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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 2016)
8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016 Local Recipes for Hunting Season Durkee Steak and place on paper towel to drain off oil. Saute the mush- rooms in the same pan then return the meat to the pan. Whisk tomato paste and wine together in small bowl then add to the pan. Homemade Goodness Coat the venison with By Eileen Driver the sauce, then cover and sim- Hunting season is upon us and since grass fed non- mer for 30 or more minutes antibiotic or non-GMO-fed till meat is done to your preference. meat is the very healthiest This is great served with meat we can possibly eat, I either mashed potatoes figured it was time to talk or noodles. And since I about some mouth water- love garlic on just about ing venison recipes. everything and it’s really If you are really adven- easy to grow, I thought I turous and know your would share with you how mushrooms, you could go to make it at home. pick some of those for this Homemade Garlic one as well, but beware Powder of mushrooms that look Peel garlic cloves and tasty but are really poison slice into thin strips. Place in disguise. Since I have yet to learn all the different on cookie sheet and place into 150- degree oven for mushrooms I usually just 1 to 2 hours turning often buy them, but I have also until dry and crumbly. grown my own, which is Place in blender and kinda fun too. grind. Sift to separate fine Venison & Mushrooms powder from the chunks. in Red Wine Sauce Store the chunks and 2 pounds venison sliced powder in airtight contain- ½” thick ½ teaspoon garlic powder ers or freeze for long term storage. 1 teaspoon onion powder The chunks of dried 2 pounds mushrooms, garlic are really good on sliced or whole pizza or in sauces and of ¼ cup oil course the powdered garlic 6 ounces tomato paste can be sprinkled on almost Flour for dredging everything. Of course we 1 cup dry red wine all know how much I love Salt & pepper my crockpot so this next Season venison with one is perfect and it works garlic and onion on both equally as well with elk or sides. moose. Dredge in flour and Venison in Mushroom brown on both sides in Gravy heated oil. 2 cans or equivalent Remove meat from pan homemade cream of mush- room soup 1 envelope or homemade dry onion soup mix 2 cups beef broth 1 tsp garlic powder 2 tsp onion powder ½ tsp parsley Salt & pepper 1 cup fresh sliced mush- rooms 3-4 pounds venison roast ⅓ cup sour cream Put a crockpot liner in the crockpot. Add the cream of mush- room soup, dry onion soup mix, beef broth, garlic powder, onion powder and parsley whisking together till smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in mushrooms. Place the venison roast in the crockpot and coat with sauce. Cook on low 8 hours if roast thawed or on high 8-10 hours if frozen or until meat falls apart. Stir in sour cream just before serving. Serve over rice, noodles, potatoes or buttered bread. As long as we are mak- ing homemade garlic powder we might as well make homemade onion powder as well, that way we will know for sure that there are no weird fillers in there. Homemade Onion Powder Slice enough onions in thin slivers to evenly cover a parchment lined cookie sheet. Cook at 150 to 200 degrees ( the low- est your oven will go) for about 2 hours until onion is completely dry. Let cool. Grind with spice grinder or blender. Store in an airtight con- tainer in a cool dry place or freeze for long term storage. This is a really good venison stew recipe that I hope you will enjoy so don’t put away that crockpot just yet. Venison Stew 2-3 pounds venison roast, cut like stew meat 1 can size homemade condensed cream of mush- room soup 1 cup cabernet wine 1 tablespoon beef bouil- lon granules 3 cloves garlic minced 1 ½ teaspoons oregano 1 ½ teaspoons basil 1 tablespoon hot sauce 1 large onion chopped 1 cup sliced fresh mush- rooms 5-7 potatoes, peeled and quartered 4 or so carrots cut to bite size chunks 1 bay leaf ⅓ cup cabernet 3 tablespoons cornstarch Heat slow cooker on high and put in liner. Combine condensed soup, 1 cup cabernet, beef bouillon, garlic, oregano, basil, hot sauce, onion and mushrooms in crockpot. Add venison, potatoes, carrots and bay leaf. Cook on high 5-6 hours. Before serving mix ⅓ cup cabernet and corn- starch together. Stir into sauce till thickens. Serve with nice warm garlic bread or rolls. As you can probably tell from these recipes I love mushrooms any way I can get them. If you don’t you could leave the big ones out but iIcan’t imagine wanting to do that. Either way, enjoy the season and the recipes. feed a success BY CHUCK BUCHANAN News@TheBakerCountyPress.com The 2016 Durkee Steak Feed, held August 27th, 2016 at the Quail Ridge Golf Course in Baker City was a great success. The Steak Feed is organized and presented by the Durkee Community Corp, a non-profit group that uses the funds raised by the Steak Feed to maintain the Durkee Community Hall. As in the past, the Steak Feed was held in conjunction with the Baker City Memory Cruise car show, and many of the classic cars, trucks and hotrods were parked on the fairway at Quail Ridge for Steak Feed attendees to admire and drool over. A new event on Steak Feed day this year was the Baker City Open golf tourna- ment. Both events contributed to the number of hungry diners. According to Cheryl Buchanan, Steak Feed Chairman for the Durkee Community Corp, six hundred fifty two, 14-ounce Certified Angus Beef rib steaks were served to those diners, an increase of one hundred eighty over last year, as well as a large number of hot dog plates for those with a smaller appetite. For the past several years, the steaks for the Steak Feed have come from Baker County Custom Meats, and this year was no exception. Though Certified Angus Beef costs a bit more, it was decided that, in the interest of serving the public the best possible steak, it would be worth the extra dollars. That decision turned out to be a wise one. This reporter heard many good comments about the steaks from the diners, who also were able to fill up on fresh corn on the cob, baked potatoes, fresh cut vegetables and the traditional cowboy pan bread prepared by the Kirby family with help from many of the citizens of the Durkee Valley. The Durkee Steak Feed is a long-standing tradition in Baker County. It originated in the 1940’s as a thank you dinner for the haying crews that traveled the county putting up hay for the local ranchers. Later, as ranches acquired equipment and began putting up their own hay it evolved into a fund-raiser for the Durkee Grange and was held in Hindman Meadow on the banks of Burnt River. For years, busloads of diners would travel from Ontario and other distant towns to partake of good homestyle food and a down-home atmosphere. Still later, as the economy slowed, the Steak Feed was moved up to the Community Hall were numbers continued to dwindle. New life was breathed into the Steak Feed when it moved to Baker City and was held alongside air shows at the Baker Airport for several years. When the air shows ceased, the organizers of the Memory Cruise approached the Community Corp about holding the Steak Feed on the same day as the car show but moving it to the golf course, where it has been ever since. Safe Communities Coalition meets CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Dennis said a youth coalition is in the works also to get high schoolers involved in fixing prob- lems not just leaving it all up to adults. Dennis said, “We want to do more and see this com- munity improve. That’s why we did this tonight so people could learn about what this Coalition is and does.” Members of the Coali- tion were on hand to speak of their roles. First to address the group was Lynette Perry. She spoke of her involve- ment stating, “My true pas- sion is community involve- ment and volunteering. I have a strong belief that good old-fashioned values and community events that reflect those values solidify a community.” Perry has been involved for years with events such as the annual Kiddie Parade and the Easter egg hunt, which she thinks she is into her “third or fourth generation of kids.” She spoke to the impact of “seeing some of those little ones out there and you know there are no parents with them, they’ve managed to get there on their own somehow and you know they probably don’t have a meal at lunch- time but they’ve got their stuff from their egg hunt. It just does your heart good to see that some of these events can make an impact on kids and they remember it for years to come.” Perry stressed the desire to grow the coalition to involve more to help with events involving our youth ‘To keep those old-fash- ioned values alive. We’re old-fashioned town. We have good strong moral be- liefs and sharing that with the rest of our community is key.” Speaking next was Brandy Dougherty, Mental Health Promotion and Pre- vention Coordinator with New Directions Northwest. She addressed the group advising that she mostly deals with bullying and suicide prevention within the schools. She did note other groups, like the Baker County Juvenile Depart- ment and Mayday were also involved in bullying prevention. Dougherty told the group that she had a QPR (Ques- tion, persuade and refer) Gatekeeper training for suicide prevention being held this Saturday. A gatekeeper can be a parent, friend, doctor, case- worker, just about anyone. She stressed the impor- tance members of the com- munity could gain from this hour and a half train- ing from 10-11:30 a.m. Any community member is welcome but space is limited. You can register by calling 541.519.0525. Ray Day, Youth Account- ability Officer with Baker County Juvenile Depart- ment spoke to the group about a program he is involved in called Rewards and Reminders tobacco compliance checks. This program enlists teens to attempt to pur- chase tobacco in various locations around town. If the clerk requires ID and refuses to sell the minor tobacco they are re- warded often with a small donated gift certificate to a local business. If the clerk fails to check ID and is willing to sell the item to the minor, the decoy quietly slips them a note telling them they were about to sell to a minor and reminding them to check ID then leaves without the item or drawing attention to the situation. According to Day there are no punitive repercus- sions unless after being reminded on several occasions the violations continue local law enforce- ment may be notified. Dennis wrapped up the meeting letting the group know that he had provided membership forms for those interested in joining and stated that the Coali- tion meets the 3rd Tuesday of every month at The Little Bagel Shop located at 1780 Main Street at 9 a.m. “I am very strict on staying at one hour,” Den- nis stated. He went on to explain that the members of the Coalition, whether con- cerned citizens, businesses, or employed community improvement persons, everyone benefited from the round table discussions on matters of concern. He cited instances where two or more entities were working toward a solution to a problem but not get- ting a beneficial result but once those entities began working with the coalition, joining resources toward a common goal that problem was more successfully resolved. He said, “By work- ing together that goal is far more likely to be met fully because of working together. That is really what a coalition is about. It’s not about just doing what the Coalition says but its joining your resources to get what you want accomplished better and more thoroughly. We’re a small town, our resources are limited and for us to be spread out as much as we are just doesn’t make sense. Especially when we could all come together and do it better.” If interested in learn- ing more about or join- ing the Coalition contact Rob Dennis at rdennis@ ndninc.org or by calling 541.519.2379. Rail Fire transitions back to local forests The immediate suppres- sion and repair work asso- ciated with containing the 41,716-acre Rail Fire have reached 90% completion. As the risk of the fire escaping, the variety of firefighting tasks, and the number of crews and equipment that are needed has gone down, the management of the Rail Fire can transition back to the local units of the Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur National Forests. This formally occurred on Thursday, September 8 at 6:00 a.m. Today several hundred firefighters and equipment resources are being demo- bilized to return to their home units for rest and new assignments. Work continues by approxi- mately 100 firefighters and equipment operators on the fire area today. They continue disposing of slash created by the firefighting effort, repairing roads, and making fireline surfaces less prone to future ero- sion. Although some smoke will continue to rise from the interior of the Rail Fire area and the weather will warm to 80 degrees this weekend, the risk of future escape is low. Rail Fire information will continue to be avail- able from the National Forest offices and Inciweb, as changes occur. The area immedi- ately around the Rail Fire remains closed due to firefighters working, inte- rior heat, weakened trees and damaged roads. Forest Road 16 remains closed south and east of the fire area. Forest Road 2652 is closed between 2640 and FR13. As fire traffic in the area subsides, some of these roads will reopen. Please check local For- est Service websites and offices for current Closure information. There is also a current Road and Area Closure map at http://inciweb. nwcg.gov/incident/4914 It has been a pleasure working with the local firefighters, overhead resources and communities to complete suppression of the Rail Fire. Brian Gales, Incident Commander of NW IMT #13 noted, “We appreciate the hospitality of the students and faculty of the Burnt River School who hosted our Incident Command Post through the summer and start of classes. Thank you all.” At present, 460 personnel are on the fire, as well as 13 Crews, nine engines, one dozer, and 10 Water tenders. Aircraft include two Type 1 heavy helicop- ters and one Type 3 light helicopter. The cause of the fire is still unknown and under investigation.
