This new farm has brought us many blessings. Among them free venison! Joel was able to get two deer this hunting season, and I can proudly say that it is now sitting in nice neat white packages in my freezers ready to become delicious meals all year.
This is one of my old standbys, I love it because it is portable and freezable. I always make a double batch and freeze the leftovers so I have a easy quick meal for lunches, unexpected guests or a dinner on one of “those” nights.
As always, you can sub out beef or turkey for the venison.
Shortcrust Dough-
Put 5c flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper in the bowl of a food processor and blend. Then add 1 stick of butter, cubed and 4 oz of shortening and process until coarse crumbs. Stream in about 1c water or just enough for it to start coming together. Dump it out onto a floured board and knead Just a couple of times so it comes together. Then let sit on your board while you make your filling.
Venison Filling:
Chop 2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 carrots and 3 ribs of celery and saute in 3 Tbs olive oil on med high heat until soft. Meanwhile microwave 2 pricked potatoes for 5 min to pre-cook. Peel and dice them and add them to the veggies with a 1/2 can of tomato paste and seasonings of your choice (I use rosemary, thyme, sage, salt & pepper). Cook 1 min and then take off the heat. Mix in 1 lb raw ground venison, 1/4c Worcestershire sauce, 1/4c beer/broth/gravy.
Cut dough into small pieces (makes about 10 small pies). Roll out with a rolling pin and brush edges with egg wash. Fill each pie with 1/4 filling. Roll edges tightly. Place on parchment papered baking sheet, egg wash tops and poke a hole in each to let out steam while cooking.
Bake at 375 deg for one hour.
Enjoy!
Please let me know if you try them, I would love to know how they turn out for you. I have dreamed of writing a venison cookbook for a long time but I have no idea where to start :). With you guys, I guess :)! Happy baking!
Five Slices of Home 