photo by Xosé Castro

There's a saying - the only thing better than owning a boat is having a friend that owns a boat.  The same goes for hunting.  Having friends that hunt, and hunt well (or hunt on stocked ranches) means the occasional gift basket in an Igloo cooler.   When it comes to venison, at least in Texas, its inevitable you'll get some sausage.

The concept of meat pies is common and worldwide.  The most common are the British and Australian sort.  Both are great, but the Australian meat pie is more common in my locale.  In fact, there is a company selling Aussie meat pies, including the Guinness meat pie that I want to eventually make.

Personally, I am not much of a sausage eater and don't have much in the way of sausage recipes (other than Chorizo).  I've used this recipe for sausage I had left over after a crawfish boil and made the same recipe with venison for a crawfish boil.  It may seem like a long time cooking time, but it works with sausage.  I make these into empanadas, but they would be good as meat pies also.  The empanadas seem the right size.  Although I have yet to make them, they would probably be very good with the masa harina based dough.

Venison Empanadas

Filling:

1/2 sweet potato

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 onion

4 ribs celery

3 cloves garlic

1 lb venison sausage, diced

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp red pepper (I use a hot Indian chili)

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 1/2 tsp thyme

1 1/2 tsp basil

1 cup frozen peas

1 1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions

1. Dice the potatoes, boil for 25 minutes, strain and set aside.
2. At the same time, cook the onion, celery and garlic with the oil over medium heat for 10 minutes.
3. Lower the heat, add the sausage and seasonings and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Turn the heat up and cook for 5 minutes more, until the meat is well done.
5. Add the stock and peas, scrape the bottom of the pan, cook for 5 minutes.
6. Add the potato, cook for 5 minutes more.
7. Finish using the Making Empandas recipe.