Norwegian Game Casserole

Autumn in Norway is also the hunting season for Norwegian moose and beside the traditional Norwegian Lamb and Cabbage casserole (Fårikål), there is nothing like a casserole of game with lots of taste of the Norwegian wilderness. After a rainy summer, the forest is packed with mushrooms and chanterelles is my favorite. Living close to the forest, I have no need for buying fresh chanterelles from the grocery store. The ingredients in this casserole has emerged through experimenting my way to find the "right" flavors. A lot of Norwegians would use a few slices of the traditional Norwegian brown cheese in this dish. I prefer a creamy white goat cheese. Others might use cream or creme fraiche, I use heavy sour cream for the taste.

I was planning to prepare this dish 'on location' in the forest on a camping stove, but the rainy wheather continued so I had to use the kitchen stove.

Serve with mashed potatoes and rowanberry or redcurrant jelly.

Bigfoot - Barleywine style ale (9,6%)

Norwegian beer may be hard to find outside Norway, so I recommend a strong potent ale to go with this dish. Bigfoot  Barleywine style ale from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. should be perfect.

Fry finely chopped onions and shallots in slices until soft and add to the saucepan with the fried chanterelles. Then fry parsnip and celery until tender and add to the saucepan. Add heavy sour cream, goat cheese and blackcurrant cordial to the saucepan and let it simmer approx. half an hour. Five minutes before serving add the canned peas in to the saucepan.

Place the chanterelles placed in a preheated frying pan and leave them alone without stirring for a few minutes until the moist is gone. When chanterelles are almost dry add a little butter and canola oil and cook on high heat until they have a nice golden color, but they should not be crisp!

Add a pinch of coarse sea salt, spices, crushed juniper berries, garlic, bay leaf and soy sauce to the saucepan. Pour the beer into the pan and let it simmer on low heat for 1 - 2 hours covered.

Fry the diced bacon until crisp in a frying pan and put into a saucepan. Leave the bacon fat in the frying pan. Fry one third the game for about two minutes until lightly browned in bacon fat and put it into the saucepan with the fried bacon. Repeat with the remaining game. Add a small amount of canola oil if there is too little fat.

Ingredients:

1 pound game meat, cut in to aprox. 1 inch cubes
4 slices of streaky bacon, cut into pieces
3 cloves garlic, slightly crushed
1 tablespoons fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon mixed spices (garlic, pepper, paprika, mustard seeds and caraway seeds)
6 juniper berries, coarsly crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 bay leaf
1 bottle of dark beer (preferably a bavarian style beer)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
white pepper
sea salt

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
10 shalotts, peeled and sliced
1 cup fresh chanterelles or 20 grams dehydrated chanterelles
½ cup celery root, finely chopped
½ cup parsnip, finely chopped
1 tablespoon canola oil for frying

1 cup heavy sour cream
½ cup white goat cheese (Snøfrisk)
1 teaspoon blackcurrant cordial
1 can (15 oz.) of green peas

The hunting season for moose in Norway may vary locally and is usually starting on the first of September to the middle of November. I do not have a hunting license, so I have to buy the game meat at the local grocery store.