Braised goose warm winter salad

By: Rohan Anderson
From: A Year of Practiculture
Serves: 4
Photographer: Rohan Anderson & Kate Berry

It doesn’t really feel right having a salad in the middle of winter, but it’s all thanks to the magic of the poly tunnel. The tunnel protects the plants from cold wind and freezing temperatures. I can grow spinach and rocket outside in winter, but mizuna is a little bit more delicate. I tend to use it more and more to extend the seasons and provide the family with a good mix of vegetables the whole year round. I’ve been known to have a vegetarian salad on occasion, but I don’t mind sneaking a bit of meat into a meal. Hell, I’ve usually raised it or hunted it, so I’m cool with eating it! This year has been a bit of the year of the goose and I prefer it to chicken now. It’s unique in flavour and there’s plenty of meat on a bird. But that’s not the best bit. The geese now live at my place and are the best damn lawn mowers you ever did see. They nibble the grass down and even do a fair job on the weeds. They don’t require much attention other than some supplementary grain and plenty of water. There’s a bit of an odd Western obsession with lawns but I can’t stand them. They’re a waste of resources, similar to the lavishness of a golf course. They’re a Western privilege that starving people in developing countries must be scratching their heads over. Go the geese. Edible lawn mowers.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient

Braised goose

Quantity	Ingredient
60ml	olive oil
1	goose
250ml	white wine
1	garlic bulb, cloves separated and peeled
2	rosemary sprigs
handful	thyme
50g	butter
1/2 teaspoon	chilli powder

Salad

Quantity	Ingredient
handful	mizuna
handful	rocket
handful	baby spinach
	olive oil, to dress
	balsamic vinegar, to dress
60g	slivered almonds, toasted
	goat’s feta, to serve
	Pickled jalapeño, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Heat half the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole dish over medium heat on the stove top and brown the goose on all sides as best you can. Pour the wine over the bird and reduce.
Remove from the heat, stuff a few garlic cloves in the goose’s back end and the rest around the dish. Scatter over the rosemary and thyme, pour in 250 ml water, pop on the lid and transfer to the oven.
Turn the oven down to 150°C and cook the goose for 3 hours, or until the meat is melty.
Allow the bird to cool, then remove all the meat from the bones, discarding the bones or saving them for stock. (I tend to pop half the meat in our fridge for a future meal and use the other half for this dish – more greens, less meat.)
To prepare the salad, rip the greens roughly with your hands and pop in a salad bowl. Dress the leaves with a 2:1 mixture of olive oil and balsamic.
Shred the goose meat, then melt the butter in a frying pan with the remaining olive oil and warm up the meat. Sprinkle over the chilli powder then add the meat to the salad bowl and toss through.
Serve with a scattering of almonds, a crumble of cheese and a generous amount of pickled chillies.