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Deer Dangle Balls

Deer Dangle Balls
Deer Dangle Balls

Due to a planned late start, we tried for a more of a mid day snack.  But these turned out to be big enough to be a small meal.  If you don’t have some venison sausage you can use a good pork sausage.  But then they’d be pig dangle balls.  The other difference here is that I used shell shaped pasta instead of the standard elbow pasta.  Also this recipe is for baking them, but you could deep fry them too.

Serves 16 – 22

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Venison Sausage
  • 6 slices Bacon, fine chopped
  • 3/4 cup Panko
  • 2 Eggs, beaten
  • 2 – 4 Roasted Green Chile Peppers, cleaned and chopped
  • 2 cloves Roasted Garlic, chopped
  • 2 cups Conchiglie or small Shell Pasta
  • 1 cup Gruyere Cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
  • 4 Tbsp Butter
  • 1/4 cup All-purpose Flour
  • 4 tsp Black Pepper
  • 2 tsp Kosher Salt

Preparation

Roast the chile peppers and garlic on a hot grill until the skin turns black.  Remove from heat and cool enough to clean and skin the chile and chop the garlic.  Put them both into a food processor or blender and pulse until chopped up into a salsa.  Set these aside until later.

Mix 1 egg, 1/4 cup of Panko and 1/2 of the pepper and salt in with the sausage and mix thoroughly.  When done, put this mixture in the refrigerator so firm up.  In a large pot, cook the pasta shells as directed until al dente, drain and return to the large pot.

While the pasta is cooking, in a skillet cook the bacon until done.  Remove and allow to drain on a paper towel.  Also prepare the cheese sauce in a medium pot over medium high heat, melt the butter and then mix in the flour slowly.  When the mixture starts to brown, reduce the heat to a low to medium and gradually add in all the cheeses and the rest of the salt and pepper.  Then add in the salsa and bacon and stir until fully mixed.

Then start working in the pasta and continue mixing over heat until the cheese fully coats all the pasta.  Then remove from heat and allow to cool.  You might even want to cool this in the refrigerator to make it easier to work with.

Prepare the remaining egg in a small bowl for an egg wash, along with the 1/2 cup of Panko that remains.  Take the meat mixture out of the refrigerator and make small 3/4 – 1 inch balls.  Smash these flat with about 1/8 inch thickness.  Using a small scoop, make a 1/2 diameter ball of the Mac N Cheese.  Place these balls in the center of each of the sausage circles.  Then roll up the sides so that the meat fully coats the Mac N Cheese balls.  Dip each ball in the egg wash and then thoroughly coat with Panko.  Place on a sheet and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready for final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Since you’ve already done all the hard work, all that’s left to do is lay out for cooking.  Foil line a baking pan and put the grill in it.  Them evenly spread the balls on the grill.  Cook them in the oven for about 30 minutes, until they are the breading turns golden brown.  For an even better toasting spray or brush on a little olive oil before cooking.

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Venison with Blue Posole Quiche

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Venison with Blue Corn Pasole and Green Chile
Venison with Blue Corn Pasole and Green Chile

If you’ve got 1 – 1/2 pounds of Venison (ground or steaks) around you can easily make this dish.  But be warned, the Posole takes a lot of time to prepare (about 18 hours) if your going to make this from scratch.  You can substitute canned hominy if your like to cut down on the preparation time, but its not as good.  The Blue Corn Posole has a unique flavor that is “fuller” than regular Posole.

Ingredients

  • 1 – 1/2 lb of Venison – either ground or steaks (Pork makes a good substitute)
  • 1/2 White Onion,chopped
  • 12 oz of Blue Corn Posole
  • 1 cup Chicken Stock
  • 1 qt Water – enough to keep the posole covered
  • 4 – 6 Roasted Hot Green Chile Peppers (NM Big Jim or Anaheim)
  • 3 cloves of Garlic, fine chopped
  • 1 tsp Mexican Oregano
  • 4 tsp Olive Oil
  • 2 tsp Black Pepper
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

Preparation

The first thing to is soak the posole in water overnight.  Strain out the soaked posole and throw away the water.  I feed it to my house plants.  Then to finish making this you’ll need to start this last phase at least the 6 hours before you’re going to need to serve it.  Start by roasting your garlic and chile peppers until they start to char.  I usually do this on the grill, but you can also do it in an oven.  Put the whole peppers and garlic cloves in a foil tray with a light coating of olive oil and cook in the oven until the chile skins are turning black.  If you do this on a grill, you’ll only need to put the garlic in the foil.  The peppers go right on the grill.  When done allow to cool enough so you can handle them.  Clean the skins and cut off the stems on the peppers.  Fine chop the garlic.  Put the chile peppers and garlic cloves into a blender or food processor and pulse a few times to chop everything up into a salsa.

In a large pot with a light coat of oil over medium high heat, cook the onions until soft and translucent.  Then add in the chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Add in the dried posole and cover.  Simmer on low heat for 3 – 4 hours, adding water as necessary to keep the posole covered.  While this is going, the meat could use a little attention. If you’re using ground meat, season with salt and pepper and form small meatballs.  If you’ve got roast or steak, cube it so that the chunks are no larger than 3/4 inch.  Season them to your taste.  In a skillet over high heat with a dash of oil brown the meat on all sides.  Remove from heat and let rest at room temperature until the posole is ready for the meat to be added.

When the posole kernels start splitting open, add in the meat, salsa and the oregano.  Cook for about another hour over low heat, uncovered and stirring occasionally.  Continue to cook slowing until the liquid is reduced by 2/3.  This will be dryer than your normal posole.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Strain the mixture, reserving the liquid which should be about 1 cup.  Put the posole in a separate container and store until ready for final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Gather your prepared pie crusts and half the posole placing each portion into the pie crust and spread the mixture out.  Prepare the usual base quiche mix, but reduce the Half and Half to 1/4 cup, and add to it the liquid reserved from the posole.  Mix thoroughly and gently pour over the filling in the pie crust.  Top with the shredded cheese and place in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes or until the cheese starts to lightly brown.  Remove and either serve or transport to the rink.