The other night I made open face venison sandwiches with gravy. Though we have 2 pieces on each of our plates, it was so much food even for us that we were only able to finish one each! The bread and gravy really help to stretch the meal and fill your stomach for very little money. We served this meal with a side of fettuccine with butter and herbs from Pasta Sides and canned carrots with butter.
These are the same venison minute steaks I had used before when I made minute steaks with peppers and onions. They are pieces of steak that were sliced on a meat slicer to be about 1/4 of an inch thick. I cooked them in about 2 Tbsp of oil at a low temperature for a longer time to try and tenderize the meat and maybe melt some of the fat. In total I cooked the venison for 15 minutes over medium-low heat, melting in 1 Tbsp of butter at the end then letting it rest for 5 minutes while the pasta finished. Once it was finished, I served it over toast (since I freeze my bread) and smothered them with brown gravy that I had made from a gravy packet. This was a very filling meal that can feed 4 people.
This pasta was delicious. I don’t usually make vinaigrettes because they tend to be too bitter for me or over power the dish. The proportions for this dish are perfect for covering the pasta, but still allows the flavor of the pasta to come through. This would be a fantastic summer dish to give a refreshed feeling, or served heartier with the addition of other veggies, cheeses, or even a meat. Some ingredients that would be a good addition include broccoli, zucchini, cucumbers, diced red peppers, diced onion, shredded or cubed sharp cheese, cubed pepperoni or hard salami, etc.
When I made this pasta, I used the ingredients below: apple cider vinegar, canola oil, and buckwheat blossom honey from a local beekeeper. I used the specified vinegar and oil, however, I did add an additional teaspoon of plain honey to add additional sweetness without the additional buckwheat flavor. The buckwheat honey did give it a very unique flavor though! The apple flavor was perfectly complimented by the buckwheat honey, and because of the honey, there was a floral aftertaste that was very unique. Buckwheat honey also added additional bitterness, so that was why I added additional plain honey.
Bring to a boil 3 cups of water in a large pot.
Once boiling add 8 oz of rotini pasta and cook for 15 minutes. Strain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Shake off excess water, then transfer to your desired serving bowl.
In a small bowl/ramekin, mix together 1/4 cup of canola oil, 3 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar, and 1 Tbsp honey. Stir until homogeneous and adjust to taste.
Stir together pasta, apple cider vinaigrette, and any other ingredients you desire. Refrigerate until serving. Serves 4 as a side dish.
Sous vide is a technique that has been growing in popularity among home chefs over the last 2-3 years or so. It is the process of placing a sealed container into a water bath that is holding a consistent temperature thanks to the machine. It is also special because cooking with the sous vide is meant to take a longer time at a lower temperature giving consistent results. This was my first time using my sous vide on meat. I got my sous vide the Christmas of 2018 on sale on amazon when they were starting to become very popular. I find it incredibly practical and consistent. This being my first time cooking meat with a sous vide, I have some advice. First, don’t add any of the meat’s blood to the bag before you seal it. Blood will come out of the meat itself, and excess blood won’t cook, just pool. And, second, feel free to season before you seal the meat. This time I added no seasoning because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the meat at that point, but it would have been better to at least add butter, since it came out of the bag and out of the skillet with a strong gamey smell. It had no gamey flavor though and was cooked to an absolutely perfect medium rare. It was like butter, and what little fat ran through it, just melted in your mouth.
Set up your water bath in a large cooking vessel. Attach your sous vide. Fill your vessel to a height between the min and max line on your sous vide. Then, set your sous vide to 135F and wait for the water to reach temp.
While the water is warming up, place your venison chops into a freezer bag or a vacuum seal bag and add desired seasoning for the meat. Seal bag with as little air left as possible, either via vacuum sealer or water displacement method.
Once water is heated, drop bag into water and attach to side of container with a chip clip. Cook venison at 135 F for 2 hr (2.5 hrs if still slightly frozen).
Once cooked, heat up a pan to high. Once hot to a hovering hand, add 1 Tbsp of butter and add contents of venison bag. Brown each piece then immediately remove from heat.
Like my recipe for stuffed chicken breast, you have the option to use ricotta instead of cottage cheese, however I tend to have cottage cheese more often than ricotta. I don’t make lasagna very often, but it’s a good option for lots of leftovers, and can provide more than one meal for a small family. It would also be very good with some Texas toast, buttered Italian bread, or some cheesy garlic bread.
Preheat oven to 375 F
Brown your ground beef/venison and break into chunks of your desired size. Once cooked, add one jar of pasta sauce and cook till hot.
In a bowl, mix 24 oz of large curd cottage cheese, 6 oz of mozzarella, one egg, and 2 Tbsp of Italian seasoning. Mix till seasoning and egg is evenly distributed.
Spray a 9×11 baking pan with nonstick spray. Place 1/2 a cup of meat sauce in bottom of pan and evenly coat the bottom. On top, layer noodles, 1/2 of cheese mixture, 1 cup of sauce, another layer of noodles, the rest of the cheese mixture, another cup of meat sauce, a top layer of noodles, and topped with remaining meat sauce.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and top with an additional 1/2 cup of mozzarella. Bake for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Josh has put a lot of time and energy thinking about how to do this project. He had leftover wheels from a long board he had, and we have some space between the fridge and an existing wall, so he thought this would be a nice thing he could build that would look nice and provide us with additional kitchen storage. We have an 8 1/2 inch gap that is 18 inches deep, and 63 inches until the back would hit an existing bracket on the wall, but 66 inches in the front to be level with the fridge.
The Space and Materials
For this project, we needed 3 1″x8″x8′, 12 3/8″ dowels that were 48″ long, and a set of 18″ Full extension drawer slides. We picked up the materials as home depot paying just under $14 per board, under $1 per dowel, and under $15 for the drawer slides. We then cut the one board to 63″ for the back board, 65″ for the face board, and we cut 6 shelves at 16″ each. Josh also created a jig to help us pre-drill holes in the end of each shelf, so that when we add screws we didn’t split the wood. We also had to cut our dowels, which we cut to 18″, and drill holes for the wheels to mount. After drilling all of that, we also pre-drilled holes in the face and back, and drilled holes for the dowels to fit. Then we were on to assembly.
The Assembly
We assembled the shelves by making the slightly longest be on the bottom, and getting smaller as they go to the top. After drilling all the holes, we added wood glue to each end of the shelf and began screwing it together. When you make it, glue and screw into the face board, and once it’s dried, then attach the back. Though we predrilled holes, we still split a shelf, and we attached the back before the front, so the back is square while the front is sloped (oh well).
We attache the wheels by centering them and using screws to mount them to the board, and not the nuts and bolts that come with boards. And, for the dowels, we slipped them through the holes. The holes we were using were tight, so we didn’t, but you can also add glue here if they are loose.
Finalizing
To finish the project, I used wood putty to cover the screw heads and dowel ends, and let it dry for 4 hours as directed by the package. I then sanded the surface flat by hand. Finally, I painted the face of the cabinet with semi-gloss white paint. I had to use 2 coats, and finally, we drilled 2 holes at our desired height and attached a handle we got at Ollie’s.
Our Lustron Home 