This is one of my favorite cold-weather venison recipes that can be done in the crockpot, dutch oven (I don't have one), or stovetop. Normally this is best done with a venison roast, but venison steaks work really well too. Everything is cooked low and slow since there's not a lot of fat to venison and it really needs the extra time to break down and become tender. I used the stovetop method here because I wanted the meat to get browned on the outside.
Ingredients:
2 lb venison roast or 4-5 small steaks
2 cups each of potatoes (white potatoes hold their shape better), carrots, celery in 1" cubes
1 cup onion in 1" pieces
5 T minced garlic
2 T tomato paste
4 cups beef broth (I normally use broth Gram makes from the neck meat but this was used up since this is last year's deer)
3 T fresh thyme or rosemary
2 bay leaves
Salt/pepper to taste
Instructions:
1) Heat 2 T oil on medium-high heat in a large pot. Season the roast/steaks with salt/pepper and sear on all sides for 1-2 minutes each side until browned then remove
2) Add more oil if needed, reduce heat to medium and add the onion, cooking until slightly tender. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute then add tomato paste. Allow the paste to brown to add more flavor.
3) Add the beef broth (scrape everything up from the bottom), the remaining vegetables (you can add the potatoes later if you think they'll get mushy), herbs, bay leaves, salt/pepper, and meat back in. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until the meat is tender and can pull apart with a fork.
If using a crockpot, brown the meat first in another pan, add some broth to the hot pan to get all the flavor left behind from the steaks. Then add everything to the crockpot and cook on low for 5-6 hours
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