Danielle Prewett didn’t like pot roast as a child.
Yet there is a recipe for it in her new cookbook. Why? As the Texas chef revealed to Fox News Digital, it has everything to do with her acquired love of hunting, which she inherited from her husband.
“I married a hunter – so he brought in a lot of what some people would consider exotic meatsuch as wild ducks, rabbits and venison,” Prewett said. ‘And I just thought it was really fascinating that I had the opportunity to work with a protein that you can’t buy in the supermarket. And so that was kind of my first introduction to cooking game.” (See the video at the top of this article.)
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Game meat is an important ingredient in her winter recipe for stew from her debut cookbook ‘Wild + Whole’.
The cookbook is divided into recipes from each of the four seasons. The book was two and a half years in the making, Prewett said.
Danielle Prewett developed her husband’s love of hunting. She now enjoys cooking the venison from the animals she hunts, she said, like this mule deer. (Cody MacCready)
It took so long to come together because Prewett wrote the recipes during the seasons in which they appear in the book.
Prewett said it was important to her “that it felt like you were in that immersive experience every time you went through the chapters in the book.”
She added: “This was really a cookbook that had its roots in finding the ingredients outside in nature as much as I could.”
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Prewett found this to be true with her winter pot roast recipe, which she alternately called “Not My Momma’s Pot Roast.”
Prewett said, “I have really embraced braising and cooking slow cooking meat when working with wild game, because it is an animal that is naturally very tough. So I wanted to find a way to take that same nostalgic recipe, but just figure out how to make it better, honestly.”
Prewett tried to find as many ingredients as possible ‘out in nature’. (Cody MacCready)
Describing the recipe in her cookbook, Prewett wrote: “As an adult, I made the shocking discovery that stew can indeed be very tasty and knew I had to do my best to the court use venison. The result was tender, juicy and flavorful – definitely not my mother’s stew.”
Prewett’s recipe also allows for alternatives.
Winter stew with celeriac root and gremolata by Danielle Prewett
For 4 to 6 people
I can roast
1 medium celeriac (about 1 pound)
2½ pounds deer or beef neck, shoulder, oxsobuco, or oxtail (see note)
Kosher salt and freshly ground
Black pepper
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1 tablespoon beef fat or neutral oil, such as avocado or grapeseed oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced and rinsed well to remove any grit
2 parsnips or carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons dry white wine
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1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
A few sprigs of thyme and/or rosemary
6 cups chicken stock, homemade or store-bought
Note: If using beef instead of venison, opt for a roast or trimmed brisket. The only difference is a shorter cooking time, 2 to 3 hours.
Creamy polenta
1 1⁄2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 cup quick-cooking polenta
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Gremolata
Cut 2 tablespoons of minced meat
Celery, celery leaves or fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
The winter stew (right) is a recipe from Prewett’s cookbook “Wild + Whole.” It contains celeriac and gremolata. (Rodale Boeken/Danielle Prewett)
Directions
1. Make the pot roast: Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Peel the celeriac and cut it into 2.5 cm pieces. Set aside.
3. Cut the venison into large pieces (10 to 15 cm) across the grain and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat the tallow in a Dutch oven over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the meat, in batches if necessary, and cook until browned on both sides, 4 to 5 minutes total. Transfer the meat to a plate and set aside.
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4. If the pan looks dry, add more oil, then add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to turn golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, for a few more minutes until soft. Stir in the parsnips, celery and celeriac and cook for a few more minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, less than 1 minute. Add the wine and lemon juice. Let the alcohol evaporate, then stir and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. Place the herb sprigs in the pot. Return the venison pieces to the pan and add enough stock to come about halfway up the sides of the meat (you may not need all the stock).
This winter stew from Prewett’s cookbook “Wild + Whole” is made with venison. (Danielle Prewett)
6. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven. Braise for about 4 hours, until the meat is done. About three-quarters of the way through the cooking time, leave the lid ajar to allow the liquid to reduce and turn the meat if the top looks dried out. (If the liquid reduces too much, you can add a splash of stock to the pot.)
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7. Meanwhile, make the polenta: Combine 1 1⁄2 cups water, the milk, salt, and pepper in a 2-quart saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Stir in the polenta and reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and Parmesan cheese. Let the polenta rest uncovered to thicken; serve hot.
8. Make the gremolata: In a small bowl, stir together the chopped celery, lemon zest, Parmesan cheese and garlic. Set aside until ready to serve.
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9. Spoon the polenta onto serving plates. Top with the stew meat and vegetables, garnish with the gremolata and serve.
This recipe is owned by Danielle Prewett and was shared with Fox News Digital. It appears in “Wild + Whole” (Rodale Books).
