Venison Backstrap with Tomato and Onion Salad
I love grilling venison backstrap and pairing it with this simple tomato and onion salad, made with fresh garden tomatoes, thinly-sliced yellow onions, fresh herbs, and a drizzle of oil and vinegar.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds venison backstrap
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¾ teaspoons black pepper, divided
- 3 large tomatoes, cored and sliced into ½-inch-thick half-moons
- 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced into half moons
- ¼ cup chopped fresh herbs (basil, mint, cilantro, dill, or parsley)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or canola oil
Instructions
- Go deer hunting, harvest a deer, and save all the meat including the backstraps.
- Place the venison backstrap on a cutting board and tenderize with a Jaccard meat tenderizer. Pat steaks dry with paper towels. Combine 1 teaspoon each kosher salt and sugar in small bowl with ½ teaspoon black pepper. Sprinkle ½ of the salt and sugar mixture on 1 side of steaks and press gently to adhere. Flip steaks and repeat with remaining salt and sugar mixture. Let steaks sit at room temperature while you preheat the grill and prepare the tomato salad.
- Get your grill hot and ready for direct cooking at medium heat, 350-400 degrees F. Clean the grates.
- Place tomatoes and onions in a large bowl. Add fresh herbs, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Toss to combine and let stand at room temperature while you grill the steaks.
- Brush the venison backstrap with oil, place on the hot grill, and cook leaving the grill cover open. You need to keep a careful eye on the steak and flip it over every minute, keeping it over direct heat. This will allow the steak to cook thoroughly without burning.
- Cook until an instant read meat thermometer inserted in thickest portion of meat registers 130 degrees F (for medium-rare). Every grill is different, but for mine it usually takes about 6 minutes. Transfer backstrap to cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
- Slice the rested venison backstrap diagonally across the grain into ¼-inch-thick slices. Arrange on a platter with tomato and onion salad. Sprinkle sliced backstrap with remaining ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and serve immediately.
