Imagine your a deer...

"your prancing along, and you spot a brook, you put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water. BAM! A F*cking bullet rips off part of your head. Your brains are lying on the floor in little bloody peices. Now I ask you: Do you really give a f*ck what kind of pants the son of a bitch who shot you was wearin'?"

I think I am the only person in the world who gets hungry when I hear this Quote. For those of you who don't know it, please climb out from under your rock and rent "My Cousin Vinnie". Joe Peshi & Marisa Tomei :::swoon:::

My husband called me on the way home from work one night and said "oh you are going to love me when I get home...I got a present for you!". My mind was racing. What could it be? Candy? Flowers? Wine? Diamonds? EVEN BETTER.....It was fresh caught deer meat! One of the guys who works with him went hunting and caught himself a nice big Buck. (Side note: Honey I did not really mean that venison meat it better than diamonds...please feel free to bring those home at anytime...preferably with venison).

The first night we grilled it as is. No spices, no seasoning just the wild game taste of the meat. Since beer and BBQ always go hand in hand this is my concoction for night 2 of the venison meat.

Beer Venison

2 Venison Loins (or 2lbs of any type of red meat if you don't like Venison)

1 Bottle of Beer (I'm using Stella-please don't use Bud or Coors for this!)

1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar

1/4 cup of Horseradish sauce

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Prep Time: 10 minutes + mariade time

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Combine all the ingredients except for the Horseradish and pepper. Whisk until all the sugar is dissolved

Add the Horseradish and pepper and stir to incorporate

Let your meat sit in the marinade for no less than 4 hours. Over night would be ideal.

I was planning on putting this on the grill but due to a Tornado Watch (Yes in NY) I was forced to cook this on the stove. Get a Pan searing hot and sear all sides of the meat for 30 seconds. Add the remaining marinade to cover the Venison 1/2 way. Cook for 4 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of the cut and your preferred done-ness. Once you remove the meat from the pan simmer the Beer for about 5 minutes while you let the meat rest. Use as a dipping sauce.

Serving suggestions....um Beer works!

Blah into Ahhhhhhh

I love going out to eat. I always try to order something new and something I could not make at home. If I got the same thing as always I might as well just save the $150 and make it myself. I love to eat I love to try new things. That being said I hate….no loath pre-fix menus. Beef? Chicken? Fish? Blah…blah…blah. I hate them so much that even for my wedding of just over 300 people I had a 12 choice menu for my guest, on top of the 4 previous courses, 2 following courses and 50+ options of food at the cocktail hours. ***now back to our regularly scheduled blog entry*** I attended a shower not to long ago and I ordered the balsamic chicken. I figured I had eaten my salad and pasta so I wasn’t that hungry and the cake looked yummy, ill only have a few bites of the dry, grilled chicken with a splash of cheap balsamic vinegar.

To my surprise this lovely, aromatic, brown gooey masterpiece came to me. One bite had such a great balance of sweetness and bite. I must try to make this at home. So I ate half ( I couldn't resist) and packed up the rest making sure to scrape the sauce that had run on to the plate back on the chicken.

A little bit of this, a dash of that, some more of this and a whole lot more of that! My first time making this recipe I wound up with about a gallon of sauce but once I got the proportions right I was golden. It was great! The same way I had it at the restaurant…perfect. The second time I though can I make it even more perfect? Sure! And I totally rocked it. I improved a perfect recipe. Oh and it is a marinade now…not just a glaze sauce!

Balsamic Chicken Marinade

¾ Cup of soy sauce
1 Cup of Balsamic Vinegar
¾ Cup Honey
2 Tablespoons of Rosemary
7 Garlic cloves (rough cut)
A few turns of the pepper mill
2 quarters of Chicken (or 4 chicken breast/half a chicken)

Prep Time: 15 minutes (marinade overnight)

Cook time: 1 hour

***FYI: you can use salt instead of soy sauce if this is something that you don’t normally have in the house. That was the original recipe. I changed it to soy because it incorporates better with the dish and I think the flavor is much better.

Whisk together the Soy sauce, Honey, Balsamic, Rosemary, Garlic and Pepper.

Separate the skin from the chicken by putting your fingers in between the meat and skin to form little pockets. The marinate will get "trapped" there.

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Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and let it sit overnight in your fridge.

After it is done marinading overnight place the chicken in a lightly greased baking dish. Spoon out some of the Garlic and Rosemary and sprinkle it on top. Reserve the liquid.




Bake at 350 Degrees for 1 hour or until the chicken is fully cooked.

Transfer the marinade into a sauce pan and reduce on low heat for about 10 minutes. Baste the chicken that is cooking in the oven once or twice with this mixture. When the chicken comes out of the oven lightly brush this sauce over the top.