The Ozarks meet Haut-Medoc??

I won a book from Foodies Read.....wooohooooo.  Well, actually I had my choice of  3 books and I chose :

Homegrown in the Ozarks: Mountain Meals and Memories by Rolland Love

From Good Reads: Growing up, Rolland Love roamed the Ozark Mountains, floated its rivers, and provided food for the family. "We grew vegetables, hunted game, and enjoyed the rivers' bounty," he says. "We were self-sufficient. And there was no need to travel, we already lived in paradise." 

You'll find:

•  Fried sweet corn and peppers 
• Grandma's chicken 'n' dumplin's
•  Jefferson Davis pie 
• Huckleberry hotcakes 
• Soft-shell turtle soup 
• Pawpaw and black walnut cookies
•  And - just for fun - possum sweet potato bake and stuffed roast raccoon.

 Homegrown in the Ozarks contains Ozarks nostalgia, as well as recipes for traditional home-cookin' favorites, truly capturing the flavor of the region.

While I was reading I felt like I was sitting around a campfire or fireplace listening to a favorite uncle tell stories about his childhood.  I also liked that the recipes were local for his area with homegrown, foraged and hunted ingredients, many of which are available right here in my homestate of Michigan.

There are a lot of recipes that I am going to try in this book.  Tons of great veggie recipes for after a visit to the farmers market and some wonderful southern dishes that made my mouth water.  What I decided to make though, was the Ozark Style Venison Stroganoff.

I adapted the recipe to make it gluten free as I was feeding others who are gluten intolerant. I used chicken broth instead of beef broth because that was what I had.  I also adapted it to be made in a crockpot because it was way to hot to turn on the oven.

I chose to make venison because I already had some in my freezer and I was looking for a meal that I could pair with a 2013 Chateau Haut-Plantey that I had chosen to showcase for our #FrenchWinophiles theme of wines from Haut-Medoc.

The meal was very successful.  My niece loved the stroganoff enough to have 2 servings and to request the recipe.  She did not have any wine.  The wine was much lighter than I anticipated.  It was a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet.  Frank thought it tasted "young".  It was not as heavy in the mouth as the wines we prefer to drink.  It paired okay with the stroganoff but a heavier wine would have been much nicer.  I had a couple of sips of wine prior to serving dinner and have to say that I liked the wine better without the tanginess of the stroganoff.  Perhaps the wine would have paired better with a heavier, more luxurious dish.  

Venison Stroganoff

adapted from Homegrown in the Ozarks

1 lb. venison stew meat

1 t. onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

2 T. olive oil

1 T. minced freeze dried garlic

1 small sweet onion, sliced

1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce

3 c. chicken broth

12 oz. mixed wild mushrooms, sliced

2 T. corn starch

1/4 c. cold water

8 oz. sour cream

Heat olive oil over med high heat in a large skillet.  Season stew meat with onion powder, salt and pepper.  Add to the skillet and brown on all sides.  Remove from pan to slow cooker, reserving excess oil in pan.  Add the onions and mushrooms to the skillet and saute until tender.  Sprinkle the venison with the garlic.  Add the sauteed onions and mushrooms.  Deglaze the skillet with the chicken broth, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, stir in the Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the venison in the slow cooker and cook on low heat for 3 1/2 hrs.  Mix together the corn starch and cold water, stir into the slow cooker mixture.  Close the lid and cook for another 1/2 hr.  Stir in the sour cream and serve over noodles, rice or mashed potatoes.  Print Recipe

Here are what the others are pairing with their wines from the Medoc region.

• Michelle from Rockin Red Blog shares Diving Into Bordeaux Wine with Winophiles: Medoc
• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla brings us To the Médoc with Herbed Lamb Chops 
• Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm presents The Ozarks meet Haut Medoc?? 
• Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva goes for Banking on Bordeaux
• Jeff from Food Wine Click offers us Left Bank and Lentils 
• Jill and Jason from L'occasion will share Why We are Drinking Now: A Médoc Beauty

Interested in joining in? Put 10 am CDT on your calendar and pop into twitter. Hunt down the hashtag #Winophiles. Share, ask, enjoy.