Tuesday, December 28, 2010

MAN VS. FOOD

An 1,800 mile round trip drive to visit Bass Pro Shops is a bit much considering there are BPSs in Harrisburg and Baltimore.
But I was just north of Atlanta to see my son, grandson and daughter-in-law for the holidays and took an afternoon off to hit the Bass Pro Shop on I-85 with my son.
Toyland for adults, and their inner child.
I bought a cast iron skillet and a small Dutch Oven and a few kitchen odds and ends.
Up at camp I have a huge iron skillet, the kind that can make two dozen sunny side up eggs, but found out while camping in the Adirondacks it's too darn big to fit on a propane grill, thus it's more of a curiosity piece than a practical implement.
So, I got a smaller skillet and will now try a recipe e-mailed me from a friend via Jim Zumbo, the former hunting editor of Outdoor Life and my host on a Western hunt many years ago.
It's pretty simple, and if you weren't lucky, or a good enough shot, to bag a deer this year it can be used with a decent piece of regular beef.

AWESOME, FAST, TENDER AND DELICIOUS:
1-2 lbs of venison (or store-bought) steak, round, flank cut into 1/4-inch thick pieces about palm size.
2 lemons, or use Real Lemon juice
1 large jar of artichoke hearts
your favorite steak seasoning
meat tenderizer
crushed garlic
flour, salt, pepper
Take steak pieces and tenderize with mallet or other prong-type device (DO IT!!!)
Place meat in a plastic baggie or bowl with lid and season to taste with your steak seasoning,
garlic, meat tenderizer and juice from one whole lemon or liberal amounts of lemon juice. Place in fridge 2-4 hours before cooking.
Heat a half cup of olive oil in a skillet, preferably cast iron, dredge steak pieces in flour and salt and pepper on both sides, place meat in the skillet which should be hot enough to make meat sizzle.
Cook at medium-high heat and when meat is simmering add juice of another lemon and the artichoke hearts cuts into 1/2 pieces.
Simmer until brown, turn meat and brown other side and serve with rice or potatoes or other favorite vegetable and a nice dry, red wine.
Bon Appetit!
(I just tried this recipe with a steak from my Pennsy deer - very good and tender and the lemon and artichoke hearts a nice complement to the meat. However I'm an old fashioned onions, mushrooms and gravy kind of guy when it comes to steak toppings.)

Thursday, October 7, 2010

CATCH OF THE DAY

Fishing was lousy, the catching was interesting.
Getting bounced around down on Chesapeake Bay we had an empty fish box after hours of taking a beating.
Then Capt. Mike Murphy parked his 25-foot Parker "Tide Runner" under a bridge and we started casting.
Any of you that have fished long enough probably have snagged lost gear on the bottom, maybe even a rod and reel. I have, exactly twice in 50 years of wetting a line.
So it was of minor interest (that would become major with nothing much else to write about) when Ken Schultz, prolific angling book author, got hung up on another line under the pilings.
He reeled it up and discovered the snagged line had a rod and reel attached, in good condition.
"Wait, there's something else," Schultz said.
Indeed, for the first time ever I saw a guy snag a rod and reel, with a live fish attached.
In this case a small striped bass, that was a legal 18-inches, but looking rather stressed.
It was obvious the outfit, and fish, were lost not that long before or the striper would have certainly died, of exhausion if nothing else.
Laughs were had, photos taken and the fish was released to live another day.
Consensus was the rig was left sitting unattended by a fisherman up on the bridge or from a nearby shore fishing spot.
It would have been a better catch if was top-of-the-line equipment. It wasn't, but perfectly usable.
Schultz won the pool.