Roux, roux, roux the deer: Venison Gumbo

I've neglected this blog the last while.  Its the Dog Days of summer here in sunny FLA, and we have topped 100 degrees in real temperature on a few days.  I ran off for a solo camping trip in Great Smoky Mountains National Park two weekends ago, it was a nice trip but the afternoon thunderstorms caused me to spend more time in the truck that I wanted to.  Back at home, my garden had a good spring, lots of green bean, plenty of tomatoes and eggplant.  The corn and cucumbers were a bust, but that's no great surprise, they seldom do well in my yard.

We have had venison on a few occasions, but nothing I felt compelled to blog about.  We've had several good grilled cuts, and one horrific experiment with a blueberry wine braze.  I'd rather not discuss that episode.

It occurred to me last weekend I've never tried to make venison gumbo, and it seemed like a good idea.  I went ahead and selected a piece of backstrap, I think this was from Miss Catalina (need to use this stuff up, that's been in the freezer for 9 months now, still looked perfect though).  I diced it up, and browned it in oil in the pan

I took my time with the roux (yeah, sometime I've been known to hurry it).  It got a nice coppery brown, then I mixed in chopped red onion and green peppers.

Here is the meat, veggies (including some home grown tomatoes) and the stock.  I poured in a generous amount of Old Bay seasoning (I love that stuff) and two leaves from my laurel bay.

In at the end with the chopped okra, bought from one of my favorite farms.  Mine is still a long way from ready, since I waited until the potato beds were free to plant it.

Here is the final product, quite tasty if I do say so myself :)

Les' eat, y'all!

Couple of pics from my trip:

Young bull elk in Cataloochee Valley, GSMNP

Sunset from Cataloochee overlook, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.