Pasta With Venison And Porcini Recipes

SLOW-COOKED VENISON

Steps:

• 1. Season the venison generously all over with salt and pepper. In a cast iron pot, heat the bacon drippings over high heat. Add the venison and sear on all sides until golden broth, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove the venison from the pot and set aside.
• 2. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the pot and cook until they turn a rich mahogany color, stirring frequently. Add the flour and stir until well combined. Add the tomatoes, dried mushrooms, and garlic. Bring the mixture to a boil and slowly stir in the beef broth and red wine.
• 3. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Add the thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, sugar, and venison. Reduce to a low simmer, cover, and cook for about 1 1/2 hours, until the meat pulls easily from the bone. Taste and season well.
• 4. Transfer the venison to a cutting board and remove the bone. Slice the meat into rough chunks and return to the pot to warm. Discard the herb sprigs and bay leaves.
• 5. Serve the venison in shallow bowls over Louisiana rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes.

PASTA WITH VENISON AND PORCINI

Steps:

• Place venison in a bowl, add 2 tablespoons oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and leaves from 4 sprigs thyme. Mix well and set aside. Place porcini in a bowl, add 2/3 cup warm water and set aside. Wait 30 minutes.
• In a bowl, mix wine and mustard together. Place a fine strainer over bowl and place porcini in it. Press out as much liquid as possible. Mix mushroom liquid with wine mixture. Dry porcini on paper towel and chop.
• Heat remaining oil in a 12-inch skillet. Add shallots and chopped porcini and sauté over medium heat until tender and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from pan. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for pasta.
• Heat 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter in skillet on medium-high, add venison and quickly sear on all sides. Remove from pan. Return shallots and porcini to pan and add reserved liquid. Simmer until somewhat reduced. Stir in remaining butter or truffle butter. Remove from heat.
• Boil pasta about 4 minutes, drain and add to skillet. Simmer contents of skillet briefly, tossing ingredients together, until heated through. Check seasoning. Add venison, toss again and serve garnished with thyme sprigs.

VENISON RAGU

Steps:

• Heat the butter over medium-high heat in a large, heavy pot like a Dutch oven. Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook gently for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often. Do not brown them. Sprinkle a little salt over the veggies as they cook.
• When the vegetables are soft, stir in the chopped porcini and tomato paste and allow everything to cook for 3 or 4 minutes, again, stirring often. When the tomato paste begins to turn the color of brick, add the ground venison, the porcini soaking water and the broth. Bring to a simmer.
• Allow this to cook down over medium-low heat. Take your time here and resist the urge to do this over higher heat. Stir from time to time. When the liquid has mostly evaporated, add the wine and repeat the process. When that has mostly evaporated, add the milk, nutmeg and black pepper and stir well. Bring back to a simmer and add salt to taste. Let this cook until it is the consistency you want.
• When you add the milk to the sauce, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add enough salt to make it taste like the sea. Once the ragu has thickened, add the pasta to the salty water and cook until its al dente.
• To serve, put the pasta in a large bowl and add a healthy ladle of sauce. Toss to combine. Give everyone their portion, then top with a small ladle's worth of sauce. Grate the cheese over the top and serve.

FRESH PARSLEY TAGLIATELLE WITH PORCINI

Steps:

• Make pasta:
• In a food processor blend together 2 1/2 cups flour, oil, yolks, and 6 tablespoons water, incorporating as much of additional 2 tablespoons water as necessary, until mixture just begins to form a ball. On a lightly floured surface knead dough, incorporating as much of additional flour as necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Quarter dough and wrap 3 pieces separately in plastic wrap.
• Set smooth rollers of a pasta machine at widest setting. Flatten unwrapped piece of dough into a rectangle and fee through rollers. Fold rectangle in half and feed through rollers 8 more times, folding in half crosswise each time and dusting with flour as necessary to prevent sticking.
• Turn dial to next (narrower) setting and feed through rollers without folding. Continue to feed dough through, without folding, turning dial to make space between rollers narrower each time, until dough has been rolled through narrowest setting and is a smooth sheet, about 2 1/2 feet by 4 inches. Halve pasta sheet crosswise. Lightly brush 1 side of 1 pasta sheet with cold water and evenly arrange 1/2 cup parsley over it. Drape remaining half sheet over parsley-topped pasta sheet, gently pressing down to force out any air. Set rollers to second narrowest setting and feed filled pasta sheet between rollers. Put pasta sheet on a dry kitchen towel. Roll out and fill remaining 3 pieces dough in same manner, putting each on a dry kitchen towel.
• Attach ribbon pasta cutters to pasta machine and attach handle to widest cutter. Line a tray with another dry kitchen towel. Feed first pasta sheet, which will have dried slightly but should still be soft and pliable, through cutter and toss tagliatelle generously with flour. Form tagliatelle loosely into a nest and arrange on towel-lined tray. Make more tagliatelle in same manner with remaining pasta sheets. Makes about 3/4 pound.
• Fill a 6-quart kettle three fourths full with salted water and bring to a boil for tagliatelle.
• Trim mushrooms and cut stems from caps. Separately cut stems and caps into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Mince garlic. In a large skillet cook stems in 2 tablespoons oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until stems are tender and liquid they give off is evaporated, about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon transfer stems to a small bowl. In skillet cook caps in remaining 2 tablespoons oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until caps are tender and liquid they give off is evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add stems, garlic, and butter and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until wine is evaporated. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper.
• Cook _tagliatelle_in boiling water until al dente about 1 1/2 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water and drain tagliatelle in colander. Add tagliatelle and reserved cooking water to mushroom mixture and toss to combine.
• Serve tagliatelle immediately with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
• *Available at specialty foods shops and by mail order from Dean & DeLuca, (800) 221-7714.
• **Available seasonally at many specialty food shops and by mail order from Comptoir Exotique, (888) 547-5471.