On my Thanksgiving trip to Wyoming, I shot a turkey and some grouse, and I had some quail that I shot here locally a few weeks ago. This past saturday, I prepared and enjoyed them with friends. It was fantastic!
I sprinkled the grouse inside and out with kosher salt, and fresh-ground peppercorn, and some fresh minced garlic. I did the same with the quail breasts, then stuffed them inside the grouse, along with some onions and sprigs of fresh rosemary. Then, I stuffed the grouse/quail inside the turkey, along with more onions and rosemary. Because the turkey was skinned, I layered bacon strips over the breast to keep it from drying out, and I surrounded it with small red potatoes (quartered or halved), onions, carrots, garlic, rosemary (can you tell I like rosemary????), and sprinkled it all with more kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I baked it in a roasting pan at 300 degrees for about 3.5 hours the night before, then for another hour or so to finish it off just before serving. I intended to add a couple Granny Smith apples for that last hour of cooking, but it didn't work out (too busy with other tasks), but I really enjoy that with this recipe (I've made it with pheasants, quail, and chicken before, but not all stuffed inside each other- that's new!). The issue I had in the past was that I put the apples in at the beginning, and they were mush (albeit yummy mush) by the time it finished cooking.
Anyway, it all turned out great, and we really enjoyed it.
Sorry for the cell phone pic, but it actually turned out better than the camera pic in the light of the dining room.
We also enjoyed some fantastic whitetail and mule deer tenderloins (actually, it was a taste test to see if there was an appreciable difference), cut into medallions and grilled. Just like an excellent cut of beef, and oh, so good! No pictures though.
And finally, we sampled the smoked salami and smoked Polish sausage prepared for us by Jim at Country Smokehouse in Lakeside. You can't even tell that it's made of venison! Excellent. No pictures.
I sprinkled the grouse inside and out with kosher salt, and fresh-ground peppercorn, and some fresh minced garlic. I did the same with the quail breasts, then stuffed them inside the grouse, along with some onions and sprigs of fresh rosemary. Then, I stuffed the grouse/quail inside the turkey, along with more onions and rosemary. Because the turkey was skinned, I layered bacon strips over the breast to keep it from drying out, and I surrounded it with small red potatoes (quartered or halved), onions, carrots, garlic, rosemary (can you tell I like rosemary????), and sprinkled it all with more kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I baked it in a roasting pan at 300 degrees for about 3.5 hours the night before, then for another hour or so to finish it off just before serving. I intended to add a couple Granny Smith apples for that last hour of cooking, but it didn't work out (too busy with other tasks), but I really enjoy that with this recipe (I've made it with pheasants, quail, and chicken before, but not all stuffed inside each other- that's new!). The issue I had in the past was that I put the apples in at the beginning, and they were mush (albeit yummy mush) by the time it finished cooking.
Anyway, it all turned out great, and we really enjoyed it.
Sorry for the cell phone pic, but it actually turned out better than the camera pic in the light of the dining room.
We also enjoyed some fantastic whitetail and mule deer tenderloins (actually, it was a taste test to see if there was an appreciable difference), cut into medallions and grilled. Just like an excellent cut of beef, and oh, so good! No pictures though.
And finally, we sampled the smoked salami and smoked Polish sausage prepared for us by Jim at Country Smokehouse in Lakeside. You can't even tell that it's made of venison! Excellent. No pictures.
