Eastern Grey Squirrel, the new terror.

[Greg055]

shooting any wildlife with pellets is cowardly and should be stamped out .

Big difference between "wildlife" which is protected by law.
and legally designated "INVASIVE SPECIES,"
Like RATS.

But of course, after stuffing yr mouth full of chicken dinner (a poor animal horribly treated),
it's real easy to take the emotional high ground
WITHOUT offering anything to the problem
of invasive species.

Please feel free to offer to purchase some humane killing squirrel traps that the SPCA could lend out.

[Opeeved]

Hasenpfeffer with Semolina Dumplings
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
2 hr 30 mins
Total Time
2 hr 45 mins

While hasenpfeffer should properly be made with hare (snowshoe or jackrabbit in the United States), hares are notoriously hard to find if you are not a hunter. So do what everyone else does and make it with rabbit. The actual making of the dish is pretty easy, but it will be far better if you give it the 2 to 3 days' worth of marinating time. Marinades take a long time to penetrate meat, and the flavorful marinade is the heart of hasenpfeffer.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: German
Serves: 6 people
Author: Hank Shaw
Ingredients
MARINADE
1 cup water
1 cup red wine
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon juniper berries, crushed
1 tablespoon crack black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
4 cloves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 green onions, chopped
HARE
1 jackrabbit, snowshoe hare or domestic rabbit, or 2 cottontails or squirrels
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Flour for dredging
2 to 3 cups chopped onion
1/4 cup sour cream
SEMOLINA DUMPLINGS
1 cup milk, whole or 2%
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons semolina flour, or use farina or Cream of Wheat
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
Marinate the rabbit. Bring all the ingredients for the marinade to a boil, then let cool to room temperature. While the marinade is cooling, cut up a hare into serving pieces. Find a covered container (plastic, ceramic, glass) just about large enough to hold the cut-up hare and put the meat inside. Cover with the cooled marinade. If you have leftover marinade, put that into a different container. Put everything in the refrigerator and let it sit at least 8 hours, but 2 days is better.
Remove the hare from the marinade and pat it dry. Save the marinade. Heat the butter in a large, heavy pot with a lid. Dredge the hare in the flour and brown well on all sides. Do this over medium to medium-high heat so the butter does not burn. Remove the hare pieces as they brown and set aside.
As the hare is browning, preheat your oven to 325°F and strain the marinade into a bowl.
Once you've browned the hare, add the onion and stir to coat with the butter. If there is not much butter left, add another tablespoon or so. Cook the onions over medium-high heat until they are soft and a little brown on the edges. Sprinkle salt over them as they cook.
Return the hare to the pot and add the strained marinade. Bring to a simmer, cover and put into the oven. Cook until the meat wants to fall off the bones: This will take 2 to 4 hours for a wild hare, or between 90 minutes and 2 hours for a store-bought rabbit. To finish the hasenpfeffer, remove it from the oven and uncover the pot. Spoon off about a cup of the sauce and put it into a bowl. Add the sour cream to the bowl and mix to combine. Return the mixture to the pot and swirl it around to combine. Serve at once with the dumplings.
Make the dumplings. Once the hasenpfeffer has cooked for an hour or so, make the dumpling dough. Heat the milk to the steaming point and add the butter and salt. Start stirring the milk with one hand while you sprinkle in the semolina with the other. Stir well until the semolina absorbs the milk and forms a stiff dough. Take the pot off the heat and let the dough cool. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil on the stove. once it boils, turn off the heat until the hare is done.
When the hasenpfeffer is ready, turn the heat off the oven but leave everything inside. Mix the egg and nutmeg into the semolina dough. Let the dough stand while you bring your pot of salty water back to a boil, which won't take long because you preheated it. Get a bowl of water ready to wet your hands, so the dumpling dough doesn't stick to them.
Roll the dough into balls. I like to make dumplings the size of a walnut. As you make them, drop each one into the boiling water. Do not crowd the pot. Once the dumplings start bobbing on the surface, let them cook another 2 to 5 minutes, depending on how soft you like them. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Nothing in this recipe is difficult to find, with the possible exception of juniper berries. Juniper is used so often in wild game dishes that if you are a hunter, you really need a constant supply. You can either pick them yourself, find them in a large supermarket, or order juniper berries online.
More Rabbit, Hare and Squirrel Recipes

oh my freaking gods... I laughed so hard at your bold!!

[Opeeved]

Sounds delish btw ;)

[Queen K]

Free squirrels available.

[Queen K]

Seriously seeing a lot of squirrels again. I'm going into business.

[alanjh595]

They stay close to the best nut source available. Be sure to wear your hat when outside.

[seewood]

They stay close to the best nut source available.

Must be a ton of them around the legislator in Victoria and Parliament buildings in Ottawa...

[Brushy Bill]

At least 20 of them living within 100 m of my house. They like my roof for some reason. Steel roof. Nice 'n loud at 5am when they decide to have a party on that steel roof.

and you tolerate it?

[Btfsplck]

Schedule C is all that needs to be said.

Long live the resident Red Squirrel!

[A10ThunderboltII]

Hopefully the neighbourhood cats go after these buggars and give the baby quails a break.

Cats roaming the neighbourhood are another invasive species. Perhaps at last they can serve a good purpose.

All the roaming cats on the Westside have already been eaten by coyotes..also, pretty well all of the "Cockie PeekiePoo" dogs on the LOST DOG POSTERS have been served at the Wil E Coyote Diner too.
Never saw a squirrel of any kind from 2004 to about 2016 here on the Westside..the GREYS are here now

[Queen K]

BUMP

I learned today what a squirrel or squirrels can do in the eaves of your house.

We knew for sometime that squirrels had accessed the eaves, we spotted them a few times but didn't think too hard about what was really going on.

When the eavestrough and structure was taken apart today the sheer volume of activity was striking. First thing I noticed? How much plastic the hauled up inside there, mainly cigarette wrappings. Lots of it. The second? Nests of all kinds of organic materials and the third, oh joy, their own organic materials. I had a fun time sweeping all that out. In fact it almost was half a green bin's worth.

We found mummified walnuts and fortunately no dead little ones, just lots and lots of materials. As of tomorrow they won't have a way to get in and will have to find a new worthier Winter hideaway spot.