We had the last holiday meal on the 5th of January! My granddaughter struggles with too many places to go, and too many people to see, during the holidays. Her family has sooo many family obligations, that it is impossible to plan family time for us. I understand, I remember what it was like when our girls were small. With just normal family obligations. You throw in in-laws and outlaws and it just becomes crazy.

We were having our monthly great grandson fix a few days before Christmas and we started to problem solve. The relief on my granddaughter face, was something I won’t easily forget. I suggested that forever more, the first Sunday in January become our day. A day for our daughter to spend time with her niece’s family, a day to open belated packages, but a relaxed day with no other obligations but to just be.

I prepared a venison pot roast and it was sooo good. The husband is a hunter, and we had 2 roasts left from last years cache’. All the men in our family hunt, so I knew everyone would appreciate this meal. My Calphelon dutch oven wouldn’t accommodate both roasts, so I cooked one in the crock pot and one in the dutch oven. Both were delicious but I preferred the one in the dutch oven, the gravy was so rich and smooth. I didn’t even have to make the gravy it just came out of the pot that way. Of course in the bustle of getting a meal on the table I forgot to take photos, but here is the recipe. This is the crock pot recipe but, I used the same recipe for both. I just cut down the cooking time for the oven roast to 4 hours. You could also use this same recipe for a regular beef roast.

Venison Pot Roast

2-3 lbs venison roast

6 T flour divided

2 T Olive oil

1 large yellow onion

4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1 C red wine or beef broth

4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 t dried

2 sprigs fresh rosemary or 1/2 t dry

1 T balsamic vinegar

1 T Worcestershire

1 T dijon mustard

2 C beef broth

1/2 t salt, plus more to season roast

1/4 t black pepper, plus more for seasoning roast

4-5 carrots peeled and cut into 2″ pieces

1.5 lbs baby yellow potatoes

Instructions

1. Pat the roast dry with paper towels, then generously season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with 2 T flour all over the roast.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat with 2 T olive oil. Sear roast on all sided until nicely browned about 5-7 minutes. Transfer roast to slow cooker or dutch oven.

3. Using the same skillet, add onion, garlic thyme and rosemary and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly pour in red wine and simmer until reduced by half, scraping brown bits from bottom of the pan. Mix in balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and dijon mustard. Transfer to your cooking pan.

4. In a bowl, whisk together 4 T flour with 1 C broth (lumps are ok), then add to pan.

5. Add remaining 1 C Broth, carrots, and potatoes to pan. Season with 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t black pepper. Cook on low for 6-8 hours until fork tender.

Notes

Venison roast: I used 2 2-3 lbs roast and we had 10th people. There was plenty with a bit left over for lunch the next day.

Yellow potatoes have that perfect creamy texture. Small potatoes make it easy just wash and throw in. Same with the carrots, I used baby carrots and the great grandson thought they were swell.

A semi dry red wine added really rich flavor to the recipe. I used a cheap bottle of wine as I am not a big red wine drinker.

I preferred the roast cooked in the dutch oven because it was richer with the gravy thicker and smoother but, both versions were delicious. I cooked it a 325 with an internal temperature of 135 degrees. I put the crock pot on in the morning and let it cook all day, about 8 hours. The oven version I put on about 1:30 and cooked til about 5:30.

I know most people are afraid to eat wild game but in Nebraska the deer are basically corn fed. They haunt the cornfield by night! The husband takes the deer into be processed into steaks, chops, roasts, hamburger and some sausage. It is all delicious. A meatloaf made with half hamburger and half deer meat is yummy. Deer steaks wrapped in bacon, delicious. So fear not! A perfect cold weather meal.

Of course I did take plenty of table scape pictures. It seemed like I was constantly moving and resetting this table for the holiday this year. Moving it from its everyday position and turning it to accommodate however many people we were having. It’s times like this that I wish I had a dining room. The rest of the year this works just fine for the 2 of us. But yes, the husband was eating in the living room!

It was a fun late afternoon, early evening meal spent with relaxed time with the people that I love most. The only ones missing were Florida and that always makes me sad, but I know they are where they need to be.

The very best part of the day was watching with ah and joy our great grandson take his very first steps in our home. First 3 steps, then 2 steps, then 5 steps. You could just see his wheels turning, whew this is so much easier than crawling. From there to here. This is AWESOME! I will leave you with the best photo of the day.

The wonder and joy and it happened HERE.

Stay warm.

Thanks for stopping

Shelley