My namesake Uncle Jim shared this recipe with me several years ago when our family escaped the cold and spent part of winter and Christmas with he and Auntie Kerry on the Big Island. He “talked story” about the recipe, but didn’t cook it at the time, so I was a little blurry on the idea at first. Back home, after some experimentation and making this meal many times with moose, caribou and Sitka Black Tail deer, tweaking the preparation method a bit, I forgot altogether where I first learned it from. Years later, we visited Uncle Jim again. As he and I were sitting by his Weber BBQ grill one afternoon, I told him I had a great recipe for some moose meat we had brought along, using teriyaki, asparagus and green onion rolled up in the thin cut moose steak….halfway thru the story it dawned on both of us that the recipe I described was his own! Here I was years later wanting to share this recipe with my dear uncle, to honor him with tasty moose meat from his beloved Alaska, when it was his darn recipe in the first place. We got a good chuckle and enjoyed a great meal the following evening. Life’s funny sometimes when it brings you back full circle isn’t it!

Ingredients:

6-8 Portions of thin cut game meat (flank, skirt, velvet or round cut thin to 1/4 inch)
Teriyaki sauce (Uncle Jim’s recipe from the Azeka family of Maui is the best, but we use Island Teriyaki brand when we run out of that homemade treasure.)
10-12 Spears of Aspargus
10-12 Green Onions

Preparation:

  1. Marinate thin cut game steaks in teriyaki sauce for up to 24 hours (less is fine too). Simmer remaining sauce as a glaze for later.
  2. Lay out one steak at a time and fill with long 2-3 asparagus spears and 1-2 green onions. Don’t pile them, just lay them out starting at the edge.
  3. Begin rolling up the veggies and as you approach the edge, lay another steak overlapping the open edge of the first. Lay more veggies across the overlap and continue rolling. Repeat until all steaks and veggies are rolled up in a loaf-like “Roll Up” shape.
  4. Lay some cooking string under the “Roll Up” in 2 or 3 positions and tie tightly to hold it all together.
  5. Grill on all sides on a hot grill, basting with the simmering teriyaki sauce marinade as a glaze.
  6. When grilled to desired doneness (medium rare), remove from grill to a platter and cover with foil. Let sit 5-10 minutes for juices to continue infusing in meat.
  7. Slice into portions & serve with sticky rice, sauteed asian-sesame veggies, Uncle Jim’s grilled teriyaki pineapple or our Pineapple Paradise dish!

*Note:  The photo shown below is the variation we made with individual portions before Uncle Jim taught us how to roll up the individual portions together for a giant “Roll Up” that is sliced into portions. Both are fantastic!