Recipe of the Month

by Duane Radford

Asian "Daily Special" Venison Stir Fry

Venison Stir Fry:
● 2 small venison steaks (e.g., rib eye, round, sirloin, strip loin)
● sesame oil
● salt & black pepper
● Five Spice Powder
● 1 teaspoon prepared crushed garlic
● ginger (fresh, thumb sized, peeled, finely diced)
● soy(a) sauce  

Stir Fry Veggies:
● sesame oil
● 1/4 cup Asian Sesame vinaigrette marinade
● salt & black pepper
● 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
● 1/2 white sweet Spanish onion (chopped)
● 1 large bell pepper (diced)
● 1 celery stalk (diced, diagonally)
● 2 carrots (peeled, diced diagonally)
● 1 tomato (sliced)
● sesame seeds

I often have an Asian stir fry, usually the day before buying groceries, and call it the “daily special” because I try and clean out the fridge of a lot of perishables so as not to waste any food.

Venison Stir Fry
1. Wash the steaks under cold water. Pat them dry with a paper towel. Trim any fat or connective tissue. Slice them into thin medallions.
2. Coat the bottom of a cast-iron skillet with enough sesame oil to thoroughly cover it. Add the prepared garlic and ginger. Stir well.
3. Brown the medallions at a medium to low heat. Don’t cook venison at a high heat or it will dry out and be tough because it is lean. Season with salt and pepper to taste and a liberal amount of Five Spice Powder. Five Spice Powder is a staple seasoning spice in the Orient, every bit as common as ketchup.
4. Add a dash of soy(a) sauce to the skillet and stir well so the medallions are thoroughly coated with the sauce.
5. Once the medallions have been browned, remove them from the skillet and put them on a heated dinner plate. I heat an ironstone plate in a microwave oven for 2-3 minutes. Cover the medallions with tinfoil to keep them warm.

Stir Fry Veggies 
1. While the venison medallions are being browned, prepare your diced veggies: onion, pepper, celery, carrots and tomato.
2. After removing the venison medallions from the skillet, add additional sesame oil to the skillet and heat it to make the veggie stir fry.
3. Add the chopped Spanish onion first and sauté it before adding the green bell peppers, carrots and celery.
4. After the veggies have been sautéed, add the tomato slices and steam them with a lid on the skillet for a couple of minutes, at most. Season with salt and pepper (to taste) and with the red pepper flakes.
5. Add the Asian Sesame vinaigrette marinade to the veggies and stir well.
6. Transfer the veggies to a serving plate; top these vegetables with the grilled venison medallions.
7. Liberally garnish the stir fry dish with sesame seeds.

I enjoy this stir fry with a prepared Asian salad and Asian salad dressing.

Pair the meal with a cool lager, India pale ale or pilsner beer. Or you could treat yourself to some saki if you’d prefer a wine pairing.