Taming the Wilderness

A few weeks ago, when I went to our local farmer’s market, I picked up a delicious looking bison steak. The Farmer’s Market I put it in the freezer until I was ready to cook it up and make something special with it. When cooking wild game, I like big, bold flavors (even more than usual) to go with it. You want something strong enough to accompany the big, bold flavors of the game meat without getting drowned out or over powering it. I made a cream sauce with Grand Marnier, onions, peppers, and mushrooms. It topped the bison perfectly. To accompany the bison, I served it over some creamy mashed potatoes and served it with hearty roasted vegetables and my crusty cob bread A Crusty Cob and a hearty red blend to complete the meal. It was a true Colorado meal, finished with a great Colorado wine. The wine was from Bookcliff Vineyards, one of our local wineries. Bookcliff Vineyards in Boulder

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I started off by marinating the bison in my Big Game Rub from Traegar, which I marinated for about 8 hours before grilling it up. This also gave me plenty of time to think about what I wanted to top it with too.

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I love creamy sauces. They are a weakness of mine. So I decided to make my sauce a bold, creamy sauce, full of big, hearty flavors. I sauteed mushrooms, onions, red bell peppers and roasted Hatch chilies for the base, then added the Grand Marnier and cream to finish it off.

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Creamy Grand Marnier Sauce with Vegetables

1 cup mushrooms, sliced in thick slices

1/2 onion, sliced in thick slices

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced in thick slices

3-4 roasted Hatch chilies, skinned and seeded, chopped in a medium dice

1 TBSP garlic

salt and pepper to taste

butter and olive oil to cook

2-3 TBPS Grand Marnier

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2-3 TBPS butter to finish the sauce

Cook the all the vegetables with the salt and pepper, except the roasted peppers, in a combination of both olive oil and butter until the onions are translucent, for about 5-7 minutes.

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Add the Grand Marnier, carefully and slowly, and let it flambe. Be VERY careful with this. If you ARE NOT comfortable with it, DON’T do it. The flames will die off in about 1 minute. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

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Once the flames have died down and most of the liquid has evaporated, add the cream and the roasted Hatch chilies. Mix everything together well and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Turn off the heat and add the rest of the butter to mix into the sauce.

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Once the bison is cooked, top it with the sauce. Bison is a very lean meat, so you do not want to over cook it or it will be tough and chewy, and will taste like shoe leather. It is best when served medium rare.

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The bison came out so tender and flavorful and the sauce was the perfect topping for it too. Proof positive you can still walk on the wild side and be civilized at the same time. 🙂

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.