Ingredients

• 3 or 4 – 4″ inch elk backstrap steaks (venison can be substituted)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Cracked black pepper (as much as you want)
• 3-4 Sweet Potatoes
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves (chopped)
• Fresh chives
• Sour cream (optional)

Sage Butter

Melt 5 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet over low-medium heat. Add chopped fresh sage and cook until leaves become slightly crispy. Be careful not to burn butter. Remove from heat.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Take a whole sweet potato and pierce it with a fork a few times. Microwave for 6-7 minutes (depending on how big your sweet potato is). Once the potato has been cooked in the microwave cut the potato in half. Then, without cutting all the way through on the ends you cut each half into squares. Spoon some of the sage butter over the potatoes. (Reserve some for your elk.) Season with salt and pepper. Bake the sweet potatoes for 15-20 minutes in the oven.

Seared Elk

Mix all garlic powder, kosher salt and black pepper together and rub on all sides of elk steaks. Be sure that your elk steaks are room temperature before cooking. Melt remaining butter in a cast iron skillet over high heat. Add elk to the HOT skillet and brown on all sides until you get a rich dark coloring. Remove from skillet and let rest covered loosely with foil for 10 minutes. Slice against the grain when serving and top with remaining sage butter! ~Enjoy!

So what’s for dinner tonight? I love mashed potatoes and it’s no secret I love elk backstrap. Like any recipe, you can always change things up a bit to make it out of this world ‘fantastic’.

I happened to have a few gold potatoes, some fresh baby spinach, kale and swiss chard in the fridge, a couple cloves of garlic, some butter and a perfect portion of elk backstrap.

Now when we butcher our antelope, elk or venison backstraps, we cut the backstraps into 4 or 5 inch chunks. Then we double wrap in plastic wrap and save in ziploc storage bags. I’ve found over the years that this method keeps our meat fresh with very minimal to no freezer burn. Plus the portion sizes seem to be the best for us and our family. I’m a little stingy and want to enjoy as much of the meat as possible without waste.

This recipe is very simple and like any recipe, you can always change things up. Venison and antelope backstrap works too. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• Elk Backstrap (4 inch in length cut into 1/4 inch steaks)
• 6 gold potatoes (cubed)
• 1 cup baby spinach (chopped)
• 1 cup swiss chard (chopped)
• 1 cup kale (chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (diced)
• 5 Sage leaves (chopped)
• 5 tablespoons butter
• Grated romano cheese
• Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Slice your backstrap into ¼ inch steaks. Salt and pepper and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add your potatoes and cook until tender. Drain potatoes and set aside. In the same pot on medium heat, add 4 tablespoons of butter, chopped sage leaves and chopped garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add spinach, swiss chard and kale. Cook greens until they become tender and wilted about 5-7 minutes. Add potatoes to greens and mix together with a wire potato masher. Top with a little grated romano cheese or parmesan cheese. Put lid on and turn off the heat.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add remaining butter to skillet. Once your skillet is nice and hot, add your backstrap steaks. Remember to quickly cook the meat. These are tender and thin pieces.

When you’re done… place a heaping pile of potatoes in the center of your plate and place a few backstrap steaks on top and dig in! It’s all healthy for you… well maybe minus the butter. HAHAHA!

INGREDIENTS

• 3 or 4 – 4″ inch cut elk backstrap (venison can be substituted)
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix all dry ingredients together and rub on all sides of elk backstrap. Let marinade for an hour or two.
2. Be sure that your backstrap is room temperature before cooking.
3. Melt butter in a cast iron skillet over high heat.
4. Add backstrap to the HOT skillet and brown on all sides until you get a rich dark coloring.
5. Remove from skillet and let rest uncovered for 10 minutes.

We served this with a fresh golden and red beet quinoa salad.