Goat stew

We picked Rambutan up this week. He'd been hanging around the abattoir for 2o days so it was time to bring him home. For an extra £15 the abattoir butchered him for us. Jussi had made a list of all the bits she wanted whole, diced and minced - but they ignored that because, they said, there wasn't enough meat to mince. Given the huge machines they have I can understand what they meant, although it doesn't explain the lack of dicing. Everything was still on the bone.

If you have a pet, say a cat, dog or guinea pig, try imagining him or her coming home in a cool box and then spreading the contents of the cool box on the dining table trying to work out if that bit is shin, and if that bit is scrag end and poking bits - "no that must be shoulder I mean I can feel the scapula". And moving bits around trying to recreate the shape of said bouncing pet.

Still reading? I'm impressed.

Everything was double wrapped in plastic (mentioned in case there's any hygienists reading). We labeled the bits and packed him off to the freezer keeping some back for tea. I thought I kept back loin but Jussi phoned the abattoir to question the butchery and found out it was flank which had been rolled and strung and then sliced. A very fatty, very cheap cut. (and quite different from loin!).

So I stewed him. Jussi was sooooooooo impressed with the result she insisted that I write the recipe down. So here is what I did:

Simon's warming Good Friday stewed goat

Five slices of rolled flank cut about 1 inch thick. Season with lots of salt and white pepper and thoroughly brown in a little oil (cos the meat is fatty) - I used the orange enameled casserole dish but I doubt you have anything the like of which.

Put the meat to one side and lightly brown two finely sliced onions and a head (bulb) of garlic. - the cloves peeled but whole. Add about 5 sliced good-sized mushrooms.

De-glaze the pan with a good big splodge of red wine. Probably about a bottles worth - but I just squirted it out from the supermarket wine box.

Return the meat to the pan and add two sliced dessert apples a glug of dry sherry (I meant to add port but forgot to read the label!!) - a splash of red wine vinegar, two beef stock cubes and about 1/2 a teaspoon (2.5ml) dried rosemary. The liquid should just cover the meat, if it doesn't, add more wine.

Put the lid on the casserole and cook in the oven about about 150C for 3 hours. After 3 hours turn the oven off, take the lid off the casserole and leave in the oven to cool/rest for about 45 minutes.

Serve with un-fussed veg (plain boiled spuds and steamed cauliflower and carrot in our case - a spring green would have been good - but unbuttered - the meat needs un-fussed veg to counter-act the fatty meat).

And that's it. Jussi raved about the delicious meat and the complex depth of flavour of the stew - but as you can see it is a very simple recipe.

The flank of 12 month old castrated kid goat hung for 21 days and slow cooked is deliciously and meltingly tender with a sort of mild beefy flavour. Stunningly good eating.