Delicious Venison Stew

I grew up in rural West Virginia. My grandfather, dad, uncles and brothers were hunters. We ate a great deal of venison, and I loved it. But it had been a long, long time since I'd had any. This year one of our dear friends got a deer and he graciously gave us some meat. My husband put in a request for deer jerky too. That man loves his jerky.

You can treat venison like beef most of the time. You can grind it up into venison burger, you can make sausage out of it, you can cut it into steaks. But my favorite way to prepare it is making stew.

You'll need:
1 lb of venison, cut into chunks
1/4 cup flour
1 teas salt
1/2 teas pepper
4 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1 TBSP worchestershire sauce
1/4 cup pearl barley (not quick cooking barley)
4 potatoes, cut into cubes
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped

Put a little olive oil in the bottom of a large pot. Add venison chunks. Pour flour over the meat and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir to coat all the meat. Cook until the meat is browned. Pour the beef broth and water over all and stir well. Bring to a boil, then add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until vegetables and barley are tender, about an hour. Stir occasionally. I usually let mine simmer longer because the stew will thicken the longer it cooks. You can add more water if it's getting too thick.

This can also be made in the crockpot. Just brown your venison with the flour, salt and pepper as directed above before putting all ingredients in the crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Of course, you can substitute beef for the venison. And you can add more vegetables like peas if you wish. I'm not a pea fan, so I'm content to leave them out. It's better than picking them out later.

I like to serve stew with homemade bread or breadsticks. Have to scrape up that delicious broth with something, you know!



For more scrumptious recipes featuring veggies, head on over to the Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom.