A couple of days ago a friend of mine was out wildfowling on the foreshores of Edinburgh where he shot some geese and wigeon. He was kind enough to give me one of each as I had never eaten either of them before and I am always keen to try something new.
I pull up at his house, enter the garage where he presents me with the largest bird I have ever seen, no…not the wigeon. The goose was enormous to the point I wondered how I was going to fit in my wife’s car but I managed and off I went, happy as Larry.
I had big plans for this bird. I was going to pluck, gut then roast it and serve it with some roast tatties and gravy but then reality hit and it hit me hard. I had never plucked a goose before, sure I had plucked a few ducks and they were relatively easy but a goose was something else. I hunched over my kitchen worktop, swearing quietly to myself, refusing to be defeated by this Behemoth that lay before me but after 30 minutes of hard plucking, I threw in the towel and opted to breast out the goose.
If you have never breasted a bird before it is really simple, just place the bird on its back, feel for the breast bone then cut with a filleting knife, keeping it as close to the bone as possible. 5 minutes later, two magnificent goose breasts, weighing 330g a piece, were ready to be popped in the fridge for another day.
That day happened to be Valentine’s Day and I thought I’d whip up a real nice meal for my wife and I, you know….something real special. As I got home she told me she had eaten fish fingers ( of all things) with the kids and wasn’t hungry. I wasn’t even made, in fact I was more than happy as I had more food for myself, which is always a brucie bonus. No word of a lie, I went into this blind and having never cooked goose before, I had no idea how this was going to turn out.
Word of advice, if you’re like me and you like your meat a bit pink, then cook for ten minutes. If you like it a bit more well done, I suggest you cook for fifteen and see how you get on.
This is a real quick inexpensive meal to make. The meat doesn’t dry out and tastes steak like, so here goes:
Ingredients:
1 goose breast
1 pack of Tenderstem Broccoli
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
2 tbsp Creme Fraiche
Coarse ground pepper/salt
Chopped parsley (this is optional)
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Method
Mix the mustard and creme fraiche together, add chopped parsley. Put to one side.
Smear both sides of the breast in Olive Oil and coat in the coarse pepper and salt.
Add large knob of butter and a splash of olive oil in a hot frying pan.When the butter starts to bubble, add the breast and keep in a high heat.
After five minutes, add the broccoli to pan of boiling water and cook for roughly five minutes. I don’t like my Broccoli soggy and I felt this was the right cooking time.
Add another knob of butter to your pan and spoon the melted buttery goodness of the cooked breast. It will start to look like peppered steak at this point.
After 10-15 mins cooking time, remove breast from the heat and let it rest while you plate up the broccoli and mustard sauce.
Slice the breast and pop into the plate and voilà, you have yourself a truly delicious meal that not only looks good but tastes phenomenal.
Hope you enjoy.
Cheers
Field To Fork Food 