Roast Stuffed Goose

This dish was a little more work than the duck, but was definitely very good. The stuffing was really really yummy and the apples that are to be served with it as a garnish are amazing. We carved into this bird so fast that Marquette couldn't get any more good pictures, so this one will have to suffice.

What you need:

1 young goose, about 8lb

2 TBS butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 cups port(we just skipped this ingredient)

1/2 cups stock (you can find a recipe for this online)

1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 TBS water

For potato stuffing:

3 medium onions, finely chopped

4 large potatoes, peelied and cut in large pieces

1/2 cup butter or heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons sage

salt and pepper

for garnish:

1/4 cups butter

10 small tart apples, peeled and cored

1/4 cup red currant jelly (we couldn't find this anywhere so we used seedless raspberry jam)

2 TBS red wine vinegar

What to do:

1. To make the stuffing: cover onions with cold water and bring to a boil and simmer 5 mintes, or until tender. Drain well. Boil potatoes in salted water 15-20 minutes or until soft, drain and return to pan. Dry over very low heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid sticking. Mash with a potato masher or electric mixer, then add butter or cream, beating until potatoes are light. Take from heat and stir in onions, sage, salt and pepper.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fill the body of the goose with stuffing and truss (see duck post for trussing directions), sewing each end firmly shut. Cream the 2 TBS butter with the salt, pepper, and ground ginger and spread over the breast of the goose. Set in a roasting pan and roast in preheated oven for about 2 1/2 hours, basting and turning bird from time to time so it browns evenly. After 2 hours, pour off all fat in roasting pan, spoon the port over goose and continue to cook until skin is crisp.

3. For the garnish: melt butter in a small pan (I used a couple of glass pie pans for this). Put the apples in and cover them all over with the butter. Bake in the same oven as the goose for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Put the red currant jelly in a pan with the vinegar and melt over gentle heat.

4. Take the goose out, remove trussing strings and wing pinion bones and set on a serving platter. Arrange apples around and spoon melted jelly over them. Skim any fat from the juices in the roasting pan, add stock to the juices and boil well to disolve the meat juices(Be sure you really scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the yummy stuff off the bottom of the pan). Adjust seasoning and thicken by stirring the cornstarch mixtures into the pan, bringing it to a boil, and stirring and simmering it for 1 minute. Strain into a gravy dish.