Here you will find many of the recipes we use often to make delicious meals. This will make it easier to find them hopefully. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to find your favorite. Don’t forget to check out our blog for more great recipes!!!!
Hot Toddy
1 steeped cup of regular black tea
1 teaspoon of honey (Two Branches Honey, of course or can substitute maple syrup)
1 teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 ounce whiskey
Steep tea 3-5 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Perfect for those cold winter nights!
Maple Bourbon Glazed Smoked Duck
1 duck, 2-3 lbs
Cracked black pepper
The Brine (also great for chicken and pork)
4 cups of cold water
¼ cup of kosher salt
¼ cup maple syrup
1 oz of bourbon
1 tsp cracked black pepper
The Glaze
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tbsp bourbon
Whisk together the brine ingredients until the salt is dissolved. Pour over the duck in a large bowl. If you don’t have enough brine to cover the duck, don’t panic, just add a little more water. We also use a trick here that we learned from making sauerkraut. Place a small plate over the duck in the brine and it helps to keep it immersed and to keep it from “floating”. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
About an hour before cooking, soak the apple wood chips in warm water.
After 6 hours, remove the duck from the brine and rinse the duck inside and out thoroughly with cold water. Place the duck on the smoker rack, and season simply with a sprinkle of black pepper. (let the smoke do the seasoning for you!) Smoke the duck according to your smoker’s directions with the wood chips that you have been soaking. We smoke ours at about 225 degrees for 2 hours or until the internal temp reaches 165 degrees. (There are varying degrees of duck “doneness”, this is just our preference.)
After the first hour of smoking, mix the glaze ingredients. Brush the glaze over the duck, then brush again every 15 minutes. After the agonizing wait for your duck to be done, remove from the smoker and enjoy!
CREAMY TURKEY VEGETABLE SOUP
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
soft taco recipe
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons crisco
1 1/2 cups water
Mix all dry ingredients in mixer then add crisco, blend until the mixture looks like crumbs. Add water slowly until dough sticks to hook. Make small dough balls about 1.5 inches in diameter, and either roll out or press into a 5″ circle. Then cook in lightly greased hot cast iron pan, until lightly browned on each side.
pasta dough recipe
4 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
4 eggs (from our chickens and ducks)
2 tbs of olive oil
water
In the mixer, blend the flour and salt together. With the mixer off, make a well in the center of the flour/salt mixture and add the eggs to the center of the well along with the olive oil. With the dough hook attached, start blending in the eggs on a slow speed, increasing speed to 4 as the eggs incorporate. Once combined, continue mixing and add water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough all sticks to the dough hook. Once the dough is in a ball, allow the dough to knead for 5 minutes. Then place dough in a bowl covered with plastic wrap to rest for at least 30 minutes. After 30 min it is time to roll out and cut or use a pasta press like we do. This is a wonderful attachment that hooks to our kitchen aid mixer. You just put the dough in and out comes pasta. We then hang the pasta to dry briefly before cooking al dente.
Italian Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
- 2 to 3 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Again our kitchen aid mixer and its dough hook come in handy. First we combine yeast, sugar, and 1 cup warm water in bowl of the kitchen aid’s bowl and let stand 5 minutes.
Next we add 2 cups flour, oil, and salt to bowl, and beat at low speed, using dough hook attachment, 1 minute. Gradually add additional flour until dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Then increase speed to medium, and beat 5 minutes. Cover bowl of dough with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down, and let stand 10 minutes longer. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
After 10 minutes of resting, turn dough out on lightly floured board and shape into a loaf about 12″ long. Transfer to a greased or parchment lined (our preference) baking sheet. With a very sharp knife, make 3 or 4 slits across the loaf to allow for air to escape. Brush lightly with olive oil and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Note:this recipe works great for any type of rolls too! Just decrease baking time a bit since it will be smaller in shape.
Pizza Dough
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups of flour
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup of very warm water (about 100 degrees F)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp olive oil, plus additional for bowl
In a warmed mixer bowl (we run hot water in in for a minute or two), stir together the water and yeast. Once the yeast is dissolved, stir in the salt and the 2 tsp of olive oil. Add 2 1/2 cups of flour to the bowl. With the dough hook attachment, mix on speed 4 for about 2 minutes. Slowly add additional flour and mix until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl and is all gathered on the hook. Once the dough is on the hook, mix for an additional 2 minutes to knead. Transfer to an olive oil coated bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place** for about an hour or until doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 450 deg F.
After the dough has risen, punch the dough down and turn out on a lightly floured board. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to about 1/4″ thickness then transfer to a greased cookie sheet (we use a large 13″ x 17″, but this dough could be easily divided into 2 smaller pizzas or 4 personal size pizzas). Stretch the dough to the edges then top with whatever toppings you like.
Bake for 15 minutes and enjoy!
**here’s a tip, before making the dough, we turn our oven on, temperature not relevant, leave it on for about 30 seconds, then turn it off. It creates a perfect warm “proofing box” for the dough. If it seems too warm when you are ready to let your dough rise, just leave your oven door open while the dough is rising. We use this method for all of our yeast risen baking.
kale and sausage stuffed venison
Venison Roast (2-3 lb.)
1/2 lb bulk Italian sausage, sweet or hot
1/4 cup frozen cooked kale
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup Vermouth or white wine for de-glazing pan
1 cup chicken stock
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Butcher’s twine
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a cast iron pan lightly coated in olive oil, over med/high heat, brown the sausage. Once browned, toss in the kale and stir to combine. Remove from heat and set aside.
Using a very sharp knife, butterfly the roast. Slice the roast in half as if you were going to filet it, but do not go all the way through. Open the roast like a book. Then on the left side, working from the middle crease, filet the roast again, also not going all the way through, open the flap you just created, then repeat on the right side. (I will confess here, I learned this technique years ago from a youtube video, so feel free to look that up) You will end up with a relatively flat quadruple sized roast. Lay a gallon sized freezer bag over the meat and pound out to about 1/2 inch uniform thickness
Using about an 18″ piece of butchers twine, make a loop in one end and slide under the roast as shown. Spoon the sausage/kale mixture over the meat and spread out leaving about 1/2 around the edge. Set your cast iron pan aside as you will use it for the sauce.
Now the fun part. Start to roll up the roast as tight as you can, rolling away from you and keeping the twine underneath. Once rolled, place the seam side down. Grab the loose end of the twine and feed it through the loop. Wrap the twine around the roast and when you come back around, feed your loose end under the twine and repeat until you get to the end of the roast. Tie off in a knot and cut off any excess.
Season the outside with salt and pepper and roast on an olive oil coated rack on a baking sheet. 60 minutes for med rare, adding additional time for more well done meat.
While the venison is roasting, add a drizzle of olive oil to the cast iron pan you cooked the sausage in, and heat to medium. Once heated, add the onion and cook until the onion is caramelized and yummy. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vermouth or wine. Return the pan to the heat and stir with a whisk, picking up all of the leftover sausage bits. Once all of the bits are off the pan and combined, and the vermouth is reduced by about 1/2, add the mustard and chicken stock. Stir to combine and heat through. Turn the heat off.
After the roast is cooked to your liking, remove it to a cutting board. Let the roast rest for 10 minutes. Carefully cut and remove the twine and slice your stuffed roast. I like to cut it on a bit of an angle, it just looks so pretty! Arrange the slices on a plate, quickly heat the sauce and pour over the sliced roast. Enjoy!!!
Venison Meatballs
1 lb each of ground beef, pork and venison
1/2 cup of plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
olive oil
Marinara Sauce, waiting patiently on your stove
In a large bowl, combine the 3 ground meats. Add the bread crumbs, parmesan, egg and seasonings. With clean hands (or I sometimes use gloves) mix all of the ingredients together until well combined.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat a large baking sheet with olive oil (I personally hate to scrub dishes, so I also line the baking sheet with aluminum foil). Shape into meatballs that are about 2″ in diameter. Don’t mind those few sausages that joined the meatball party, they were just waiting to be used in the freezer!
Place on baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, turning once during the baking time. After 30 minutes, remove the meatballs from the pan and place directly into the sauce. Simmer in the sauce for another 30 minutes or until the meat is thoroughly cooked through and absorbed some of the sauce.
Serve over your favorite pasta, or if you want to take it to the next level, put the meatballs and a little sauce in a 13 x 9 baking pan, cover with mozzarella, and pop under your broiler for a few minutes. After the cheese is melted and lightly browned, you will have made an amazing meatball parmigiana!
Jambalaya
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 lb sausage links, we use hot Italian, but can substitute andouille, cut into 3 pieces each
1/2 lb raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp oregano
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 small onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, finely minced or crushed
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a cast iron dutch oven on med/high heat, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil. Brown the chicken in 2 batches. No need to cook through, just browning at this time. Remove each batch to a plate and set aside. In the same pot, brown the sausage pieces (if using andouille, skip this browning step) and set aside with the chicken.
Add the second tablespoon of olive oil to the pot. On med/high heat, saute the pepper, onion and garlic until slightly softened. Add the cayenne, red pepper flakes, paprika and oregano to the pot with the vegetables. Stir to combine and warm seasonings. (I find that doing this is a trick to “wake up” dried spices)
Add the chicken stock, tomatoes and rice. Stir to combine. Add the chicken and sausage back to the pot, and don’t forget to include all those yummy juices that have accumulated on the plate. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer and set a timer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off heat, uncover, add shrimp and stir to combine. Re-cover and leave covered for 5 minutes with the heat off. (trust me, your shrimp will cook!) After those 5 long minutes have passed, give the jambalaya one more stir and serve!
Marquette Wine Recipe
- Pick and remove stems and green grapes.
- Crush grapes slightly and put into fermenter
- Check Sugar content (brix)
- If brix is too low, add sugar, we shoot for a brix of 23 or higher
- Add a packet bourgovin rc212 yeast per 5 gal
- Top with fermentation lock
- After vigorous fermentation ends squeeze grapes and discard skins and seeds
- Put into glass carboy and rack monthly check gravity to see when your wine is finished fermenting ours finished a 0.990
- After six months bottle wine. It is best to wait a year to drink it.
two branches homestead 