This recipe is an inspiration from a dear friend of mine, Valerie Johnson, or better known on social media and elsewhere as Farmgal. While visiting a few weeks back she cooked up an amazing stuffed Beef Steak Roll Up. So tasty, that I had to try it for myself. Of course I had to put my own spin on it. Instead of using beef I used venison and did individual roll-ups and had to include Chaga to the mix.
INGREDIENTS
1 pound of Venison steaks (cut into 4 strips)
3/4 cup or about 4oz of cream cheese of your choice
(I used a mix of herb garlic and plain)
½ of a smaller onion julienned
½ of a pepper julienned (colour of your choice)
8 pieces of bacon
¼ cup of cold berry burst tea
2 tbsp of margarine or butter
8 toothpicks
DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat your oven to 350. Slice up your venison into 4 pieces. Approximately 1 ½ x 8 inches. Between 2 pieces of parchment paper, flatten the pieces of steak with the flat end of a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin. They should be about a quarter inch thick.
Combine the 2 cream cheeses. Spoon out your cream cheese and spread over each piece leaving the ends bear about half an inch from each end.
Take a quarter of your peppers and lay them across each steak at one end. Do the same with the onion pieces. Roll them up and wrap 2 bacon pieces per steak and secure with two toothpicks.
Put 1 tbsp of margarine in the roasting pan and prop up your roll ups about 1/2 an inch apart. Place in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until your peppers and onions begin to brown at the top.
Crank up the oven to about 450 and let the bacon crisp up for about another 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. This will allow the juices to settle.
Remove the Roll-Ups and place in a separate plate and cover with tin foil.
Place the roasting pan over one of the stove burners and turn on low. Juices will have accumulated in the pan. Scrape any of the bits that have stuck to the pan and add in the berry burst tea. Simmer on low for about 5 minutes. It will begin to thicken ever so slightly. Turn off the burner once this happens and add the other tbsp of margarine and stir. Remember this is not a sauce but more like an Au Jus.
Spoon a few tablespoons of the Au Jus over your roll ups and your potatoes if you so choose. So yummy. I must try.