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: