Venison Pie

I happen to have a good bit of venison in my freezer at the moment, that is why I am giving you yet another venison recipe. I love venison! Most people complain the game flavor is to strong and it can be. This depends a great deal on how you are preparing it. Marinades and the method of cooking can mellow out that flavor. Farm raised venison is naturally a bit milder than wild, but the expense is outrages. Here in Alabama it is quite easy to find someone with a freezer full of venison they are very willing to share. For the recipe I am sharing with you today, I used about 2lbs of what the package said was round steaks. After trimming a way the bands of muscle tissue, which I have heard Clarissa (Two Fat Ladies) call "nicker elastic" I had 1 1/2lbs of meat. Now to begin.First you want to make some stock from the trimmings. Throw them into a pot with onion,carrot,parsley,salt,pepper,bay leaves and 1 quart of water. Bring to a boil then simmer for about an hour. While the stock is working chop on whole onion into small pieces, but not minced. Slice 8oz of mushrooms or you can buy the already sliced ones. Mince 3 cloves of garlic. Heat a good sized frying pan with 2oz of butter in it and two tablespoons olive oil. Saute the onions, garlic and mushrooms together till the onions are soft. Once the vegetables are soft you want to add salt,pepper,2 tablespoons of whole grain mustard and a 1/4 cup Madeira or Sherry. Set the mixture to the side and let it cool. Once cool add 4oz of sour cream.
Now to the venison. In a large zip lock bag make up some seasoned flour. Add to the bag the venison pieces and shake till coated well. Fry the pieces in batches only a few minutes, 3-4 at the most. You just want to sear the outside, leaving the meat still very rare. You want there to be blood, you are going to cook it some more after all. Once you have all the meat done add it to the cooled mushroom mixture. With this done you now want to prepare a deep dish pie plate to receive the mixture. Buy a good pie crust, it is way to much fiddle faddle to make a crust from scratch. Place the bottom crust into the pie plate and fill with the mixture. Place the top on and be sure to seal the two crusts together. Bake till the crust is golden brown all over, about 50 minutes at 400. Enjoy!!