Braised Goat Shoulder with Beans and Cabbage

Wednesday, 1st May 2013

I used this recipe, but I could only get pinto beans and chinese cabbage. The sauce, the meat and the cabbage came out very well, although a larger piece of meat would have been better. The beans were completely uncooked and awful. I put the left-over beans back in the pot for another two hours cooking and they were still hard. Next time I'll get the right beans!
(After this disappointment, I ordered a cassoulet the next time we were in a suitable restaurant. It came with no beans at all. Whoever heard of cassoulet with no beans??)

Slow-braised Goat Shoulder

Friday, 19th October 2012

At an Apple Fair in England the previous weekend, we picked up all kinds of interesting food, including this piece of goat shoulder, weighing about 750g.
One day before I browned the meat and set it aside, then softened celery onion carrot and garlic. I added with veal stock and a little sherry vinegar to the veg and then put it all in the slow cooker to braise for about 3 or 4 hours. I let it cool overnight and skimmed off most of the fat from the top.
When we were ready to eat, I warmed it again for an hour or two, careful not to let it boil. Meanwhile I cooked roast potatoes and leeks, roasted in the reserved fat, and bok-choy quickly braised in a little soy and Maderia. I strained the veg from the braising liquid and reduced it for gravy.
The meat was perfect - falling off the bone and with a delicious rich flavour. It was quite a bit for two, but so good it was impossible to leave any. The vegetables were also delicious and an ideal combination. The Louis Roederer champagne was pretty good too!

Spicy Goat Sausages

Thursday, 18th October 2012

With saute potatoes and bok-choy. Not much to say about this except yum!

Braised Leg of Goat with Wild Garlic

Friday, 15th April

Leg of kid braised in white wine with shallots and wild garlic, caramelized sweet potato, asparagus with a tomato sauce. Essentially a made up recipe, based on a few ideas gleaned from the internet.
I bought the small leg of goat thinking to make an indian meal but, since Monika isn't such a big fan of Indian food, when it came to it I decided to cook something different. The meat was marinaded over night, in a mixture of rosemary, mustard seeds, garlic, oil and balsamic vinegar, then braised in white wine, in the oven under foil, with shallots and wild garlic (ramsons / bärlauch) for about 3 hours.
The asparagus was very fresh and needed less than 10 minutes to boil, and the sauce was made from onions, tomatoes, toasted almonds and a spoonful or red-pepper jam, fried together for a while and then pureed.
I diced the sweet potato and then started it with butter and a little sugar in the oven, but after 10 minutes it was only looking dry and some pieces had gone black from the inside and didn't look good at all. So I discarded the blackened pieces, moved the rest into small frying pan with a tight fitting lid and sauteed it instead. The undersides of some pieces got a little burned, but that didn't spoil the taste.
Overall very good. The meat was tended and moist and the vegetables nicely cooked and with a good combination of flavours. The asparagus and tomato sauce was especially good.