My favorite recipes for fish and game

The intense cold and winds have disappeared (for now) and I’m currently watching it snow as I sit beside my wood stove. This is a great time to stay inside and enjoy the previous year’s harvest at the dinner table. Here are a few of my wife and I’s favorite ways to prepare wild game and fish throughout the winter.

I’d say without a doubt my favorite meal is moose burritos. I brown my ground moose meat in taco seasoning and make a fresh bowl of pico de gallo with shallots, Roma tomatoes, cilantro and poblanos. I add the fresh salsa, moose, shredded cheese and sour cream into a large Taco Loco flour tortilla and wrap it up tight. If I’m feeling like I want to spruce it up a bit more, I’ll add some Spanish rice and refried beans and maybe even a sliced avocado. Serve it alongside a bag of tortilla chips and some guacamole salsa and you’ve got yourself a killer meal.

Taco soup is right up there with burritos. My wife cooks up a big batch in her Dutch oven with her own recipe. She adds diced Roma tomatoes, corn, black, kidney and pinto beans, a yellow onion, garlic, tomato paste and salt to chicken stock and lets it cook down. She browns either ground moose or ground bear with taco seasoning in a separate pan and adds it to the soup. She allows time for the flavors to simmer together before serving and tops the bowl with cilantro and shredded cheese. This is a meal that I will eat for lunch and dinner for days afterwards until it is all gone and never get tired of it.

My wife also makes an Alfredo pasta and sauce from scratch that is to die for. We used to make it with shrimp, but I started substituting with halibut instead. I place a fillet of halibut in some foil with butter, dill, sliced lemon, olive oil and salt. I bake it at 425 for several minutes and pull it out before it gets too firm. It’s a wonderful and light side for the dense and creamy pasta.

Another of our favorite meals is a bear teriyaki rice bowl. I’ll make a fresh pot of white rice while I brown the ground bear meat in soy sauce, teriyaki, minced ginger, garlic, green onions, carrots and celery. Once the meat is browned and the vegetables softened, I pour it over the rice and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. I like to add a bit of sriracha sauce for a kick. It’s a light meal with a lot of tasty vegetables.

A meal that no one can resist this time of year is a slow cooked moose roast. I’ll turn my insta pot to its longest, slowest cook setting and add chicken stock as my base. I’ll add my frozen moose roast to the stock along with yellow onion, celery, carrots, potatoes, garlic and a sliced apple. I just add salt and pepper for seasoning and will cook the meat until it pulls apart with a fork. This is a big, hearty meal and can usually get me two or three days worth of leftover meals.

A simple, light lunch might be a baked salmon fillet with crackers and cheese. I’ll cook my salmon alongside whatever I’m making for dinner and save it in the fridge to eat cold the following day. I place the salmon fillet in foil with olive oil, butter, some Montreal steak seasoning and the Summit Spice and Tea Company Halibut Cove mix of dill, salt, tarragon, paprika and white pepper. I bake it at 425 for about 12-15 minutes and flake it apart and place it in the fridge to cool. I’ll take pieces of the fish out every day for lunch for a quick and nutritious lunch that doesn’t have to be reheated.

Other meals we enjoy include bear gravy over biscuits, moose and bear lasagna, an Asian bbq smoked deer backstrap with hot mustard, smoked salmon strips and simple steaks with a side salad and homemade bread. The possibilities with wild game and fish are endless, and now is the time to experiment with new recipes for the entire family to enjoy.