If you loved pickled vegetables and spicy mayo, you're in business.
There's a small family-owned restaurant right down the road from my house. In it, they have a meal item that isn't on the menu. You have to know what it is to order it. They call it the "Amendment."
It consists of steamed white rice topped with Italian beef, giadiniera vegetables, spicy mayo and teriyaki sauce. It's absolutely amazing. So, with that in mind, I decided to try to make this recipe at home, only using venison. This giardiniera recipe is exactly what I came up with.
To get things started, you have to have a taste for the Italian side of the cooking tree. If not, that's why there is some Asian inspired flare here as well. The spicy mayo and teriyaki sauce really pulls everything together. The white vinegar taste of the giardiniera recipe also makes it pretty special. However, I didn't have that little restaurant's special recipe, so I just used jarred stuff from the grocery store, and it worked just as well.
There are a lot of variations you can use to really make this recipe your own. For example, mix in garlic cloves, hot peppers or even green olives to add even more taste to an already-flavorful dish. I found myself adding red pepper flakes to the end result, too. My wife isn't one for spicy food, however, so she went pretty light on the mayo. Our son, though, loved the small florets of a cauliflower as well as the bell peppers. Again, you can really make this all how you want. For venison though, this just worked for us.
Asian Inspired Venison Giardiniera
- Venison roast
- Olive oil
- 2 cups water
- 2 jars Italian giardiniera
- White rice
- Spicy mayo
- Teriyaki sauce
- Diced white onions
- Shredded cilantro
To get this recipe started, brown a whole venison roast in a hot pan coated in olive oil. Once browned, place it in a slow cooker or crockpot on low for a total time of at least six hours. Make sure you have enough water to cover the roast at least halfway. Also, I placed an entire diced white onion in the roast, too, just for flavor. It's best to do this in the morning so you can eat it when you get home from work.
When the roast is complete, drain most of the water and shred it using a couple forks so it's basically like something you see on Italian beef sandwiches. Place the lid back on the top to keep the shredded roast warm.
Next, cook your favorite white rice to the directions on the box. This is pretty simple. I'm not going into detail here because I'm confident you got this. It's rice for crying out loud.
The final product
Once the rice is done and the venison is warm and shredded, simply layer the venison on top of the bed of rice. Now, give a splash of teriyaki sauce, followed by a coating of the giardiniera vegetables and cilantro. For the topper, spread around some Asian spicy mayo and you are ready to eat.
The white vinegar taste, mixed with the teriyaki and spicy mayo makes a flavor you are going to crave. I found myself making sandwiches of this the next day after all the rice was gone. My son, who is three, loved it as well. My wife, on the hand, thought the little restaurant down the way still had a better dish. They make their own Italian giardiniera, though. So, you gotta give credit where it's due.
If you would like to try to make your own giardiniera inspired vegetable dish, it's actually fairly easy to make these vegetables yourself. Simply get some serrano peppers, red bell peppers, green olives, green bell peppers, cauliflower florets, some diced celery stalks, one cup of salt and a diced-up medium carrot. From there, soak it all in water for about a day. Drain it from the saltwater then soak it again in olive oil and white vinegar for another day. The final product will be a giardiniera recipe that any Chicago-style hotdog lover will eat with a spoon.
However, if you have a solid venison roast, it's pretty dang good mixed in with that, too.
NEXT: HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE APPLE PIE MOONSHINE
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