Rustic Ground Bison and Beef Skillet

Rustic Ground Bison and Beef Skillet

My husband and I have been together for years. I think about 17 or so. One of the first presents that I gave him was a really nice cast iron skillet. I think that every cook really needs a few good skillets and my husband was thrilled to get it. I also bought him his first set of Pyrex glassware including measuring glasses and storage containers because my parents had done the same for me. We hope that you love this Rustic Ground Bison and Beef Skillet.

Our top skillet recommendations: Lodge Seasoned Cast Iron 5 Piece Bundle  | Le Creuset Signature Iron Handle Skillet  | Le Creuset Signature Iron Handle Skillet

I used my mother's growing up and I knew that Pyrex was also something every cook needs. We upgraded what I had and really created a vast collection of Pyrex. In fact, we will get our children Pyrex when they move into their own places. That's just a thing with my family.

The first thing that we made together that became a recipe was this Rustic meat skillet recipe. We had been doing some light reading of the Joy of Cooking and Mastering the Art of French Cooking. We based this skillet off of a few recipes from both books and combined it with fresh things that we had on hand. The broccoli was a later but lasting addition as well (sometimes we add corn instead). In fact, sometimes there will be more ingredients depending on what is in season and what is hanging around in our French wire vegetable basket. That thing is almost always filled with goodness.

What you have here is the base of this recipe. By itself it is absolutely delicious but if you combine with other ingredients that you love, you will have something amazing. It is really good. My husband has sometimes added red peppers and mushrooms. We would make this then have dinner together in our first living room on the floor eating at the coffee table that was on the lovely sisal rug that my future mother-in-law gave me. It felt exotic. LOL. We each had a fork and ate out of the skillet. We might have had some salad. We definitely had some wine.

Three kids later, we are still making this recipe but now there are five of us and our dinners are all about creating memories. It's another thing with my family. We are also most definitely carnivores in this family. We love beef for dinner. However, we haven't ventured out past the usual meats so we eat chicken, steak, fish and shrimp. We recently decided to try other meats and go beyond our usual meats. Instead of bison meat vs beef, this skillet casserole is really a break from the ordinary because we used bison with beef. We got a hot deal on bison at our local farmers' market and the results were absolutely delicious! This may be the new base.

Rustic Ground Bison and Beef Skillet

Ingredients

• ½ cup ice cold water
• 2 1/4 cups King Arthur flour
• ½ cup cold KerryGold unsalted butter
• 2.5 pounds of ground meat, we used ground beef and ground bison in equal parts
• ½ medium Vidalia onion, diced (we are particular and love these)
• 1 cup whipped red & purple bliss potatoes
• ½ cup heirloom Cherry tomatoes, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups of Roma tomatoes, chopped
• ½ cup fresh broccoli, chopped
• 2 cups of fresh mixed field greens
• balsamic vinaigrette
• salt to taste
• freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. For the crust of your Rustic Ground Bison and Beef Skillet add the flour, salt and cubed, cold butter to the food processor. Pulse a few times until they are combined then very slowly start to add the ice cold water. Add it until the pie dough comes together and has started to ball up. You'll still want the dough to be a bit crumbly but wet enough that it will easily roll out. Form your pie crust into a large skillet and bake for about 12 minutes at 375 degrees.
2. Potatoes should be boiled until cooked through. Add the following to your Vitamix, two medium red bliss potatoes, two medium purple bliss potatoes, 1/8 the cup of cream, 1/8 cup of butter, salt & pepper to taste. Blend until you see this smooth kind of fluffy sort of thing (my husband's exact words).
3. While that is baking add the chopped onion and meat to a pan and cook through. Add the whipped mash potatoes as the binder for the meat. (Using the blender will give you a very thick, runny paste like texture vs fluffy mashed potatoes. They aren't really enjoyable to eat whipped like this-but perfect for holding everything together.
4. When the crust is ready fill it with the potato and meat mixture, press down lightly to help everything stick together. Top with the fresh tomatoes and broccoli then return the skillet to the oven. Cook for another 14 to 20 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes before serving. We enjoyed with a bit of sea salt, fresh chilled tomatoes and a salad.
5. If you are in my house, DO NOT add additional salt or pepper after it is served because the chef gets very annoyed. He then gives you the side eye while eating with the occasional sigh or shake of the head.

Have you asked yourself what is bison meat or how to cook bison or what does bison taste like or what is the difference between bison and buffalo or is a bison a buffalo or how to cook ground bison or even what is bison? If so, then you will love this bison meat recipe. Whether you wanted ground bison recipes or bison meat recipes or even bison meat nutrition, this recipe will not disappoint.  We hope that you are inspired by this Rustic Ground Bison and Beef Skillet. Happy eating!