Thanksgiving at the Cabin & Venison Cheese Steak

Pop at the Cabin

 Hey everyone, I hope you all had a safe and Happy Holidays, I know I did thanks to all of my friends and family! I take this time of year to look back and think about all the things that I am blessed with, and it really provides a valid boost to the New Year. After spending Thanksgiving with My family, we took our annual trip to the Hunting Cabin in Towanda, Pennsylvania, about a 4 hour ride, right at the border of New York and PA. It was beautiful and its nice to get away for a while and get into nature. We usually have about 10 guys at the Cabin every year, My Pop, My Cousin, My Brother Lou, My Brother Joe and a few family friends, so needless to say we all work up an appetite in no time. This is my Brother Joey's recipe for Venison Cheese steak and is easily compete with Pat or Gino's in Philly. If you don't have access to Venison you could substitute for steak.

Venison Cheese Steak

View of the back deck

For this recipe make sure your meat is defrosted and ready to be sliced very thin before cooking. It is simple and east recipe to throw together and is great on a nice Artisan Roll or any kind of thick bread to hold everything together.

Finished Venison Cheese Steak

Recipe Ingredients:

- Large Venison Back Strap
- Fillet Knife
- 1 Red Pepper
- 1 Yellow Pepper
- Mushrooms
- 1 Onion
- 6-8 Cloves of Garlic
 - Velveeta Cheese Singles

With Sweet Sauce:

- 1 can of 12 oz Tomato Sauce
- 2 cans of 8 oz Tomato Paste
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- Fresh Chopped Basil
- Salt & Pep

Sweet Sauce

Sweet Sauce (Marinara)

It can be made two different ways depending on the time you have. The first way is the old fashioned way, pick 8-10 fresh tomato. After you Pick your tomatoes you need to wash them, De-core them which is basically just removing the vine from the top. Bring a large pot filled with water to a boil, then place the De-cored tomatoes into the boiling water, after 8-10 minutes they should be plumbed and ready to be cooled and peeled. Again use your eye and best judgment, once they are ready, drain the water and split and peel the tomato. Let Cool, and once you can handle, mash with hands until the tomatoes are broken down. Now you can start adding, Fresh Basil, 4 TSP of Sugar, 1/2 cup of fresh chopped onion, 2-3 chopped cloves of garlic and Salt & Pep to taste and throw in some Olive Oil for some taste. Stir Sauce on Medium-High for around 15 minutes. Ounce on Medium-High for at least 15 minutes you can place on low heat and remember the longer you have the sauce and ingredients together the more flavor!!!


The second way  and the way I made it for the Sauce for the Venison is much less time consuming and less laboring. Instead of using fresh tomatoes, you can use 2 cans of tomato sauce and 2 cans of tomato paste. Then repeat the last steps and flavor to taste. You can add meat to the sauce for more flavor, I have made this sauce with Italian Sausage and Ground Beef, both are delicious and add great flavor to the dish. Just Saute meat of choice with some olive oil and place in sauce while heating on medium high.

Venison

Fillet

Fillet Stack of Venison

Take your Back strap and Fillet into long thin strip's about 3-4 inches in length and a quarter inch in diameter. Make sure you don't make these to thick or you will affect the cooking time. If you do not have access to Vension then you could also make this with any kind of steak, fillet very thin and substitute into recipe.

Looking Good

After you have filleted your Venison, then in a large pan you can add Olive Oil, 6-8 Chopped garlic cloves, A whole sliced Onion, Mushrooms & your Juliane Red & Yellow Pepper. Now Simmer these Ingredients for 10-15 minutes until you can see the onions browning.

Add the Cheese

Mix everything together

Now you can add in your Venison to the Mixture of Vegetables, Allow another 10-15 minutes until Venison is cooked completely through.  Last we added the Cheese we used Velveeta singles for this, you can use any cheese and even have without if you would like. We bought 2 nice rolls of artisan bread, sliced in half, first add your Sweet Sauce to the roll and place the vegetables in venison on top. Serve as is, BELLA!!!

Finished Product:

This Dish was great and a great dinner to start off our hunting trip, although we didn't see any Big Bucks, it was nice to get away with my family, drink some good beer, play cards and laugh as loud as we wanted too. What a great time, as soon as we leave we start to look forward to next years trip. We always have a good time hunting the land now for over a quarter century. What a great trip and a great meal! I hope you all enjoy as much as we did! Again, I hope you all had a great Holiday!!!! Suo Tutto Mangiare!!!!! ITS ALL TO EAT!!!


- freddy g

Here are some pictures from the trip!

Homemade Apple Pie

Cabin Fire

View from My Stand

Cabin