Saturday, September 5, 2015

Living off the land

Tonight's dinner was one of the best dinners of my life. Sounds like a bit of an exaggeration but this dinner was packed full of flavor, nutrition, pride, accomplishment, and blissful satisfaction.

Today's harvest

After planting all the seeds, endlessly watering them, watching the beautiful plants grow, and eagerly awaiting all the fruits and veggies tonight is the kind of night a gardener relishes.

Wild goose
Lightly steamed green beans
Fresh sliced tomatoes
Green tomato chutney
and
A wild rose from our rose bush for atmosphere




I am happy! And may I just give another shout out to Frugally Challenged for the chutney inspiration and for letting me know that its recommended to be eaten along side meat. YUM!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, the goose didn't turn out gamey AT ALL this time. So, so, so delicious!

Spending rundown today: $0. NO SPEND day 66 for the year. Side note: tonight's dinner cost NOTHING!

My budget for the month is $513.62 which leaves $392.58

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.04

Only for my own reminder I seared each side of the goose in a hot pan with oil, 3 minutes each. Took the breast out, deglazed the pan with chicken broth, turned the heat back on, returned the meat to the pan and cooked the breast for 15 minutes with a cover on (making sure less than 1/3 of the meat was submerged in broth) and turned every few minutes. Then removed from heat and let rest for 5 minutes (probably should have let rest a bit longer).

12 comments:

  1. Not sure if I am a fan of goose or not, having never eaten it, but it LOOKS fantastic!!! Those green beans & tomatoes look like a picture in a magazine!!! I have enough snow peas from my 2nd planing in the freezer right now for MAYBE 1 serving....as long as whoever eats it isn't very hungry....I think there are 6 peas :( Maybe I'll make a stir-fry & add them.....there you go - you could make a goose stir-fry next :)

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    1. If you like steak then you probably also like wild goose. You know how every thing "tastes like chicken?" Well wild goose tastes like steak. It's SO good! I think, and I'm only guessing from two experiences that you need to remove most of the silver skin to get out the gamey after taste and chewyness. I didn't do that last time but did this time. So, so, so good! Not chewy or gamey.

      6 peas? awe man, that's sad :(
      I feel bad because I'm around 250 tomatoes so far this year from my four plants and my neighbors who planted six plants got TWO tomatoes.

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  2. Impressive! How satisfying on all accounts.

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  3. I wish I could come and share it. That looks delicious. Goose is available only at Christmas here and I've never had wild goose at all.

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    1. Oh I wish you could to! I'd LOVE to have you as a dinner guest. I've only ever had wild goose. No one here eats goose except for a few hunters and most hunters don't bother because wild goose is so tough and gamey (if you don't cook it right).

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  4. Your dinner looks amazing! I used garden ingredients in my dinner last night as well, but mine wasn't "all garden", unfortunately. ;-) I went to a potluck & brought a fruit salad (watermelon & cantaloupe from the garden), & made a pasta salad with veggies & parmesan (tomatoes & peppers from the garden + lemon juice from our lemons). I turned the very small amount of leftover fruit salad into smoothies this morning. Yum!!!

    Your plating of your meal is great as well - love the pic!

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    1. Just hearing about all your produce makes me smile! I love that you have so much fruit. I'm still waiting for our ONE watermelon to fully ripen. I'd be in heaven if I had a lemon tree! It's really not warm enough here to grow good citrus. But we are in apple country. Maybe I should plant an apple tree :)

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  5. Your dinner looks amazing! My father-in-law is also a hunter and we receive lots of goose a few times a year. I love having free, wild meat in the freezer. Here are a few recipes that he gave us, both of which are delicious:

    Canada Goose Stew (Slow Cooker)

    1 large onion chopped
    Vegetable oil
    2 Goose breasts, cut in 2” chunks
    2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
    1 or 2 cloves Garlic chopped
    4 cups water, 1 envelope gravy mix
    A good amount of Potatoes, Carrots, Turnip

    Sauté onion and garlic in vegetable oil for a few minutes on medium heat. Add goose pieces, Worcestershire sauce and continue to sauté for 10 minutes.
    Transfer to slow cooker. Mix together the water and gravy mix and pour over goose. Add
    vegetables, cover and cook on high until vegetables are soft and meat is tender (4-6 hours).

    About a half hour before serving, mix together 2 Tbsp. cornstarch with a little water to remove lumps and add to slow cooker. Turn to high and cook until broth thickens. If not thick enough in 15 minutes, add a little more cornstarch mixture.

    Pulled Goose BBQ (Slow Cooker)

    Worchester sauce
    Head of garlic
    Onion
    Goose Breasts, Orange Juice
    1 cup Diana Gourmet Maple BBQ Sauce (or any BBQ sauce)

    Cut the goose breasts into smaller pieces. Put the goose breasts in a crock pot or slow cooker and add head of garlic, Worchester sauce, onion and cover with orange juice. Let cook in crock pot (8 hours) or slow cooker on high heat (5-6 hours) until the meat pulls apart. Remove the mat from the slow cooker or crock pot. Pull the meat apart with 2 forks and put into bowl. Add barbeque sauce and stir together. Place in microwave steamer and heat for 2-3 minutes or in a pot with medium heat stirring continuously until hot. (I just put it right back in the slowcooker to heat up). Can be served in a bun or separately.

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    1. Oh my goodness thank-you SO much! I have two breasts left and I will probably try one of these recipes. I think I'm going to make the stew. How awesome of you to type all that out for me!

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  6. You're welcome! I hope you like it.

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    1. I just posted about it, I didn't follow the recipe but you were absolutely my inspiration. The stew turned out AWESOME! I would not have ever thought to make it otherwise. Thank-you so very much!

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