32: Venison Sausage Rolls / Savory Mushroom Sauce / Sauteed Red Cabbage

What an incredible meal! Moved my girlfriend into my house today, and we worked up quite the appetite. Venison, or deer meat, is the pride and joy of this meal. Venison is leaner than beef, slightly finer in texture and richer tasting. It’s a little gamey as well, and only gets gamier tasting the longer you cook it. This dinner is similar to beef wellington because of the mushroom sauce, but it packs much more flavor. The phyllo dough, or puff pastry, adds some crunchy texture, while the savory mushroom sauce is divine. I rounded out the meal with sautéed red cabbage, an often overlooked vegetable. The cabbage is sautéed in apple cider vinegar with sugar to give it a delicately balanced sweet tart profile. This dinner is hands on, but we sat down to eat in an hour from the time we started the prep.  I decided to blog this dinner before the Oscars come on tonight. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients and Directions:

For the meat-

1 lb ground venison

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbs each of rosemary, sage, and parsley – minced (for the whole meal)

2 eggs beaten, 1 for egg wash and 1 for adding to meat mixture

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 leek, finely chopped

1 sheet of phyllo dough, thawed and separated into two wraps

Olive oil

For the sauce-

4 oz of baby bella mushrooms, coarsely chopped (half of a package commonly found in stores)

1 cup of whole milk (half and half or heavy cream can be substituted)

Good pinch of herbs above

1 tbs butter

1 tbs flour

1 tbs leeks, taken from leeks above

1 tbs onion, taken from below

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the cabbage-

1/2 a head of cabbage, cored and chopped lengthwise

1/3 onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1 spoonful of sugar

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients under the meat list in a large bowl. Be sure to save some herbs and leeks for the sauce as listed in the ingredients section of the sauce. Work the meat mixture petty good with your hands. Separate into two patties on the thick side in a circular form. Heat some oil in a large pan. Brown venison patties for 2-3 minutes per side, including the sides of each patty. This will help lock in the flavor and moisture as well as keep your mixture from crumbling when slicing the phyllo dough later. Coat the phyllo dough with egg wash, and roll up the venison in the dough in a crisscross fashion. Fold corners over, using egg wash to help seal the dough. Lightly brush egg wash on the outside of each roll now -- I didn't do this, so that's why mine look white in the picture. Add to a lightly oiled baking pan, and cook until golden brown – about 20 minutes.Cook longer if you need to. Nobody likes eating undercooked puff pastry.

Meanwhile, heat a decent amount of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions for 2-3 minutes. Add cabbage and sauté for another 4-5 minutes, or until wilted. Add the vinegar, sugar, and seasoning. Turn the mixture a couple times real nicely to coat cabbage in vinegar and sugar. Lower the heat until to medium and cook for 10 minutes.

In a sauce pot, heat oil and butter over medium heat. Now add the onions, leeks, and mushrooms, and sauté mixture for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add milk, flour, seasoning, and whisk together really well. Return to heat and cook until it thickens, whisking occasionally – about 5 to 6 minutes.

Remove venison rolls from oven, and slice the venison rolls to whatever thickness you prefer. I cook each into four pieces. Arrange on a plate, spoon sauce over the top, and add cabbage to the side. Garnish with herbs.

Enjoy!!