Taste of the Wild: Venison Sausage-Stuffed Portobello Caps

A recipe featured in the Outdoor News Taste of the Wild by Brad Trumbo

When you harvest your deer, you always end up with some random bags of scraps that normally go into the stew pot or are used for jerky.
Consider an uncased sausage grind using venison, diced pork shoulder, and a fine Italian seasoning blend. Brad Trumbo says this delectable sausage grind makes a superb ingredient for breakfast, pizza, soup, and one of his family’s favorites, this recipe for sausage-stuffed portobello caps.

Ingredients:

4 portobello mushrooms with the stems and gills removed
1 pound Italian venison sausage *
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced (optional)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon oregano
2 teaspoons fennel (optional)
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated
8 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Black pepper
Fresh or dried basil, parsley, or fennel for garnish (optional)

Preparation: Serving Size:4 Time to Make: 45 Minutes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Clean mushroom caps. Remove stems from mushrooms and use a spoon to scrape out the gills. Arrange mushroom caps on a baking sheet, brush with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Mix the venison sausage with the Worcestershire sauce, and brown in a pan over medium heat. Remove sausage from pan. Using the same pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and when hot, add the onions and bell peppers.

Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until the onions are caramelized,
stirring frequently.

Add the minced garlic and oregano and sauté for an additional 30 seconds. Add the sausage back into the pan and mix well. Spoon sausage mixture into the mushroom caps and top with a mix of the shredded cheeses. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and mushrooms are tender.

If desired, finish under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes to brown the
cheese. Garnish with basil, parsley, and/or fennel, if desired.

*Looking for venison sausage recipes? Check out Eileen Clarke’s cookbook titled “Sausage Season.” It’s available online at www.rifleandrecipes.com

About the Contributor:

Brad Trumbo is a biologist, author, and outdoor columnist from southeast Washington state where he’s a member of the Blue Mountain Pheasants Forever chapter and the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association. He pens
conservation news for Harvesting Nature and authored the upland hunting book, “Wingshooting the Palouse,” which is available from Ingram Spark and Amazon. You can find Trumbo on Instagram @tailfeathers_upland and at www.bradtrumbo.com

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