Every Sunday, I typically put together our meal plans for the week. I get tired of doing the same things for dinner so my meals are always interesting for the most part. Last week for example was creamy chicken, mushroom & asparagus casserole (can we say YUM!) as well as elk casserole (delicious after I added my touches to it) and a nice chicken breast marinated in a sweet & spicy Asian balsamic vinegar. I don't want to brag or anything, but I'm a pretty good cook. (Photo Credit: Myself! Took this photo in Badlands National Park in South Dakota a couple Christmas' ago.)
So we're going through the freezer and I decided it was finally time to put the ground bighorn sheep to use. We are very much into wild game, typically having elk, bison, and various other meats on hand at any point in time. I wasn't sure what to do with the bighorn sheep until now but after finding this recipe, I knew it would be tasty! I will say that I did add a few changes to this recipe so it isn't the same exact recipe, but I wanted to give due credit where it belongs. Thank you Nevada Foodies for the inspiration behind this recipe. (See full recipe HERE)
I didn't think about taking photos until halfway done with the recipe because I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Originally, this was just going to be an Instagram post showing how delicious vegetables are but then it tasted so good I had to share the recipe. To begin with, brown your ground bighorn sheep until done. It didn't take long to cook and there was essentially no clean up involved because it is a very lean/non-greasy meat. While that was cooking, I started chopping up my vegetables. We get a box full of fruits and veggies almost every week and due to a mess-up in the box, I was left with cucumber instead of zucchini. Have no fear, squash was included in the box and since they are in the same family, I went ahead and tried it out. At the very least it would have been Taco Monday instead of meat pie. Thankfully, the squash was delicious and no taco run was needed.
Back to the vegetables! I put in the squash, carrots, and onion but felt like it needed more. In came some mushrooms and of course *light bulb* green chilies! Living in the land of green chilies, it is impossible to cook something without wanting to throw some of those bad boys in there. I cleaned off a couple and threw them in the pan diced in nice sized chunks. Now we're talking! Unfortunately, after that I didn't have any more photos to take until the finished product but don't let that deter you! You can see the process on the blog linked above if you want to see what it looks like during the cooking process.
After you cook the vegetables, you mix them together with the ground beef and cheese. I threw it all back into the skillet since I had more veggies than meat and one less clean up. I let that sit for a couple minutes while I started rolling out the puffed pastries. I have a more oval shaped baking dish so it was more work for me but if you have a round or square dish you'll have no issues getting the right shape. Lay one layer of puff pastry down inside the pan and you are ready to go. I got dirty for this part as I wanted to evenly spread the meat so I used my hands to add it to the dish, ground bighorn sheep and all! I then added more cheese to the top of it and spread the mashed potatoes over that. I did only use one potato because it is just my husband and I, knowing we would have plenty extra for lunches this week in the meantime. That said, if you need more mashed potatoes or have a bigger dish than mine, make more. All that's left is to add the top layer of puff pastry, cover it in an egg wash and sprinkle with salt and pepper! Place it in the over for about 45 minutes and get ready for deliciousness!
I didn't have to cover mine with foil as I checked it after 20 minutes and again after 15 minutes. After that, I turned off the heat and let it sit in there for about 10 more minutes since I was in the middle of making breakfasts for us for the week. I am badass when it comes to multi-tasking, except for when a big grease splatter came up and hit me in the chest. Ouch...
After all is said and done, this is a pretty incredible dish and worth the almost $5 it cost for 2 puff pastries. Our store didn't have a generic brand and I needed them no matter what so what the heck. I'm not sure many people have ground bighorn sheep lying around. We only have it because of our good friends giving it to us on our last visit out there as he is an avid hunter. Hopefully one season soon my husband can join along side with him. I hear turkey season is coming up and he wants to go out so we might just have some turkey recipes coming to the blog in the future. In the meantime, we get to enjoy these leftovers because they are THAT good! If you find you can get your hands on some bighorn sheep, this is the recipe to try. If not, pass this along to those you know who hunt.
Bighorn Sheep Meat Pie
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground sheep
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cups squash, chopped
- 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cup green chilies, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large potato, chopped
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 cups shredded cheese
- salt & pepper
- 2 puffed pastries (defrosted)
- 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons season salt
Directions
- Boil potatoes until soft about 15 minutes. When ready, mash with your favorite mashed potato recipe. (I prefer a simple butter, sour cream and cream cheese mixture blended into the potatoes with the hand mixer)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown ground sheep until cooked. Season with season salt. Remove and set aside in a large bowl.
- Add butter to skillet and cook onions, squash, carrots, mushrooms, and green chilies until onions are soft and transparent. Season with salt and pepper. Remove vegetables and add to the cooked meat. Stir in shredded cheese.
- On a floured surface, roll out the pastry sheets to be larger than the size of your baking dish. Place one pastry sheet in the bottom of the baking dish. Transfer meat and vegetables into the dish and top with the mashed parsnips and potatoes. Brush the outer edge of the bottom pastry sheet with egg wash. Place the second pastry sheet on the top and press the edges of the pastry sheets together. Brush top of the pastry sheet with remaining egg wash and season with salt and pepper. Cut an ‘X’ into the top of the pastry to allow for the steam to be released.
- Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until crust is browned.
What is your favorite wild game to cook with/eat?
