Sniff, Slurp, Nom-Nom! Ahhhhh….Bison Stew

Winter is well out the door, yet we had this one lonely pack of stewing bison left in the freezer, a long awaited request for the recipe from my loverlie Baker Babe and well, the BSM loves him some stew. Not for the faint of heart, (see butter content) I usually I simmer this bad boy all day in the in the crock but the manling let me sleep in just enough to forgo that plan. I’m in ecstasy with the array of fresh; green, delectably available produce every-time I go to market these days, which will be the latter of what’s dished out around here.

So enjoy this rich, stick to your ribs goodness, you won’t be seeing the likes of it till the leaves change colour and start to fall. Horrid thought I know! Actually I love fall, but not yet. Give mama some spring and summer first! I use as much organic and or local ingredients as always when cookin.’ Do what you want in YOUR kitchen, it’s your CHOICE. Why I choose local, drug-free and/or organic whenever possible is another post, another day.

• 2 pounds bison meat, cubed
• 1/2 cup oilve oil
• 1 cup fresh churned butter
• 3/4 cup of flour (I’m a spelt lover.)
• 1 cups yellow onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup red onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 quarts water (recommended: Missouri River Water tee hee.)
• 2 quarts of broth (I used veggie this time, as I did not have beef or chicken and tasted just dandy. Homemade is best, but really now)
• 2 to 3 bay leaves
• 20 peppercorns
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
• garlic clove it up (means however much you like, I dig 4-6 cloves)
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 2 cups halved baby white potatoes (keep it simple, keep it rustic)
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes (diced or dice them yourself)
• 2 cups chopped parsnip
• 1 1/2 pounds of shrooms (whatever you like, we favour portobello)
• 1/2 – 3/4 bag of frozen peas
• vino or beer (1 can of guinness = yum. This time I used left-over wine. Half a bottle. Happens a lot these nursing days.) Use some for deglazing onions, which cooks off the alcohol; the rest for stock.)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Optional: Franks Hot Sauce, That Brown English Stuff (too lazy to look up spelling), red chili flakes to taste.

Note: Whenever I say to taste, I’m going on the fact that you can boil an egg, thus, season your own creations to your liking. Just don’t load up on it mmk? Let the beauty and taste of the produce and meat shine through.

1. Toss your lean, gorgeous chunkers in 2 tablespoons of spelt flour, a drizzling of olive oil and season with fresh ground pepper, salt and a wee bit of your thyme.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons of your butter reserve (see up there?)  in a Dutch oven or cast iron, (I use cast iron when using the crock and go dutch when going stove-top) pan over medium-high heat; brown the bison in oil, 2 to 3 minutes per side; remove bison and set aside.
3. Lets have a another couple of dollops, (o, alright! Tablespoons!) oil and butter into the pan; cook and stir the onion till translucent, add your minced garlic and celery until soft, about 8 minutes. Maybe you had to see the kiddies, turn the laundry over, check your FB, whatever) and the heart of your stew started to crisp up and all your oil/butter is gone! Deglaze with vino! Yum. Stir in some of the broth to ensure you get all the flava flave when transferring to crock-pot (see step 4) finish. Since I went dutch oven, stove-top styles, that’s what’s first. Add your beautiful bison and thank it; remaining spices; carrots and parsnips, stock, water, salt, pepper, cloves, canned tomatoes, and the rest of wine or that can of guinness. Bring to a quick boil, stir and sing to it. Cover and turn down the heat to continue simmering for about an hour and a half. Go play/tend/nurture/veg. Come back. Add potatoes and peas, simmer for 45-sh minutes. Add roux (see below), simmer for 15-ish minutes. Serve it up with warm bread (we like ciabatta) and butter. Enjoy just as equally as you would have if it were born of crock descent. Don’t discriminate. I’ll be trying this action out to accompany my stew next time.
4. Crock Pot Finish: You’ve deglazed your garlic, onions and celery with vino. Add your bison and bless it. Add a bit of broth to make sure you loosen up all of the yummy stuff and pour into your crock. Then do everything the same as in step 3 except your cooking time is longer. Obviously. Add your potatoes and peas in the last 3 hours of cooking (the total being around 8-ish). Add your roux in the last hour. Dish & bliss-out.

Mother of All Key Ingredients To Everything That is Grand and Great…Roux

I’m not talkin’ the flour and water baloney. I don’t know what I thought I was doing before I met my songbird and began cooking with her. But it’s in her great tutelage that I discovered equal parts flour and butter. Hello! What on earth was I doing before? If you are not making your roux this way…or prefer to go for less fat; nonsense! Enjoy the naughty indulgences food has to offer and get your arse to the gym/track/mat. There’s a time and a place for healthier cooking. There will be plenty of that here too. Moderation and indulgence. It’s the key to NEVER dieting and just fessing up to the simple fact that diets DON’T WORK and make one miserable and obsessed. It’s called exercise and moderation. We all know that deep down, don’t we? But then, someone is buying all the fat-free this and that…
ANYHEW. The roux. This is where the rest of your flour and butter come in. Grab a small sauce-pan and whisk together, (always, never stopping, don’t want clumps!) equal parts butter and flour. Then slowly add in some siphoned stock from your stew into the roux, constantly whisking till thick and smooth. Now do what I said up there with it. Heaven.

Tagged as: bison, BSM, comfort food, crock-pot, drug-free, local, organic, stews