Exotic Meat Monday: Antelope and Wild Mushroom - Polenta Shepherd's Pie

I'm thinking this is something a bit different. Doesn't really look like much......

We were checking out the "frozen protein zoo" in the back of Seisel's and the Missus had the great idea of cooking up something a bit different....after all, it's getting tougher to come up with stuff for the blog. I've almost exhausted all the basic stuff I've made for years. Actually, I wanted to get the ground kangaroo meat and make burgers....I'd call them "hoppers"....the Missus wasn't amused and immediately said that burgers weren't allowed. So I bought about a pound and quarter of frozen ground antelope, with no idea of what to make.

While discussing potential dishes, shepherds pie came up....well why not? But the Missus came up with the caveat....it couldn't be just any shepherds pie, oh no. So I came up with topping the thing with polenta. In doing a bit of research, I found that antelope was pretty lean....which means dry to me. The Missus didn't want beef stock and I really didn't feel like simmering a bunch of bones on a Saturday. I often use my roasted mushrooms as a base for various dishes and the Missus had bought one of those gigantic bags of oyster mushroom from Zion market. Heck, I had to roast these for Her anyway, right?

So on Saturday evening, I roasted up those mushrooms. On Sunday, I made a double recipe of polenta, 2 cups corn grits to six cups water which I seasoned well. Since butter is persona non grata in our household, I used a good amount of roasted garlic olive oil as a fat. When the polenta was done, I separated off the estimated excess amount, which I formed in an oiled square container. The Missus is having fried polenta cakes with these. The rest I tasted, up the seasoning and fat and mixed in about a cup of thinly sliced scallions, mostly for color. I retrospect, I probably could have added some roasted red peppers or even diced sun dried tomatoes.

As for the base of the Shepherd's Pie, here it is....just a listing. Antelope meat is very lean and very mild with a distinct, almost flat finish. It's easy to come up with a tasteless dish, but this came out pretty well.

1 1/4 lb ground antelope
bacon fat - olive oil - grapeseed oil
1 medium onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
4-5 cups of roasted wild mushrooms
3 cups (or more) mushroom roasting liquid
2 tb dried Turkish oregano
1 tb dried thyme
2 Bay leaves crushed
1 cup red wine
3 tb sherry vinegar
3 tb Worcestershire Sauce
more salt than you think you'll need
fresh ground black pepper

Luckily the roasted mushroom brought a lot to the dish, not only in mushroom flavor, but there's a good amount of garlic and onions as well. If I do this again, I'll not only use the bacon fat, but lardons of a couple of slices of bacon to start as well. I cooked the mess down until it hit the right consistency, but it into a baking pan...topped with the polenta, which wasn't as easy as it seems and baked at 400 for 20 minutes.

It was actually pretty good. Not much in terms of "exotic" flavors, very lean and chewy. Loved the polenta topping. The top was on the crunchy side, while the part laying on top of the ragout was moist and creamy.

Oh, and this is what the bacon was used for.

The Missus actually made this. After all these years, the Missus is starting to find the joy of cooking! I can't help but laugh when I see Her crushing herbs in Her palm to extrude the oils, all the stuff She used to hassle me about! Now it's sharp knives, the immersion blender, and the Dutch oven, go figure.....

Anyway, I'm thinking we'll do something like this every couple of weeks. Any suggestions???

Comments

[Ange]

Wow! That looks delicious! What an interesting recipe. I love polenta.

[santos.]

wow, it's almost like a south african version of a shepherd's pie :)

i sometimes see armadillo for sale at the market i hate the most (hawaii market in SG). i just think of it as roadkill--do you think you can make something appetizing out of it?

[santos.]

oh wait. i forgot armadillo meat can spread leprosy in humans. never mind.

[kat]

wow antelope something you won't see in japan for sure. your shepherd's pie looks good!

[Kirk]

Hi Ange - Trying to give rthat antelope some flavor was the hardest part. The Missus loves polenta....

LOL Santos! Trying to get rid of us are you? Just kidding.....mammals are a lot easier to prepare. I'm thinking we'll check out Hawaii Market again, but I detest that parking lot and the condition of the place. The Missus wanted to call this series "Roadkill of the week", but I just didn't think that would be appropriate.

Thanks Kat, it was a bit of a challenge having never had antelope before.

[Janfrederick]

Sounds good. Without having made it yet, I couldn't offer suggestions other than more W sauce. I LOVE that stuff. :)

[Michaela]

Great dish and Wow! I like the name "hoppers" ;-)
But why is butter "persona non grata" = because of lactose?

[Kirk]

Hi Jan - This was a lot of fun....it really made me think.

Hi Michaela - For some reason, the Missus doesn't like butter in anything but cookies and cake, etc.....