Spanish Style Chorizo-Potato Stew with Dove

Ingredients:
Dove
Spanish Chorizo sliced half inch thick
Potato, cubed
Lentils (optional)
Smoked Paprika
Green Chili, deseeded and cubed
Garlic, chopped
Onion, chopped
Chard, chopped
Bay Leaf
Thyme
Flat Leaf Parsely, chopped
Chicken Stock
Olive Oil

Debone the breast of dove.  In hot stock pan brown dove in olive oil (don't cook through) and set aside for later.  Lower heat and add chopped onion until translucent then add chorizo.  Once sausage is browned add garlic, chili, bay leaf and thyme after one minute add potatoes, lentils and paprika.  Add stock, cover and simmer until potato and lentils have soften.  Add chard until wilted and place dove into the stew to finish cooking.  Taste and season accordingly.  Ladle stew in a bowl placing the doves atop, sprinkle flat leaf parsley and serve with crusty bread.

Giving MVL A Go

Tuesday was the trout opener at Mission Viejo Lake which was postponed several months due to golden algae bloom.  The day was a perfect day for tout fishing, cool and overcast.  I recently picked up a new full sink line on his recommendation after fishing with Luc at Canyon Lake and wanted to try it out.  I figured most of these trout would still be acclimatizing to the new water and would be in shallows so I brought my 5 weight and a slower sinking line.  I'm glad I did as all the fish were in less than a few feet of water.

It took us a while but we found the pods.  They were still finicky and I only managed one trout two and a half pound 15 inch trout and a five pound catfish.  Unfortunately my fishing buddy came home with the skunk.

Consolation Prize

Took the old man down south in the hopes finding some roosters.   While we found none I did meet a new hunting buddy while checking out a field.  We ended up hunting together for the morning and managed to flush one hen pheasant.  It was a pleasure hunting with him and he's an excellent source of local information.  He's been hunting these fields for over thirty years so I'm glad I ran into him. 

The field we hunted was a half plowed barley or rye (I'm guessing).  It was pretty thick and tall.  Good cover for these birds.  Unfortunately no roosters were present at this time.  Afterwards Chuck, our new hunting companion, called it quits.  So we tried a couple alfalfa fields but with no success.  Kaiser did get birdy and managed a point but no bird was kicked up.  Might have refused to be steady and ran on him or could have been old scent.  We'll never know.

After giving up on roosters we turned our attention to doves.  In the process we managed to flush a covey of gambels while driving around.  We were unable to pursue them though as they flushed into thick cover.  Although the abundance of track was a good sign for the season and I may have to concentrate on quail for the rest of this year.  We did manage to find a decent number of doves and took home four before calling it a trip.