ELK MEATBALL LENTIL SOUP RECIPE

Adding wild game meat to Lentil soup makes a memorable and unique flare. You can use various wild game meats and cuts from chuck roast, steaks, to burger. For this recipe today I chose to use sweet Italian elk sausage meat, that we seasoned and ran through the grinder when we processed the animal several months ago. Inventing new ways to cook the hundreds of pounds of meat that we harvest every year from elk hunting and other pursuits is the fun part.

Lentil Soup Ingredients
● Meat (Ground or Cubed) - I chose ground Elk Sweet Italian Sausage
● Lentils - I usually use a mix of red, green and brown, but use a lot less reds if you do,
because they tend to get mushy.
● Celery, Carrots, Onion, Parsley
● Garlic - Minced (Don’t be afraid to add more!)
● Collards Greens or Kale
● Diced Tomatoes
● Vegetable broth (3 parts), Beef Broth (1 Part): Use enough fluid to cover the
requirements of the lentils times 2.
● White Wine Vinegar - Few Splashes for taste
● Seasoning - Cumin(Lots), Thyme (Lots too), Salt, Pepper, All Spice
● Olive Oil and/or Butter
● Parmesan Cheese - Sprinkle at the end if your into that sort of thing

Cook the Meat

Start by getting the meat cooking, as you will need it to finish the soup. I chose to put the elk meatballs in the smoker for added flavor at 225F for 1 hour. Once Cooked set aside until the end.

Making the Lentil Soup

Start heating the vegetable/beef broth and add a few dashes of vinegar. Once a boil is achieved, add the diced tomatoes and lentils and reduce the heat to medium, and cover for 20-30 minutes or until the lentils are tender.

At the same time dice the celery, carrots, onion and parsley up and sauté using olive oil and butter for 8-10 minutes on medium heat. Add garlic and others seasonings. Once tender, add to
the broth.

Add the cooked meat to the broth and cook for another 10 minutes at minimum, so that the tastes between broth and meat begin to infuse.

Finally add the collard greens and allow for a final 10 minutes of cook time and you are ready to serve. Remember you can always add more seasoning, but its impossible to remove once the damage is done, so I usually season as I go, and continue to taste the broth until I get to the best compliment of taste for my pallet. Happy Cooking!

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