My lovely friend just completed his first deer hunt. His beautiful wife had no idea what to do with all of that venison, so they gifted a bunch of it to us. While deer and elk love to frequent the lavender apple farm, they don't frequent the kitchen. 

When I looked online for a good venison recipe, all I could find was hunting websites. And no offense to all of my hunter friends, but most of the recipes I found just had you brown the meat with a jar of marinara sauce and call it good. We wanted to try something a little bit gourmet. We also thought simmering the meat for 30 minutes removed the gamey-ness of the meat. By the time we were done you could not have guess this was not a beef sauce! 

1 lb venison
1/2 onion
1/2 bell pepper
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp Tyme
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp parsley
Salt pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1 stalk celery
3/4 box spaghetti noodles 

Brown your venison in a large saucepan with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Salt and Pepper lightly.  
Once thoroughly browned, remove it from the pan and set aside. Using the left over grease in the pan, cook your onions, celery, and bell pepper until softened. Salt and pepper lightly. Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute. And 1/2 a cup of white wine and simmer for a few minutes. Add your diced tomatoes, tomato paste, water, marinara sauce, oregano, tyme, parsley, and salt and pepper lightly. Simmer for 30 minutes. When you sauce has about 10 minutes left, boil your pasta in salted water. Combine pasta and sauce, top with fresh parmesan. 

This may not be the fancy Parisian dishes you are used to seeing from Peggy, but its the perfect down home farm meal for anyone looking for a great way to utilize your deer meat! 

Enjoy!

Peggy's years spent living in France obviously inspired her love of lavender. She is a wonderful cook and never tires of hearing how home chefs have utilized our artisanal organic culinary lavender to elevate their dishes. 

Provencal chefs have used lavender in their cooking for centuries. Culinary lavender adds delicate floral and herbal notes to many signature french dishes. Lavender is a mint relative and can enhance the flavor of almost anything from roasted meats to homemade sweets. 

Our fragrant handcut lavender buds are subtly floral with hints of mint and citrus. Lavender is a natural partner for roast chicken or lamb. A tiny pinch of lavender can enhance any sauce or soup you create. Lavender enlivens homemade ice-cream and is perfect for creme brûlée. 

Here are a few of our favorite lavender dishes that have been featured on this blog:

Lavender Apple Tart

Carmel Sauce

Cream of Corn

Herb Butter

Lavender Simple Syrup & Peaches

Lavender Lemonade

Lemon Lavender Macaroons

Our organic culinary lavender is one of our favorite artisanal spices that our family owned farm harvests. What have you made with Lavender? Do you have any recipes you'd like to see Peggy try? 

Working the land, it seems there is always so much to do every second of every day during the spring, summer, and fall months. When winter comes, there is a peaceful calm that covers over our farm. While we may miss the warm sunlight, it's nice to relax and just be for a bit. 

One of our lavender fields getting ready to hibernate for the winter.

It looks like we are starting to grow a crop of snowmen!

This apple doesn't want to admit that it's winter either.

Even in the snow, Peggy can't resist anything purple.

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Whenever we have a family birthday, it is always accompanied by "Nelson Cake". Nelson cake is a moist chocolate layer cake filled with home made whipped cream and rich buttercream frosting. There are never any leftovers when we make this cake. In fact, I better go grab a fork right now...

Cake:

1 cup water

1 stick butter (does not need to be room temperature, as it will get boiled during recipe)  

1/4 cup shortening

4 tbs cocoa powder (Dutch processed)

2 cup sugar

2 cups flower

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

Combine water, butter, shortening and cocoa in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once brought to a boil, remove from heat and add to a bowl with sugar and flour. Add remaining baking soda, vanilla, buttermilk, eggs, and mix together.  Pour batter into two greased 9 inch round cake pans and that bake at 350F for 18-20 minutes.

Buttercream frosting:

1 stick butter room temp 

4 tbs cocoa powder(Dutch processed)

2 tsp vanilla 

8 oz of powdered sugar

2-4 tbs milk

Add butter, vanilla, milk and a few tablespoons of powdered sugar and mix slowly at first, then on high for about 1 minute to get it light and fluffy. Add the remaining cocoa and powdered sugar and whip until light.  

Whipped cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Whip in mixer until light and fluffy

Once your cake is cooled, cut your 2 cake rounds in half horizontally (making 4 cake rounds). Then layer the ingredients starting with cake, then frosting, then whipped cream. Repeat this process until all layers are assembled. Cover the top and sides of the cake with frosting, top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Bon Appetit!