Goose

Roasted goose is a traditional German Christmas dish. I absolutely love roasted goose, particularly during the cold autumn and winter period.
Getting a goose can be a bit tricky at times. I have not yet seen one in any of the supermarkets - not even Waitrose. Meaning, you will probably have to source it from a local butcher. 
Preparing and roasting a goose is relatively easy. Roasting a goose is, however, time-consuming. Goose is very "muscly" poultry and it needs time to soften the meat. You should estimate 1 hour per kg!

What works with a roasted goose?

• red cabbage (see one of my earlier blog posts)
• bread dumplings (Semmelknoedel) 

What you need

• goose: 4-6 kg. When you order one it isn't always possible to get a particular size. But geese typically are in the weight range between 3.5 - 6.5 kg.
• salt, pepper, cinnamon 
• garlic, 2-3 onions, mugwort, 2 carrots, 2 parsnips, 2 pears, 2 apples. Mugwort can be tricky to get - rosemary works as well
• parsley
• vegetable stock, water
• gingerbread for the sauce
• creme fraiche/sour cream for the sauce

Equipment

• baking tray
• ideally a roasting rack - but not really necessary
• ladle or large spoon to remove the fat
• bowl for the fat. Ideally also a fat & gravy separator

How you do it

Preparing

Filling the goose

• chop apples, pears, 1 onion, 1 carrot, parsley and 1 parsnip
• mix 3 teaspoons of salt with 1-2 tea spoons of cinnamon and 1 spoon pepper
• rub the inside of the goose with the salt/cinnamon/pepper mix
• stuff the goose with the fruits/vegetable/parsley mix

With a sharp knife cut a hole through the frontal skin near the opening. Then pull the leg

from the opposite site through the hole - as shown in the picture.

Finally, use salt, pepper and rub it into the outer skin

Roasting

• preheat the oven to 120 C (fan) 
• in the baking tray place a carrot, parsnip, 1 onion and the mugwort/rosemary
• if the butcher included the entrails of the goose, place them on the tray as well.
• dissolve a 1-2 teaspoons of vegetable stock in a glass of water (ca 150ml) and pour into the tray.
• DO NOT USE ANY OIL/FAT: the goose has loads of fat (which you will have to remove) so no need to add any to it
• put the goose onto the roasting rack - or directly onto the tray and in the oven.
• cook at 120 C for 1 hour. This will start the process of the goose loosing fat

After one hour remove the tray from the oven and increase the heat to 160C.

Add some salt and pepper to the outside of the goose and put the goose back into the oven.

In regular intervals:

• pour some water over the goose
• with the ladle/large spoon remove the fat from the tray and put in a bowl or gravy/fat separator. - There will be LOTS!

As mentioned before: roasting a goose takes time. Ca 1 hour per kilo. In order not to burn it the heat should be no higher than 160 C/170 C (fan oven). The first hour is at low heat of 120-130C (fan) to soften up the meat and start releasing the fat.

Gravy

• Chop an onion, use 1 teaspoon of oil and start frying in a sauce pan.
• Fry the onion for 12-15 min while stirring. The onions should be golden brown.
• Add a 1/2 - 1 tablespoon of flour and keep stirring.
• Add the gravy from the baking tray and stir until sauce thickens
• if you have a small piece of dry gingerbread - crumble it up and add to it.
• you may want to add a small spoon of creme fraiche/sour cream

Sweet Potatoes with Porcini Gravy

This is a copy from Nigel Slater's recipe on http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/29/nigel-slater-sweet-potatoes-with-porcini-gravy-recipe

But as usual with cooking I'd recommend a slight variation to it.

What you need

• 1 onion
• 1-2 table spoons of flour
• 2 table spoons of olive oil
• salt, pepper, thyme (best if fresh)
• 2 sweet potatoes
• package of porcini mushrooms
• 400 ml water
• 200 ml white wine (dry)
• creme fraiche

Equipment

• Sauce pan
• quiche form
• bowl

How you do it

Gravy

1. put the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with white wine. 200ml should be enough
2. let rest for at least 30min
3. after 30min, put 400ml of water in a sauce pan and bring to the boil
4. pour the dried mushrooms with the white wine into the sauce pan and cook for 5 min
5. take sauce pan off the cooker and pour all of its content back into the bowl
6. peal and chop the onion
7. clean & dry the sauce pan and put 1 table spoon of olive oil in it
8. heat until the oil is hot pour the chopped onions in it. 
9. Add some salt & pepper.
10. you need to cook the onions for 12-13 min. Stir while they're cooking.
11. The onions should be golden brown.
12. Then put the 1-2 table spoons of flour in the sauce pan. Stir for ca 3 min
13. slowly pour the mushroom/water/gravy mix in it while stirring. Do this step by step - so that at each step the sauce has a chance to thicken.
14. when you poured all of the mushroom/water/whine mix in - continue cooking and stirring for ca 5min.

Sweet Potatoes

1. Put the oven on 200 C or gas mark 6
2. peal the sweat potatoes and cut in 5mm chunks
3. put the cut potato pieces in the form
4. sprinkle salt, thyme, pepper and a bit of olive oil over them
5. put in the pre-heated oven and let bake for ca 30min

Voila: get the potatoes out of the oven and place on a plate. Pour some of the gravy over it and a tea spoon of creme fraiche on the side.