Pimenton roasted game hen with Mediterranean couscous

Pimenton sauce is freaking tasty. I recently ate it at a delightful restaurant downtown. I’m pretty sure this is going to go on everything for the next few weeks (or until I run out of smokey paprika). I had initially seen a recipe from my friend Jason, on the NY times website for Moroccan game hens and couscous. It looks nice. But the addition of paprika really made me want to over do it. Basting these little birds with a slightly diluted version of the pimenton sauce makes them wonderfully flavorful. After its finished cooking you can spread it all over everything, like a 5 year old to ketchup.

3 game hens cut in half

4 cups of Israeli couscous

4 cups strong chicken broth

1 large chopped onion

6 cloves of chopped garlic

1 cup golden raisins

2 tbs of tumeric

1 tbs cinnamon

1 tbs Baharat spice

1 tsp salt

water

Pimenton sauce

1/4 smokey paprika

1 large onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 tsp salt

the juice of 1 lemon

1 bay leafs

1 tbs flour

1 1/2 cup water

1 tbs butter

For the baste

1/4 cup pimenton sauce

1/4 cup butter

Juice of half a lemon

For the pimenton sauce, saute the onion and garlic in a medium sauce pan, with butter,  until blanched. Add in the paprika, water, bay leaf, lemon juice, and salt. let that simmer for about 10 minutes. Turn the heat to medium high and whisk in the flour. Once the mixture has thickened, blend it with a hand blender or regular blender until smooth. Let it cool and serve.

Putting it all together

Preheat the oven to 375. Rinse the couscous and place it in a lightly oiled roasting pan. Mix in the turmeric, cinnamon, salt, and baharat spice. Spread the onion, garlic and raisins over the, and gently mix. Pour the chicken broth over the top, and and place the hens over the couscous. Melt the butter, mix in the lemon and pimenton sauce, and baste the hens with it. Pop that in the oven, baste it every half hour with the pimenton sauce mixture, and add water to the couscous as needed. Bake it for 1 1/2 hours or until the legs easily break away from the body. Once its out of the oven, fluff the couscous and place the hens on top.

Rabbit Croquettes. Give this nugget a try!

I was feeling a little peckish, and slightly sinister recently, and thought, what better way to quell my demons, than to eat something adorable. Rabbit is a delightfully lean meat. Its got just enough game in the flavor it make it have a slight zip, but not so much so that it takes away your breath. There are so many different things to do with rabbit, and since it is a notoriously tough meat, most of them involve brazing or stewing, but what about turning this puppy into the the baddest little meat nugget in the land? I made these rabbit croquettes with a tarragon and mustard aioli. The flavors are added in a small amount to compliment and not distract from our delicious little bunny.

1 rabbit, deboned and minced, or if you can find it ground

4 cloves of minced garlic

1 small chopped white or yellow onion

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground sage

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/4 cup of flour. Plus more for frying

pepper

1 whisked egg

1/2 cup panko 1/2 cup flour mixed

oil for frying

Saute your rabbit on medium with the salt, pepper, sage, garlic, onions, lemon juice, and a little butter or olive oil until the meat is cooked.  Drop the heat to low, and add in the flour. Make sure the meat is well coated and remove from the heat. Place in a bowl and set in the in refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes.  Once you have removed the rabbit from the fridge,  add in the whisked egg, and form it into small rabbit nuggets, about 1/2 an inch thick. Roll the nuggets in the panko mixture and set aside on a floured plate. Put  1/4 an inch of oil in a frying pan, and heat it up to medium high. Add in the rabbit croquettes spaced approximately 1 inch apart. Let them fry 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown.

For the aioli

2 egg yokes

1/2 cup chilled olive oil

1/2 cup chilled vegetable oil

1 clove garlic finely minced and ground into a paste

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp ground mustard. Not the shitty stuff.

1/2 tsp minced fresh tarragon

1 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Make this about an hour to 1 day a head so that he flavors can meld together. Whisk up your egg yokes until they begin to thicken, and slowly begin adding in olive oil a little at a time, allowing the aioli to thicken back up after each addition. Once you have added in your olive oil, and you have a nice thick mayo, whisk in the vinegar, garlic mustard, tarragon, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pro tip for people who hate whisking, use your hand blender with a whisk attachment to make life faster, and easier.

Serve it up with your delightful rabbit croquettes, and be happy that adorable things are so tasty….you monster.

 

Roasted vension rib rack with pomegranate balsamic reduction

Time to finish your hunters education kids. You have a month and a half before deer hunting season begins… or if the idea of killing a deer,  field dressing it,  and dragging it back to your car is hard to handle,  you can head to your favorite local butcher. I am lucky enough to have such a butcher right in my neighborhood.

Venison is kinda gamey.  Certain herb combinations counteract that gamey flavor.  I chose Juniper and rosemary for this. Most sites will suggest this cut of venison be made rare to medium rare, I found that if you absolutely love a  gamey cut that’s the way to go. But if have had a recent haggis experiment, and want that flavor a little more subtle, make that cut medium rare to medium.

1 venison rib rack

1 tsp salt and 1/2 a tsp+ to salt your meat

1 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon

3 cloves garlic

1 shallot

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

5 crushed junipers seeds

3 crushed black cardamon pods

Several sprigs of fresh thyme

several minced sprigs of fresh rosemary

Salt your rib rack, and let it sit for 15 minutes. Take all of your herbs, garlic, olive oil, lemon, vinegar, and shallot, and toss them into a food processor. After your ribs are finished absorbing the salt, pour your marinade over the meat and that sit in the fridge over night, or for a few hours. Preheat the oven to 375 and roast it for 25-35 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 120, take it out, and let it sit for another 15 minutes. After you remove the roast, scrape out the drippings and toss them into a pot to make your gravy.

Venison gravy

Wild mushroom mix

Roast drippings minus the fat

1 cup beef broth

1/2 cup red wine

1 tsp flour mixed well with 1/4 cup of water

Scrape the drippings from the bottom of the roasting rack and put them to a pan with the beef broth and and wine. Bring that to a boil. Once the drippings to dissolve into your broth, allow it to reduce 1/4 of the way. After it reduces, drop the heat to medium and add in half of your flour mixture. As you add it in, begin whisking the mixture until it reaches the desired thickness.

For the pomegranate balsamic reduction

1 tbs butter

Juice 1 cup of pomegranate seeds (I used my lemon squeezer

1 tsp honey

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

On low, melt your butter, add in your honey, and combine it. Add in the pomegranate juice and balsalmic and reduce it until it thickens and serve it gingerly over the top of your meat.