Popped down to the #allotment for a brief #WinterSolstice visit, harvested some vegetables to roast with Gunther tonight. A bit of a motley crew, but they'll do.
Parsnips, short, stubby, bulbous - sound a bit like how pets look like their owners, or vice versa... big lumpy beetroot, purple and white - my spirit animals? And some rather diminutive celeriac.
There was also the late addition of some #allotment carrots, I forgot we had some carrots.
This "guy" has his tail between his legs.
Anyway, our #WinterSolstice #allotment vegetable haul cleans up OK.
We won't roast all of this with Gunther, got a few days worth of veg here actually.
I'm pleasantly surprised even the two quite small celeriac have a reasonable "core" that'll be worth roasting.
Everything except the potatoes came out of the plot today. Though the potatoes are also from the plot, we have them stored in hessian sacks, obviously there are three varieties there in three colours: Cara, Purple Rain, Lily Rose.
Prepped for the oven. (Not everything from the previous photo!)
On a bed of large rosemary sprigs.
And all tossed in goose fat.
Just needs some salt and pepper sprinkled over.
Sneaky addition of wedges of #allotment quince.
Everything in this tray we grew ourselves except the goose fat (but Gunther, the goose, did grow up in the village at least.)
That's a cooked tray of surprisingly colourful #allotment root veg.
Crispy roast on top, softly poached in goose juice and fat with rosemary on the bottom. Aromatic with the quince & rosemary.
To bring this together with my Gunther thread…
#WinterSolstice dinner is served.
Gunther the goose (named posthumously, as per our tradition.)
Colourful roast #allotment veg, one piece of each vegetable.
A gravy made with Gunther's giblets*, our own chicken stock, (reserving liver for tomorrow brunch), veg & quince trimmings, garlic, pepper, a couple each of juniper berries & cloves — simmered for 2 hours & strained through muslin — then reduced with a very generous glugging of sweet sherry, and finally adjusted with quince jelly, salt, a touch of MSG, and a couple of pinches of five spice. (I could drink this lol.)
Glass of passable French red wine.
Sure, Gunther is pretty awesome... but I'm really here for these potatoes. Phwoar.
Left to right: Cara, Lily Rose, Purple Rain
Guntherfest continues on the solar new year's day... 15:20 brunch? That's how we roll!
Local bacon, local goose, local egg! Fairly local seeded sourdough.
My own 2023 naga-based Tobasco-like "black label" fermented super-hot sauce. Precious stuff.
CWing this mainly as it may look kinda gross.
Not a pot of blood flecked puss, but the reserved goose fat from the vegetable pan... with traces of beetroot.
The fat has now all been combined and filtered, always surprises me how much fat you can capture from geese and ducks. So much fat.
This will be of use for Gunther's legs...
Meanwhile, following a Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall* recipe, preparing Gunther's legs for confit.
I have altered the rub recipe with the addition of 4 allspice berries, and 2 juniper berries. Otherwise all the same ingredients.
* well, less so these days... Hugh mainly Fearlessly-Eatsallthevegetables. Respect. (He's not a veggie AFAIK, just a conscientious omnivore pushing a message that us omnivores should eat less meat, less and better. Tho he seems to have been off the radar for some years now? I have a whole bunch of River Cottage books.
Gave Gunther's legs a good herby salty massage and then dusted off the old #MeatFax.
I have mixed feelings about vacuum packing. On one hand it is super effective for a bunch of things, especially dry rubs like this, but also storage and freezing. On the other hand... it's very single use plastic. Based in how often I use it I probably have enough vac bag to last the rest of my life anyway, so it's a bit moot I guess. Sorta a "sunk cost" in terms of carbon footprint.
Anyway, into the fridge with them and in two days they will slow cook in the goose fat.
Yvan
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jamesb (MW1CGG)
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