horses and bulls and some of the red angus ranch cows... and I am pulling out sausage and biscuits.

Yes... I really suck at making biscuits and canned biscuits are perfect and come in so many textures and flavors. Let give ourselves a break! Ideally, I love using local fresh sausage because it has more fat. When I use Jimmy Dean I add BuTtEr! Because butter makes everything better!

I cook the meat low and slow so that it nearly MELTS... releasing all of its fatty goodness so that we can make the gravy. When it comes to spices I change it up. Today I used some chili flakes, onion powder, dry mustard, salt and a TON of PEPPER. (I am the PEPPER QUEEN and blacken EVERYTHING) I like to toast the spices and wake them up! I also added a couple dashes of Worcester Sauce.

I like them brown but still moist in the middle...

I used 3 tbs of flour to coat the pork...

Cook the flour for a couple of minutes. I used to cook the crap out of the flour but I have learnt that if you cook it too much then will not thicken as well... so 3-4 minutes is enough! I like having extra fat in the pan and the common sausage doesn't have enough for me so I add a couple tablespoon of butter.

Butter makes everything better!

The bottom of the pan will have a layer of brown goodness... the sausage, the flour and butter so we are ready for the milk. I use 2%. I would love to use whole but I don't think that it is needed... I add butter instead and who wants a bunch of fat cowboys. NOT I!

A this point the milk will release the layer of flavor. Pull out the whisk and go to town and loosen the bottom... turn up the heat and get this boiling and thickening.

My mouth is watering... and my biscuits are craving this gravy!

And now it is up to you... Do you like it thick or thinner? It is your call. Add more milk and season with salt and PEPPER!

That is my Biscuits and Gravy... well I guess just the gravy! I texted all the guys and here they come! They are going to loved it. Eight of them in total... then they will be on my couch!

I hope you have a wonderful day!