This is a new twist on an old favorite Chicken Fried Elk Tenders. It’s hard not too like anything that’s fried and then smothered in a thick and creamy gravy served with a side of garlic and horseradish mashed potatoes! You have to give this one a try.

Ingredients

• 5 elk steaks (sirloin or round)
• Fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup flour
• 3 whole eggs beaten
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1-2 14.5 oz can chicken broth
• 1 cup milk or buttermilk

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

2) Lay steaks between two pieces of wax paper and tenderize until each steak is about ½ thick. I use a rolling pin or a meat mallet. Rub steaks with salt, pepper, garlic powder and fresh thyme. Set aside to rest.

3) Beat three eggs in a large bowl and add flour to a separate bowl and set aside.

4) Slice meat against the grain in ½ inch pieces. Take each elk tender and dredge in flour, egg and then in flour again and set aside. Repeat process with all meat.

5) Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet until it’s ready for frying. Add elk tenders to oil making sure not to over fill the pan. Cook on each side until golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside on a cooking sheet. Place in oven to keep warm.

6) Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan and whisk 3 tablespoons of the flour. Add the can of chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Whisk until the gravy comes to a boil and begins to thicken. Add the milk and thyme and whisk until gravy becomes thick in consistency – approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Season to taste.

7) Serve gravy over elk tenders and garlic horseradish mashed potatoes.

Garlic Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

• 4 russet potatoes (peeled and cubed)
• ½ cup horseradish
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 cube butter
• 1 teaspoon Celery salt
• Salt and pepper

1) Cut potatoes into small 1 inch cubes and boil until tender. Drain and set aside.

2) Add ½ stick of butter to pan, melt and then sauté garlic until golden. Add 1 cup milk and bring to a slight boil. Add potatoes to milk and garlic and turn stove on low. Mash potatoes with a potato masher. Add horseradish, salt, pepper and celery salt. Add the remaining butter and stir until melted. Serve hot.

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Easy and simple recipes sometimes make for the best meals. Take any traditional elk or venison hamburger recipe and give it a quick twist by spicing up your sauce. I love heat and this Jalapeno Thousand Island sauce does it up right!

INGREDIENTS

Burgers

• 1 pound ground elk or venison
• ½ pound ground elk or venison sausage
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons A1 Steak Sauce
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

Thousand Island Sauce

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• several dashes of Tabasco Jalapeno Sauce
• squeeze of lemon juice

ADDITIONAL

• Sliced tomato
• Sliced onion
• Lettuce
• Skinny bagels

DIRECTIONS
1) mix all thousand island ingredients together and let sit for 30 minutes while you cook your burgers.

2) Pre-heat the barbecue to high temperature.

3) In a large bowl, add Worcestershire sauce, A1 steak sauce, breadcrumbs, egg, garlic powder salt-n-pepper to ground elk meat and sausage. Mix all ingredients by hand and then form into ‘skinny flat’ patties. The sizes of the patties are up to you. I typically get 4/5 patties out of this recipe.

4) After forming your patties, place direct on tinfoil. Cook about 7 minutes or until brown and then flip patty. Continue cooking on other side until brown – 7 minutes.

5) Toast skinny bagels on grill.

Top burger off with tomato, onions, lettuce and a heaping tablespoon of Jalapeno Thousand Island sauce. Yum!

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Simple cooking with the simple ingredients and easy technique can make for an extraordinary and flavorful meal. It’s a winning combination for anyone who enjoys wild game cuisine. Prep time took me just under 15 minutes and the cook time to plating time was another 15 minutes in total.

I suppose you could call this Wild Game Cuisine in 30 minutes flat!

Elk or Venison steaks with mushrooms and mustard Marsala sauce
INGREDIENTS

• 6 – 1/4inch thick elk or venison steaks
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• ½ cup diced white onion
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• ¼ cup Marsala wine
• Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS
1) Take steaks and rub a light coat of olive oil on both sides. Add fresh cracked pepper, kosher salt and set aside for 30 minutes to be sure to bring to room temperature.

2) Heat cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, sear the elk steaks for about 1-2 minutes on one side. Turn steaks and cook another 1-2 minutes. Steaks will be medium rare. Remove from heat and allow resting for 3-5 minutes. (It is very important to try not to overcook your wild game. While your game rests – it will continue to cook. Thicker pieces of meat will need more time to cook but thinner slices need much less.)

3) Add butter to the cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add diced onion and sliced mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes being sure to turn so not to burn. Add 1tablespoon Dijon mustard and ¼ cup Marsala wine to onions and mushrooms.  Turn heat to low and simmer for another 5 minutes or until sauce thickens.

4) Plate your elk or venison steaks and top with a heaping spoonful of mushroom marsala sauce. Add a few slices of crusty French bread or whole grain bread and enjoy!

Tomato, Cucumber and Avocado Salad — Simple is good.
Chop your tomato, cucumber and avocado, add 1 tablespoon of good olive oil, salt and pepper, stir and then serve.

• 2-3 tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1 avocado

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I found this amazing recipe for Lasagna using diced chili’s to spice things up a bit… so I thought why not take the offbeat approach to a classic dish and seriously take it to the next level.

I roasted my own green chilies over the burner in the kitchen and I used all fresh ingredients from local growers. I also decided not to use any salt since we were using sausage… and all low fat or non fat cheeses. The end product was more than mouth watering with a minor kick per every bite.

INGREDIENTS

• 2lbs Italian elk sausage or elk burger
• 16 oz lasagna noodles (cooked)
• 3 large roasted chilies (diced)
• 1 large shallot (diced)
• 1 large yellow onion (diced)
• 2 large tomatoes (chopped)
• 1-14.5 oz tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil (chopped)
• ½ cup cilantro (chopped)
• 2 eggs
• 1-15oz fat free ricotta
• ½ cup reduced fat parmesan cheese
• 2 cups low fat mozzarella cheese
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• Olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350.

1) Heat heavy stock pot on medium-high heat. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil, chopped shallots, garlic and onion. Cook until onions become soft and translucent. Add elk sausage and continue to cook until brown.

2) Add chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, basil and ¼ cup of cilantro to meat. Bring to a boil and then reduce to low heat. Simmer for approximately 30-45 minutes being sure to stir occasionally. If sauce begins to thicken, add a ¼ cup of water.

3) In a medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 1 ¾ cup mozzarella cheese and ¼ cup parmesan. Add 2 lightly beaten eggs to the cheese mixture and stir.

4) In a 9×13 pan, spread a little of the sauce on the bottom of the pan. Place 3-4 noodles over sauce. Add 1 cup of meat sauce over noodles along with a few spoonfuls of the cheese mixture and a few diced chili’s. Top with another layer of noodles and repeat the process until you are out of ingredients. You will need to judge the amount equally to achieve 5 layers.

5) Cover with foil and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Remove foil and top with remaining mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Continue to cook for approximately 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes.

Easy and Quick Tip for Roasting a Chili Pepper
1) Turn your gas burner on to high. Place the chili pepper directly on the gas burner. Let the chili pepper sit on the burner as its skin begins to bubble and turn black (about a minute).

2) Once one side gets pretty well blistered, use tongs to turn the chili to another side. Repeat until the chile gets blistered or charred on all sides. Obviously you need to pay close attention to the chili. It should just blister and char a bit, not catch fire.

3) Place the chili in a brown paper bag or plastic ziploc bag. Close the bag and let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes.

4) Remove the chili from the bag. Use your fingers or a damp towel to rub off the skin. Remove and discard the stem, seeds, and veins.

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With just a few pieces of elk meat leftover from an earlier recipe, I cooked up this amazing, flavorful and completely 100% low fat, Elk backstrap panini with smoked gouda, bacon and tomato.

INGREDIENTS

• Sliced elk backstrap or sirloin
• 4 slices of your favorite bread (I used a rosemary sourdough)
• sliced tomato
• smoked gouda cheese
• 4 slices cooked bacon
• 1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS
1) Heat cast iron grill pan on medium-high heat. Butter both sides of your bread and place one side down on pan. Bread will be quick to cook – when browned, turn to other side and add sliced elk meat, bacon, tomato and cheese to one side of sandwich.

2) Add the other side of bread to the top of sandwich and push down gently with a spatula to heat meat and melt cheese. Turn sandwich to the other side to continue cooking being sure to press down gently for grill marks.

3) Remove sandwich from heat and enjoy.

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Here is a not so boring pizza recipe with elk Italian sausage, ricotta cheese, tomato sauce, sautéed mushrooms and onions, fresh oregano, basil and cherry tomatoes.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb Italian elk sausage
• 7.5 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 large shallot (chopped)
• 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• ½ white onion (sliced)
• 1 cup brown or shitake mushrooms (chopped)
• Basil
• Fresh oregano
• Tomato
• Parmesan cheese
• 1 large pizza crust (example Boboli)

DIRECTIONS
1) Heat iron skillet on medium-high heat and cook elk Italian sausage until brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

2) Add 3 tablespoons of grape seed oil to the skillet. Sauté minced garlic cloves and diced shallot in pan until they begin to soften and brown. Add sliced ½ onion, sliced mushrooms and fresh oregano leaves to garlic and shallot mixture. Stir and continue to sauté until onions become translucent and soft. Generally about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat when ready.

3) Heat oven to 400 degrees.

4) I like to take the left over oil from the pan and brush the top and bottom of my pizza crust. Place pizza crust upside down on cookie sheet and place in oven for about 5-6 minutes or until the top of the pizza crust begins to brown. Remove from oven.

5) Turn pizza crust right side up and cover the top of the crust with the ricotta cheese. Add tomato sauce, top with elk Italian sausage, and add mushroom and onion mixture and then top off with chopped basil and fresh grated parmesan cheese.

6) Place in oven and bake approximately 12-14 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and enjoy.

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I think I’ve said this before … we absolutely love tacos whether with elk, beef, shrimp, salmon or Turkey – there’s just nothing easier that packs such a flavorful punch! Try something different tonight and barbeque your basic taco toppings: tomatoes, onions, chilies and tortillas. It’s fun, different and best of all it tastes fantastic!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb ground Elk Burger
• 2 tomatoes (cut in half)
• 1 onion (red or white sliced)
• 6 green onions
• mild green chilis (diced)
• flour tortillas
• cabbage or lettuce (shredded)
• 4 radishes (sliced)
• olive oil
• salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle Chile pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 Bottle Beer (Recommend Dos Equis or Modelo)

DIRECTIONS

1) Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and garlic clove in a skillet over medium heat. Add ground elk and cook for five minutes or until meat begins to brown. Add salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chipotle pepper and cumin to the elk meat. Continue to stir until thoroughly cooked. Turn heat to low and add ½ bottle of the beer to your elk meat. Continue to cook on low while you BBQ your vegetables.

2) Pre-heat barbecue to high temperature.

3) Coat green onions, tomatoes, sliced onion with olive oil and salt. Place vegetables direct on grill. Turn vegetables as needed until they become slightly charred. While cooking your vegetables, place flour or corn tortillas direct on grill and cook about 1 minute on each side until warm. Remove vegetables and tortillas from grill when ready.

4) Place tortilla on plate, add a heaping spoonful of elk burger, add a few red onions, green onion and cooked tomato. I like to then add a few mild green chilies, some shredded cabbage and sliced radish for the additional crunch. Enjoy… I know we did!

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Sizzle up traditional meals with wild game meat like these green chili enchiladas that are stuffed with prime Elk filet, whole cherry tomatoes, sautéed onion and pickled jalapenos. If you don’t have elk available you can substitute with venison, antelope or beef.

INGREDIENTS

• 8oz Elk filet  (sliced and diced into 1/2 inch pieces)
• 1 white onion
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 2 pickled jalapeno peppers
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chipotle pepper
• Salt and pepper
• 8-10 corn tortillas
• 8 oz can black olives (sliced)
• 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese
• 28oz green enchilada sauce

DIRECTIONS
1) Slice elk filet against the grain into ½ steaks and then cut into ½ inch pieces (NOTE: you can substitute ground elk). Heat cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add elk meat and cook until brown about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

2) Add 2 tablespoons grape seed oil to pan and sauté minced garlic and chopped white onion until onions become translucent. Add whole cherry tomatoes and diced jalapeno peppers to garlic and onions. Add all spices including cumin, chipotle pepper and salt and pepper. Continue to cook for about 5-7 minutes until tomatoes begin to soften.

3) Add meat back to pan and stir all ingredients together. Remove from heat.

4) Dip all corn tortillas in water and place in paper towels. Heat in microwave for about 30 seconds until the tortillas become soft and easy to handle.

5) Place some of the meat filling into tortilla, roll up and place seam side down in a baking dish. I use a 9×13 inch glass pan. Pour the green enchilada sauce over all enchiladas until they are covered completely. Add shredded cheese and top enchiladas with sliced olives.

6) Place in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the cheese begins to brown. Enjoy!

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Looking for a hearty meal that will stick to your bones and give you a little extra added kick? Try this Mexican cornbread elk casserole served with some fresh cilantro and pickled jalapeno’s. Remember you can substitute any burger whether wild game or beef.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 – 8 oz package of cornbread mix
• 1lb cooked elk hamburger
• 1– 14.5 oz canned creamed corn
• 1 – 14.5 oz canned corn
• 1/2 cup Pickled jalapenos chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper diced
• 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
• Fresh cilantro chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
1) Preheat the oven based on the cornbread package. Spray non-stick cooking spray in a 9 x 13 inch pan.

2) Add olive oil to pan on medium-high heat. Sauté garlic, onion and yellow bell pepper until vegetables are soft and onion is translucent. Remove from heat.

3) Add elk meat and cook until browned. Add onion, garlic, bell pepper, both cans of corn, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Turn heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add chopped cilantro, stir and remove from heat.

4) Spoon thin layer of cornbread on the bottom of pan. Top with meat mixture then add 1 cup of cheese. Spoon the rest of the cornbread mixture on top and bake according to the cornbread package.

5) During the last few minutes of cooking, top the cornbread with the remaining cheese. Continue to cook until cheese is melted. Top with a dollop of sour cream, sliced pickled jalapeno and fresh cilantro.

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It’s Sunday afternoon, cloudy, wet and cold.  Perfect day for making a pot of chili.
Recently published recipe on RecipeZaar.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 lbs ground Elk
• 4 – 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 bottle dry red wine
• 1 large onion
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 5 stalks celery
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 cup water

CHILI SEASONING (warning may be hot for some)

• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne
• 1 teaspoon ground chipotle chili
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

ADDITONAL

• chopped onion (red, white or green)
• dollops of sour cream
• diced cilantro
• fresh diced tomatoes
• grated cheese
• chili peppers
• hot sauce (chipotle tobasco – Yum)

DIRECTIONS
Heat heavy stock pot with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Add ground elk and cook throughly until the meat has browned. Remove all elk to a seperate bowl.

Add addtional 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, onions, celery, peppers and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent and soft. 5-6 minutes.

Add 1/2 bottle red wine direct stock pot and vegetables. Deglaze being sure to get all bits on the bottom of the pot.

Add cooked elk meat, tomatoes, tomato paste, chili seasonings and cup of water.

Simmer chili for 2-3 hours being sure to stir periodically.

What do you do if you have leftover chili… You can always make Chili Cheese Dogs, Sloppy Joes, Chili Enchilidas, Chili Tacos, Chili Cheese Fries or Chili Stacked Potato Skins.

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