Venison, Hominy and Roasted Corn Stew

Cook Time: 2 Hours

1.75 lbs Venison (Bison or low fat beef stew cubes)
1 T. olive oil, divided
1 lg. green pepper, approximately 6 oz., chopped
1 med. red onion, approximately 6 oz., chopped
3 cloves fresh garlic, smashed or pushed through a press
6 oz. cabernet or other full-bodied red wine
1.75 T. (scant 2 tablespoons) butter
1/4 c. all purpose, unbleached flour
2 large cobs of yellow, large kernel, corn
3 1/2 quarts (16 cups) water
20-30 leaves fresh sage
6 c. white hominy, drained and rinsed
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1 - Husk corn and cook over grill on high heat, rotating several times, until the corn has slightly charred. If you do not have access to a grill, a similar effect can be obtained by placing corn under broiler. Allow to cool, remove corn from cob with a knife, set aside.

2 - Heat 1/2 T. olive oil in large stock pot until just before smoking. Add three to five meat cubes to the pot. Allow meet to sear and begin to brown before adding the next several pieces to the pot. Continue adding pieces and stirring occasionally doing this until all pieces have begun to form a nice crust but are not cooked through. Remove stew cubes and set aside.

3 - Turn heat down to medium. Add remaining olive oil to pot and sauté pepper, onion and garlic, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent. Return stew meat to pot.

4 - Pour wine into pot and allow to bubble, using wooden spoon to scrape up any carmelized bits that have formed on bottom of pot. Continue stirring until wine has almost cooked away.

5 - Add butter to pot, melt and then add flour. Stir nonstop for about one minute, allowing flour to cook without burning.

6 - Turn heat back up to high and add one cup of the water, stirring until well combined. Slowly add remaining water, stirring, and allowing mixture to thicken before adding more. Once half of the water has been added, pour remaining water into pot.

7 - Add cooked corn and sage leave to pot. Bring back to a boil and then turn heat down to a simmer. Allow stew to simmer for about an hour.

8 - When stew has reduced by about 1/3, add hominy. Allow to hominy to heat through. Salt and pepper to taste; serve.

Recipe makes 10 - 1 cup servings. Nutritional data, below:

Pumpkin Hazelnut Biscuits

2/3 c. hazelnuts or filberts, chopped
1 1/4 c. whole wheat graham flour
1 c. oat flour
2 T. chia bran*
3 T. turbinado (raw cane)sugar*
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
4 T. very cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 T. Greek Yogurt, 1% fat
1 tsp. agave nector*
1 c. pureed pumpkin (canned is fine, but plain pumpkin--NOT pie mix)
3 T. skim milk

1 - Cut butter into pieces and place in freezer for ten minutes prior to using.

2 - Heat oven to 325° and toast hazelnuts on baking sheet for 5 minutes or until warm and fragrant; do not allow to burn. Set aside to cool.

3 - Increase oven temperature to 400°.

4 - Place 1/4 c. of graham flour aside for rolling. Combine hazelnuts, remaining graham flour, oat flour, chia bran, turbinado sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Note: If you do not have a food processor, this can be done by hand using a pastry blender and a bowl.

5 - Add chilled butter to bowl of food processor and pulse, five or six times, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Be careful not to over process.

6 - Remove from food processor and place mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add in greek yogurt, agave nector, pumpkin and milk, making sure all ingredients are in bowl before stirring.

7 - Stir mixture together until ingredients are just combined (over stirring will cause biscuits to be tough).

8 - Sprinkle some of the graham flour out on your work surface and roll dough out to 1 inch thick. Using a 2" round biscuit cutter, cut as much as possible out of first roll (biscuits become tougher with each roll).

9 - Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 10 to 13 minutes or until bottoms are just beginning to brown.

Recipe Makes 16 - 2" Biscuits. Nutritional info (per biscuit) below:





* These items should be widely available in organic sections of your grocery store or by visiting your local health food store. I use Shiloh Farms brand chia bran, available at their website: Shiloh Farms Chia