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I'm cooking a lot these days.  For the first time in awhile, the rate at which I'm cooking postworthy dishes far outstrips the time I have to blog about them.  I've decided that I'm not going to let that stop me from posting, since I do need to some relevant details about the food, if only for my own purposes.  Be warned, though, that many of these posts will be spare, and the pictures may not be quite up to par.

One recent dish was goat stew with couscous.  The goat has been in my freezer for months now, and since I recently acquired a whole pork loin and several other items which demanded freezer space, I decided it was time to cook it up.  I used to occasionally buy goat in Santa Ana when Rebecca and I were in exile in Orange County.  I hadn't bought it while in San Francisco until last fall, when I ran across some at random in Draegers (of all places).

Stew Construction

The stew has a pretty simple construction:  rub the goat with salt, pepper, and spices, and sear it on all sides in a pressure cooker.  Throw in some crushed garlic cloves, peppercorns, a bay leaf, some rosemary and perhaps some other herbs, a bit of smoked ham hock or some bacon lardons, a tin of diced tomatoes, and 3 cups of lamb, veal or beef stock.  Add 12 oz of a good, dark, sweet ale, ideally something with a lot of depth, but not too hoppy.  I wanted to get a good porter, but wound up with Newcastle instead.  Put the mixture under pressure for 2 hours.

In the meantime, cube and roast some potatoes or other root vegetables (turnips would be good here) in the oven with salt and herbs.  Prep some snap peas, chop up a bunch of mushrooms, slice some carrots, and prepare any other vegetables  you might want.  Break out the wok.  (I'm all about the wok these days, but details on that will have to wait for another time.)  Cook them separately until they are not-quite-done.  Set aside.

When the meat is ready, open the pressure cooker and pull the meat out.  Strain the braising liquid and put it back in the pot.  Shred the meat and pull out all of the dubious / fatty pieces.  Reduce the broth a bit, add a little cornstarch slurry for body, and correct for salt.  Throw the meat and vegetables in, and you've got a stew!

Somewhere In There You Will Need A Starch

I made my standard couscous, which is 2 cups of boiling chicken stock, 1 1/2 cups of couscous, some raisins,  dried apricots and a little orange zest thrown into a covered pan for 15 minutes, after which some toasted nuts (in this case, pistachios) are mixed in.  If you were serving this bare or alongside something, it would need to be a little wetter and saltier, but under the stew it actually works better this way.

Here's yer Martha Stewart hint for the day:  In pinch, a buttered ramekin can serve as a ring mold, as it did here.  Like you haven't thought of that already.  Ma always said you were the smart one.

Getting Your Goat

I've never understood why we don't eat more goat meat in the U.S.  It's one of those cultural blind spots -- we have no problem eating lamb, but goats, well, that's just ridiculous.  But goat is the primary food animal in some parts of the world.  I love a good steak as much as the next guy, but goat is far better for you -- about half the fat for the same amount of protein.  It has far less cholesterol.  Imagine having a red meat with the same nutritional value as chicken!

And you know what?  It tastes great.  Some imagine that goat tastes gamy, but it doesn't.  Young goat is lean but tender and somehow rich.  Adult goats do require marination and slower cooking, and is therefore less of a convenience food than, say, a New York Strip steak, but it is still very tasty, if a bit less versatile.  Check it out!

March 7, 2008 in exotic, main_dishes, soups_stews | Permalink

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