Venison Philly Ring

Philly cheesesteak is a beautiful, beautiful thing. It is meaty, cheesy, juicy, and oh so flavorful! The bun is just thick and tough enough to hold all the filling in a cornucopia of deliciousness. The only problem is, they are kind of a pain in the butt to make and feeding it to a crowd seems daunting. But it doesn't have to be! Imagine a Philly cheesesteak dish that is made to feed a crowd without making and wrapping tons of sandwiches and one that uses venison. Your dream has now become a reality, read on!

I know that traditionally the veggies and steak in a Philly cheesesteak sandwich are sliced into strips but for the purposes of this recipe, diced into smaller bite sized pieces just makes a lot more sense.

I fed this recipe to a crowd for a football game watch party back in the fall and it was a big hit! Everyone loved it and I had zero leftover ( I was pretty sad about that actually). The best part is, it's extremely easy and comes together in almost no time at all!

Venison Philly Cheesesteak Ring

2 tablespoons cooking oil ( used coconut oil)

1 lb venison butterfly tenderloin, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced with seeds removed

1 cup diced mushrooms

Sliced provolone

2 cans Cresent roll dough

1/4 cup Allegro marinade

Salt and pepper

While venison is still very cold, cut into small pieces (about 1 inch cubes) and toss in a bowl with the Allegro marinade and set aside. Preheat a large cast iron skillet to melt your cooking oil and allow it to heat up, then add your diced veggies. Toss then around in the oil to coat and season with salt and pepper. Stirring frequently, cook veggies until tender and beginning to caramelize, about 5-7 minutes. While the veggies are cooking open very cold Cresent dough and separate the little triangles. Arrange triangles of dough in the shape of a ring by placing the short, flat side toward the center of a round pizza and or stone while the point of the triangle hangs off of the pan.

When the veggies are fully cooked, spoon them around the dough ring toward the center, leaving the flags of dough hanging off of pan free. In the same skillet, brown the steak. The marinade was salty enough so no need to add more seasoning at this point. When steak is completely cooked, or even slightly rare, spoon on top of vegetable mixture.

Next take the sliced provolone cheese, fold a slice in half to break it into 2 equal pieces. Place each piece on top of steak and repeat until all of the steak and veggies in the ring are covered. Now fold each flag of dough over the top of the filling and into the center of the ring, tucking the point under the bottom layer of dough.

Bake in a preheated 350* oven for about 25 minutes. The cheese will be bubbly and gooey and everything will be hot and the dough should be a deep golden brown. Allow to cool slightly and try not to devour the entire ring by yourself!