Vegetable Venison Stew

This is a standard recipe of vegetable beef stew only you are substituting the beef for leaner venison, ending up with a tasty bowl of hearty goodness. Since venison is leaner than beef and can have a tendency to be tough due to the lack of fat, the trick is to cut it into smaller pieces and simmer until fork tender before adding all the vegetables. Adding all the vegetables too soon and while the venison is simmering to become tender can have them end up being mushy. Once done, serve up a bowl of stew with some hot buttery rolls or garlic bread.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. venison roast or steak cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tbs. vegetable oil
• 10 cups of water
• 1 pkg. onion soup mix
• 2 pkgs. of Au Jus mix
• 1 cup of chopped onions
• 1 cup of chopped celery
• 1 tbs. garlic powder
• 1 tbs. onion powder
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 bags of frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 large potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes
• Nonstick cooking spray

Utensils

• Dutch oven or large soup pot

Instructions

1. Spray soup pot or Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray and add vegetable oil. Turn to medium-high heat.
2. Add venison cubes and braze until brown. Reduce heat to medium.
3. Add water, onion soup mix, au jus mix, chopped onions, chopped celery, garlic and onion powders.
4. Raise heat to bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low to simmer. Simmer meat for approximately one to two hours until the meat is fork tender. Taste and add desired amount of salt and pepper.
5. Add frozen mixed vegetables and chopped potatoes and simmer for an additional one to 1.5-hours. The potatoes will be soft when done.

Recipe makes eight servings.

You can substitute fresh vegetables for the frozen ones. If you don’t care for all the vegetable types contained in mixed vegetable or like something else, you can use something like carrots, peas or corn, etc. You can also substitute one bag of frozen chopped onions and celery in place of fresh.