Bison Steak Salad with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes
By: Adam Berkelmans
This quick and easy recipe is bursting with flavor and makes for an excellent, well-balanced lunch or dinner. The recipe can easily be doubled to serve more people as well.
Blistering the cherry tomatoes in this fashion not only provides some interesting textures, but it also breaks the skin of the tomatoes, allowing their juices to seep out, which creates its own natural dressing. Adding aged balsamic vinegar at the end balances out the tomatoes’ acidity with sweetness, while the butter in the pan stands in for the oil you would usually use in a salad dressing.
I found the grassy flavor of bison to go particularly well with these flavors, but the recipe would work just fine for venison, elk, moose, etc.
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
2 bison steaks, loin or round
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon oil or lard
1 tablespoon butter
Black pepper
2 pints cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Mizuna, watercress, baby spinach, or arugula
Aged balsamic vinegar
Preparation:
Season steaks generously with salt.
Melt lard or oil in cast iron pan over high heat. Add steaks and give a hard sear until surface is golden brown, flip and sear again, then turn the temperature to low and continue cooking to medium-rare (130°F). Once nearly done, melt the butter in the skillet and baste the steaks.
Season the steaks with black pepper, then remove to a plate to rest for 5-10 minutes.
Turn the heat to medium and, to the same pan, add the garlic, parsley, and cherry tomatoes. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Cook until tomatoes begin to burst and garlic is golden.
Slice steak, then arrange it on a pile of salad leaves. Spoon the tomato mixture over top of the steak and salad, then drizzle everything with balsamic. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Join the Mule Deer Foundation Today
Good luck this fall and remember to send any success pictures or stories from the field to [email protected] and you could be featured on our website or in our magazine. If this article or any of our articles have helped you become a better hunter or conservation steward, consider becoming a member of the Mule Deer Foundation for only $35 dollars a year. Click here to join: https://muledeer.org/product-category/membership/
Adam Berkelmans
Adam Berkelmans, also known as The Intrepid Eater, is a passionate ambassador for real and wild food and a proponent of nose to tail eating. He spends his time between Ottawa and a cozy lake house north of Kingston, Ontario. When not cooking, he can be found hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening, reading, traveling, and discovering new ways to find and eat food.
