Recipe of the Month

by Duane Radford

Venison Burgers

Venison Burgers
● 1-lb venison ground meat
● 1/2 red Spanish onion (chopped)
● 1 egg (beaten)
● 1/3 cup chopped parsley
● 1 teaspoon prepared garlic
● 1 tbsp Dijon or grainy mustard
● 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
● 1/2 tsp black pepper
● 3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
● 1 bread crust (broken into bite size pieces as breadcrumbs)
● aerosol canola oil
● 6 hamburger buns
● tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup, relish or other toppings to taste.

Roasted Onion
● 1 red onion, sliced into 6 1/8-inch rings (best done with a serrated knife)
● 1 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar
● 1 tbsp virgin olive oil
● 1/2 tsp salt    

This “Venison Burgers with Blue Cheese & Balsamic Roasted Red Onions” recipe is adapted from an “Elk Burgers” recipe in the award-winning FEAST (2017) cookbook written by Lindsay Anderson and Dana Vanveller. This is an excellent cookbook that was the winner of Taste Canada’s Gold Award in the Regional/Cultural Cookbooks category. The blue cheese and parsley give the burgers a flavour boost. I didn’t add any lettuce, tomatoes or cheese condiments to the burgers, only a splash of ketchup and mustard—the burgers were that tasty already. If you follow the instructions there will be six delicious burgers.

Venison Burgers
1. Preheat your barbecue to 400 F.
2. Add the chopped onion, beaten egg, parsley, prepared garlic, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper to a measuring cup and fold the ingredients until they’re fully mixed. Next, add these ingredients along with the breadcrumbs to the ground venison that should be broken up inside a large mixing bowl. The egg and breadcrumbs will help bind the lean ground meat. Slowly blend all of the ingredients in the mixture together.
3. Add the blue cheese in batches, fold, repeat the process and finally shape the meat mixture into burger patties.
4. Grill the patties on your barbecue— about 10-15 minutes—until they’re no longer pink inside, turning them over once and ensure they’re done.
5. Serve the burgers on buns with roasted red Spanish onions and additional toppings of your choice.

Roasted Red Spanish Onions
1. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
2. Add the sliced red onions to a large bowl and drizzle with a marinade of balsamic or red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt (pre-mixed in a small bowl or glass).
3. Spread out the onions on a sheet of parchment paper in an aluminum cooking tray after spraying it with a can of aerosol canola oil.
4. Oven roast the onions for 15 minutes, turning them over once and then continue roasting them for an additional 15 minutes until they’re caramelized.
5. Use a spatula to lift each ring from the cooking tray and place on top of each burger before adding additional condiments.

Venison ground meat is lean and tasty—a culinary treat cooked as burgers. Typically, you’d serve a cold beer (India pale ale, lager or pilsner) with burgers but an amber, brown ale or dunkel would also have a good fit, or a full-bodied red wine.