I like to experiment with cooking. Sometimes it's a disaster but sometimes it titillates the taste buds. I had that experience yesterday. Once a year the freezer gets defrosted and sometimes I find a forgotten treasure. Buried along with a bag of apple slices from two years ago was a bag with two breast halves from a sharptail grouse. I only take a couple sharptails during any season and usually only a suicidal close flush. I enjoy eating them but don't go out of my way to find them, as Kay doesn't care for the heavy dark meat. However, I recall this bird was not at all a close flush. I had just gotten out of the vehicle with my hunting partner to check out a dry slough for cattail roosters. A couple sharptails immediately flushed and headed for the far-off creek. I watched them go and then saw that one was making a big circle and was coming back. By then we were loaded up and walking the cattails. The sharptail came right to me and was taken like a decoying mallard. Not a normal sharptail shot but you take what you get. We also have an apple tree that can produce in abundance or take time off to re-gain the energy to repeat. A couple years back that tree was so loaded that we had to give a lot away. I spent many days coring slicing and dicing apples. They soaked in lemon juice so they didn't brown before being frozen. There were bags and bags and bags of apple slices in the freezer and one got lost along with the sharptail. The apples were fine and the sharptail had some freezer burn.
The meal became an experiment with the sharptail, an apple crisp and a store bought chicken breast for Kay.
MAPLE BUTTER SHARPTAIL GROUSE
2 Sharptail grouse breast halves
1/8 cup Butter
1/4 cup Maple Syrup
2 thick slices Sweet White Onion
1/4 cup Flour
1/2 cup Finely Ground Almonds
1 tbsp. Tarragon
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
GOOD OL' FASHIONED APPLE CRISP
4 - 6 cups Apple slices
1 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/8 cup Cinnamon
1 tbsp. Nutmeg
1 cup Walnuts/Pecans
1 cup Flour
1 cup Oatmeal
1/4 cup Butter
STORE BOUGHT CHICKEN BREAST
Do as you please
MAPLE BUTTER SHARPTAIL GROUSE
If frozen thaw first then,
Let soak in lemon juice for 15 minutes
Add flour, ground almonds, and tarragon into a bag and shake to mix. (you can add any of your favorite spices as well)
Remove breasts from lemon juice and drop separately into the bag. Shake until coated and repeat for second breast half.
Place onto parchment paper lined baking tray
Drizzle with maple syrup
Add a solid slice of butter to the top of each breast half
Place a thick slice of sweet onion on top of the butter slice
Pour the lemon juice used for soaking the breasts onto the tray but do not pour over the prepared breasts as some of the coating will come off.
Place tray into oven pre-heated to 350 degrees. Check after 20 minutes. Depending on the thickness of the meat, it can take 20 to 30 minutes to slice easily and be juicy but not bloody.
This could just be the best sharptail grouse you have ever eaten. I credit the butter for that. Even though this one was slightly freezer burned I only had to trim just a little on the plate. Very tender and certainly not gamey in any way. Definitely not store bought chicken though
Serve with a few favorite veggies and follow with a favorite dessert or make this one ahead of time.
GOOD OL' FASHIONED APPLE CRISP
Spray a 9 x 12 baking dish with PAM or similar product
Fill to top with apple slices
Sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar over top
Sprinkle the cinammon and nutmeg over top
Add walnuts/pecans
In a large measuring cup melt the butter and add flour, oatmeal and 1 cup brown sugar. Mix together. Place mixture on top of the filled dish and pat down with back of large spoon.
Place in oven pre-heated to 350 degrees.
Bake for approximately 30 minutes, checking to make sure crisp topping does not start to burn. A black topped crisp doesn't taste great
There you have it. A good day afield. An afternoon in the kitchen. A great meal that serves two seniors or one teenager asking for more
Cheers,
Jack