Venison Ragout with Parsley Biscuits

An interesting dish, originally from the Tabasco cookbook. Not actually all that spicy in my opinion but it is quite nice the way you bake the biscuits ontop of the ragout. This recipe would probably work well with beef instead of venison. You'll need a big enough frying pan to hold virtually all the ingredients. A 12" pan should be fine.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• Venison Ragout

• 4  ounces bacon, diced
• 1  lb  venison shoulder, cut into 1 chunks 3 large carrots, peeled & cut into 1/2 slices
• 3  large parsnips, peeled & cut into 1/2 " slices
• 1  cup  white pearl onion
• 1  tablespoon margarine (or butter)
• 6  ounces mushrooms, halved
• 2  cloves garlic, minced
• 1  cup red wine
• 1  tablespoon cornstarch
• 1  cup water
• 2  tablespoons parsley, chopped fresh
• 1  tablespoon tomato paste
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1  teaspoon Tabasco sauce (or more to taste)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon thyme, dried

• Parsley Biscuit Batter

• 2  cups flour (all-purpose)
• 1  tablespoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 cup margarine or 1⁄4 cup butter, cut into small pieces
• 1  cup buttermilk
• 3  tablespoons parsley, chopped fresh
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Fry bacon on medium heat until crisp.
2. Remove to a (2 qt shallow size) casserole dish but leave bacon fat in frying pan.
3. Raise heat to medium high and cook the venison chunks in the bacon fat until well browned.
4. Remove to the casserole dish but again leave the drippings.
5. Now at medium heat, in the same pan, fry the carrots, parsnips and onions for about 5 minutes.
6. Add the butter, mushrooms and minced garlic.
7. Cook until tendercrisp or about 5 minutes.
8. Add cornstarch to the wine so that it can dissolve and then add wine, bacon and the venison and the rest of the ingredients to the vegetables in the frying pan.
9. Bring to a boil at high heat and then remove to the caserole.
10. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.
11. Meanwhile we can prepare the Parsley Biscuits.
12. Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
13. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into the mixture until it resembles corse crumbs.
14. Add buttermilk and parsley and stir to moisten.
15. After the venison has baked for 30 minutes remove the casserole from the oven.
16. Increase oven to 450 degrees.
17. To make 6 biscuits we drop 1/3 cup sized dough scoops onto mixture in casserole.
18. Allow some separation between each dough drop so that you don't end up with one big biscuit.
19. Bake uncovered for another 12-15 minutes or until biscuits are golden.
20. Serve!