I have lived in Minnesota my whole life but recently moved to northern Minnesota, or as I like to say, Almost Canada. The house I bought is on 1.5 acres which isn’t much land but is enough to shoot small critters or birds. Which is exactly what my guy did.

He was eating cereal and looking out the window. He saw a bird in a tree, went & grabbed my .22, and shot it. It was a grouse. It was going to be dinner. I was going to cook it.

I have eaten grouse once before and if I hadn’t known it was grouse I would have thought it was chicken. There is no wild game flavor in this bird. I decided to make an apricot glazed grouse since I didn’t have to worry about masking a game flavor. I served it with sweet potatoes and roasted broccoli. It was delicious. There are no photos of the dinner, but it looked like glazed chicken with the mentioned sides.

Apricot Glazed Grouse (serves 2)

• 1-2 grouse, cleaned & cut into bite sized pieces or strips
• apricot/peach jelly or preserves (I used jalapeno apricot jelly)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1-2 tsp olive oil
• sides of your choice

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper for easy cleanup. Place 2-3 tbsp. jelly in a small bowl. Add salt & pepper to taste. Add 1-2 tsp olive oil. Place the grouse on the baking sheet and coat with jelly mixture. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Glaze the grouse with more of the jelly mixture & broil for 3-5 minutes until grouse is cooked through and glaze is slightly caramelized. Serve with sides of your choice.