Cooking the goose...

Well, my goose was cooked well ahead of time - and eaten! I came down with some flu bug or other last week, and so had done very little to organise the famous Christmas pressies, or food or wine, and I was in dire need of a pick-me-up to get me into the frame of mind for all the hassle. I love goose, as does my mother and my husband. My brother was a little unsure of whether or not it would be to his liking, but was prepared to give it a go. So, on Sunday - well ahead of the Christmas day dinner - I cooked a goose for us to have. No ordinary goose though - this was a Jenny special - organic beautiful goose, well-reared and ready for cooking! I collected it on Saturday, and cooked it on Sunday. No additives whatsoever - just goose and heat. I took my timings from Richard Corrigans cookbook, although I didnt bother with the rest of his recipe - I wanted simple plain cooking to show off the flavours of this wonderful bird. Amazingly, I didnt add even lemon or garlic to the cooking - all I did was to prick the goose all over with a sharp knife so that the fat could come out of the flesh, placed it in the oven at a high temperature for the first 20 minutes and then reduced the heat to 160 for a further 2 1/2 hours. And the result? The most sublime taste, served with roast potatoes (naturally cooked in the goose fat) and roast carrots, along with some organic cauliflower and a simple apple sauce. We had it with some red Burgundy - although a good Bordeaux or Italian red would have worked really well. And we have great goose fat left to use for more roast spuds or whatever for the next while - just enough to bring back the memories of this great meal!