Roasted Goat Leg

This year's Christmas feasting was all about goat. I basically watched and wrote things down while my friend did the work, and of course rather than get exact measurements, just estimated. It's all forgiving. It turned out delicious, and my friend seemed satisfied that the kitchen smelled "like an Ethiopian home." The day was a culinary fusion of wild rice, gravlox, fruit (including the best papaya I have ever had), date balls and baclava, and a dinner of goat leg, Ethiopian style rice, tomato-avocado salad, and creamed spinach. Yum.

The goat leg was fresh and beautiful - picked up from Holy Land. My friend talked with the butcher there and had them clean the leg and trim off some of the excess fat, but not all of it. The leg we got included an upper flap that had some rib bones in it as well. My friend says this is not common, usually you just get the leg and not that extra bit. But that extra bit was some of my favorite part. Our leg in total was about 5 pounds. She also got a LOT of spice mixes from Holy Land (which smell amazing) - and she got me gluten free injera because they sell it there. We had way too much food, and the injera is still in my fridge. But, if you are gluten free and wanting teff-only-injera, go to Holy Land (HL)! You can procure some!

Goat Leg Marinade

Mild Currey Powder spice mix (from HL) x 3 parts

Beryani Spice mix (from HL) x 2 parts
Baraka brand "Grill Spices" x 2 parts
Samna Spice x 1 part
Roasted Garlic and Herb mix x 2 parts
Monterey steak spice mix x 2 parts
Black Pepper x 3 parts
Garlic Salt x 4 parts
All Greek Seasoning x 3-4 parts
Olive oil
One bunch fresh rosemary (to add later)

Mix the spices (sans rosemary) together in a bowl, then add olive oil to create a paste. You want enough spice rub to smear over every surface of the goat leg.

Set oven at 250 degrees (yes, that low). Wrap goat leg in tin foil and set on a large roasting pan or tray. Bake for 3 hours, flipping leg one time in the middle.

After 3 hours, puncture the thicker parts of the meat with a sharp paring knife. Spread the rosemary leaves over the meat on all sides. Set the leg in the top rack and cook another hour. Move to the lower rack and cook for a (now 5th) hour.

You know the meat is down when it is separating from the bone and basically splits open when you cut it with a knife. It will be smelling really good, and be tender.

We ate ours with creamed spinach (a la Brasa, which turned out great), rice (made with onions, garlic, tomatos, olive oil, and the curry spice mix/Beryani spice mix), and a tomato/avocado/onion salad. It was amazing - the left overs too.

Here's a photo of the gravlox, brie, and homemade crackers too:

Grain Free Fruit & Nut Bread

I was in the mood for some fall baking, and this is what happened: A lovely loaf of fruit/nut bread that is just slightly sweet from bananas and the dried fruit. It has a great texture and is delicious toasted with butter. Yum. Recipe from The View From Great Island Blog.You can use any combo of dried fruit/nuts and you get this nice fruitcake looking loaf!

Fruit and Nut Bread

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup melted unrefined coconut oil
• 2 cups almond flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp flax seeds (whole)
• 2 cups rough chopped nuts (I used almonds, pecans, walnuts, and macadamia nuts)
• 2 cups rough chopped dried fruits (I used apricots, cranberries, and prunes)

1. Set oven to 350F
2. Oil a standard loaf pan (or line it with a sheet of parchment to lift the bread out for slicing).
3. Mash the two bananas really well. Put them into a large mixing bowl and whisk in the eggs and coconut oil really well.
4. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt and blend well.
5. Fold in the fruits, nuts, and seeds and blend until everything is well distributed.
6. Turn into the loaf pan and spread out the dough evenly, and into the corners.
7. Bake for 40 minutes or until starting to turn golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. This bread does not rise, so it will still be flat. The exact cooking time will depend somewhat on the exact dimensions of your loaf pan, as even 'standard' ones can vary.
8. Let the bread cool completely before slicing. 

Sour Cherry Crisp

I have an abundance of sour cherries! Some are from trees in the park, some are from the former northside homestead, and most are from my neighbor, who generously shared her bounty. This is me picking them by the handful!

The most time consuming thing about sour cherries is pitting them. I generally enjoy it, though I've found my fave thing is to sit and watch a Lynx game while pitting. I just use my fingers to push the pit out - be aware that bright red juice sometimes squirts out, covering any nearby surface (it washes off easily). 6 cups of cherries takes me about half of a game (30-45 minutes).

I have made a few different versions of this crisp - and this is my favorite version so far. I am also attempting to make a tart cherry vishniac (Romanian sour cherry brandy) that includes fermenting the cherries in sugar for 2 weeks before adding vodka, which I'll post if it turns out.

Sour Cherry Crisp
6 cups pitted sour cherries
1/2 c. sugar
1-2 T cornstarch (opt)

Topping:
1 1/4 c gluten free oats
stick of butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c sliced almonds
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375. Mix cherries, sugar and cornstarch together. I have made this both with and without cornstarch: I usually pit my cherries a day or two before making the crisp, in which case I can pour off excess juice (which is delicious) and thus have not really needed the cornstarch. I did use it in this most recent batch because I was making it a bit bigger. Pour cherry mixture into large baking dish (9").

Mix topping together, creaming the butter into the oats/sugar/almonds with a wooden spoon until the mixture is very course and crumb-like. Spread the topping evenly over the crisp, and bake at 375 for 50 minutes. The cherries will bubble up through the topping a bit.  Let crisp sit for 15 minutes before eating to allow it to set/cool.

This is delicious warm or cold, served with some kind of dairy/faux dairy product (cream, whipped cream, coconut cream, ice cream...you get the idea), though it is good plain too.

Wild Nettle Soup with Jeruslem Artichokes

This is the first time I have not had a spring boundary waters trip in 5 or 6 years. Prepping for those those trips is a time-consuming process - dehydrating food, making jerky, packing everything, planning routes, etc. Inevitably garden stuff got delayed some, and I was not always here for some of the markers of spring, including the time to harvest nettles. So this year I am here! I made two nettle foraging trips in the past week, and have been eating them every day, if not more. My vitamin, calcium, and iron levels are becoming extra robust. If you want to harvest nettles, see my older post here about what to look for.

Yesterday morning I gathered a bucket full of the prickly greens, and decided to try making pesto, and also a soup because this rainy, cool weather seems to call for it. I created the recipe from what I had around, including jerusalem artichokes from the garden (dug up as soon as the earth was diggable and now living in a bucket in my fridge), and chicken bone broth, made over the winter from all of my roasted chicken thigh bones. It turned out really nice and was a beautiful green. If it was just a bit earlier I'd have been able to use green onions from the garden, but they are already starting to produce their offspring, so I'm leaving what I have left to re-populate.

Wild Nettle Soup
5 c. chicken bone broth
1/2 lb. jerusalem artichokes, quartered (potatoes would also work)
1 large onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, sliced
6+ c fresh nettles (use tongs!)
sea salt to taste

Jerusalem artichokes (also called sunchokes)

1. Bring broth to a boil in a large pot. Add jerusalem artichokes to broth to cook. They will impart a nice sweet, nutty flavor to the soup. Boil jerusalem artichokes until soft, 6-10 minutes.
2. As that is happening, saute onions and garlic in butter or olive oil until soft.
3. When jeruslem artichokes are tender, add onion/garlic, salt, and fresh nettles to the broth. Nettles will cook down (and will lose their stinging properties once they wilt). I had a hard time measuring the nettles, but you have some room here to use more or less than I've suggested.
4. Process the soup with a burr whip thing or in batches in your food processor.
5. Serve as is, or stir in some cream!

Rhubarb Shortcake (with almond flour biscuits)

It's been a long time since I posted. I don't know if I am going to post regularly or not, but I made some delicious shortcake this week and I want to preserve the recipe. There has been much change afoot. I am back in my southside house and am working to make it more homestead-ish. Bit by bit. I keep staring at the yard space trying to figure out how to convert more of it to garden. 

I read a couple of books recently about a woman who lives in the Taiga in Russia. It's unclear if the story is fiction or not, but I enjoyed them and they are making me even more intrigued about my relationship to my garden and plants. She talks about how walking barefoot in your garden (among other things) shares information about your body and what it needs so that as fruit/vegetables grow, they will take in that information and pick up from the universe/the earth the optimum blend of energies for you. She says that the food cultivated in this way can give you the very things you are needing for your wellness.

I have no idea if this is "true" or not, but I've been going out each morning to greet my seedlings/plants, and have even more appreciation for the things that I grow and then eat. It makes me feel happy and grounded. And in this time of change, that feels like a welcome companion.

I have just one rhubarb plant, but it loved all this rain and the bright sun and is bigger than I've seen it before. I don't think any of it was harvested in the past two years, and there were several fat stalks for me to pick. With just the one plant, it feels quite sacred! I made rhubarb shortcake in honor of my dear friend who is now making her way to California, where she will spend the summer. She and I had near weekly Sunday dinners for the past 8-9 months, and yesterday was the last until she returns. I also got to share the shortcake with my sisters and my dad: none of us have been in a room together more than a couple of times in the past 5 years. None of us are taking for granted that it will happen again. Rhubarb shortcake as present moment awareness: change, loss, and love.

The rhubarb compote is not one I've made before - I used raisins and fresh ginger. With the biscuit it became almost ginger-bready, a little spicy. These biscuits are also my favorite gluten-free/paleo biscuit yet. They were delicious.

Rhubarb Compote (a la Martha Stewart)
2 pounds rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup raisins
1 cup packed light-brown sugar (or sugar substitute)
2 tablespoon peeled minced fresh ginger
2 cinnamon sticks or 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Put all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until rhubarb is soft (about 6-8 minutes). The rhubarb will quickly let out moisture, so no need to add extra water.

Almond Biscuits (from the Nourishing Home) makes 8
2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp butter, melted (or melted coconut oil)
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp milk or coconut milk
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, baking soda and salt.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter (or coconut oil) and honey, until smooth. Add the coconut milk, eggs and vinegar, whisking together until well combined. Using a spoon, stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until thoroughly combined.
3. For quick and easy drop biscuits: Drop biscuit dough by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet, placing the biscuits approximately two-inches apart,
4. For classic-style rolled-looking biscuits: Scoop a large spoonful of batter into your hands and roll into a ball about the size of an apricot. Then place the dough balls on baking sheet and gently flatten using the palm of your hand.
5. Bake about 15 minutes, until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

For shortcake: Slice biscuit in half. Spoon compote on top of bottom biscuit, and sandwich between biscuit halves. Top with either whipped cream or coconut cream. (This is all especially good fresh and warm, but the biscuits also refrigerate well.)