Sauteed venison steaks (p. 528)

One of my best friends got married Saturday and after an arduous journey that kept me on tarmacs for more than seven hours and caused me to get into Des Moines at 1 AM (making me miss both the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner) I was even more happy to be there. Congrats Rachel and Jon! Rachel has been one of my biggest supporters since the very beginning of TJOTJOC and regular readers will remember her from my birthday, New Year's Eve, and the wedding.

I don't have many wedding pictures but here is my mom, Rachel, and me (not the most flattering picture of any of us but the only one I have):



Since the happy couple wasn't leaving for their amazing honeymoon (Prague and Italy!) for a couple of weeks, Rachel recommended that I come up to Ames and cook dinner. I thought it was a great idea and then she pointed out that I could cook venison and make progress on the woefully neglected "Game" chapter, which was a marvelous idea!

For dinner we thought Sauteed venison steaks (p. 528) looked good. Neither Rachel or I are venison fans so we weren't particularly excited.

TJOC says to brown four garlic cloves in olive oil. This is what Rachel thought was about four cloves:



Forty cloves maybe. I was fine with it though--I love garlic! No vampires would attack us. There was no way I was discarding the garlic like TJOC recommended. Almost anything is better with more garlic!


I pounded six venison steaks into submission:



They were cooked in the skillet at high heat, which was terrifying. Oil was leaping out at us. The steaks cooked REALLY fast.

We then added two pounds of tomatoes, oregano, and crushed red pepper to the pot and simmered:



When it was reduced, I added black olives and a little white wine and poured it over the steaks:



It was good! This was the least gamey venison I've ever eaten. I swear it's because Iowa game tends to graze the corn and soybeans so they "finish" themselves on grain. This sauce would be really good on beef or buffalo, too. The sauce kept extremely well and was even better the next day.