Jeff Benda - Harvesting Nature

Jeff Benda July 25, 2022July 22, 2022

Fried Oyster Mushroom Tacos

I’m a mushroom lover and foraging for them is a new favorite past time. I recently packed up my wife and daughter and traveled from Fargo, North Dakota to Olympic National Park in Washington for 10 days of tent camping, hiking, and foraging.

Oyster mushrooms were easy to find and easy to identify, growing on trees and logs right along many of the hiking trails. The most abundant spot was in the Hoh Rain Forest near Forks, Washington. Within minutes, we had filled a quart-size bag to take home.

Wild Recipes

Jeff Benda September 3, 2021October 7, 2021

Jackalope Wellington

The idea for this recipe has been rolling around in my head for two years. It’s most prevalent during the 9 hour drive from my home in Fargo, North Dakota to my favorite antelope hunting spot on public land in Wyoming. So when a friend called me last week, offering two rabbits he had snared, I ran to my freezer, and pulled out one of the remaining packages of antelope backstrap I have been saving for a special occasion.

Wild Recipes

Jeff Benda August 9, 2021October 7, 2021

Hot Italian Venison Sandwich

restled to find a new solution to an old problem. A problem that has plagued deer
hunters for ages. I had many failures, but those only deepened my resolve to find the
right ingredients to find a solution. This recipe is the result of finally cracking the code
for that allusive perfect use for the Venison roast you find at the bottom of your freezer.
The one from last hunting season, or maybe even two years ago.

Wild Recipes

Jeff Benda April 29, 2021October 7, 2021

Antelope & Asparagus Hot & Sour Soup

Check out this recipe for Antelope and Asparagus Hot and Sour Soup by Field Staff Writer, Jeff Benda!

Wild Recipes

Jeff Benda April 21, 2021October 7, 2021

Southern Fried Rabbit

I hunt a lot. And every year I consistently harvest mule deer, whitetail deer, pronghorn antelope, upland birds, ducks and geese, squirrels, and rabbits. My wife eats and loves everything – except for the squirrels and rabbits. I’ve tried multiple recipes, but nothing has converted her. But when she saw the crispy golden fried rabbit on the plate, she couldn’t resist trying it. She and our 5-year-old daughter devoured the juicy, crusty pieces of finger-licking goodness.

Wild Recipes

Jeff Benda March 29, 2021October 7, 2021

Canada Goose Gondi

Nothing says Passover like a good bowl of matzo ball soup. The Jewish holiday begins this Saturday morning and celebrates the Biblical story of the Exodus, or freeing of Hebrew slaves from Egypt. Matzo represents the unleavened bread the Jews ate while fleeing Egypt. My Catholic family will celebrate with this dish to acknowledge our common roots in biblical history. In my recipe, I use Canada Goose instead of the traditional chicken. I also substitute Chickpea flour for Matzo meal because it is a common substitute in the Persian version called Gondi. But also because North Dakota is the fourth largest producer of chickpeas in the U.S.

Fishing

Jeff Benda March 27, 2021October 7, 2021

Ice Fishing with Dad

Devils Lake, North Dakota, is a famous fishing destination where the perch and walleye populations continue to explode. The lake itself is now six times larger than it was 25 years ago, currently at 180,000 acres. That’s just slightly bigger than Lake Powell that stretches from Arizona into Utah. I’ve lived in North Dakota for almost 40 years, and had never fished there. Until now.

Wild Recipes

Jeff Benda March 22, 2021July 12, 2023

Pickled Northern Under a Fur Coat

This classic Russian winter recipe, Russian Shuba Salad, is a great cold salad traditionally layered with potatoes, onion, carrots, eggs, beets, mayonnaise, & pickled herring. But I used Northern Pike caught while ice fishing here in North Dakota.

Wild Recipes

Jeff Benda February 22, 2021October 7, 2021

Bang Bang Ji Rabbit

I am always confident in harvesting a cottontail rabbit or two in the small patch of trees at my in-laws farm in southwestern Minnesota. So I invited my brother-in-law to join me on a brief hunt in the -5 degrees on a cold January afternoon. In less than a minute, we had a couple bunnies up and running. I made a successful clean head shot using a 70 year old open sight .22 rifle that my dad used to shoot rabbits with at his childhood farm in Nebraska.

News

Jeff Benda February 4, 2021October 7, 2021

North Dakota Weighs Adding Pink to Color Option for Hunters

As a father of a 5 year old girl, I am surrounded by pink clothes, pink toys, pink everything. Then I escape to the great outdoors to hunt, and I am surrounded by camouflage and blaze orange. But that could soon change.

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