Apologies to fans of Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and the classic movie Casablanca but I couldn’t resist.  We have been making bad ‘kid’ jokes in our house all week – ever since I went to Western Halal Meats in Leeds St., Footscray and purchased a leg of what they tastefully labelled as ‘baby goat’.  After marinating the leg for four hours in the largest receptacle I could find, I roasted it for three hours and rested it for a further half hour.  The resulting meat turned out to be very tender and much more flavorsome than your ordinary leg of lamb.  For those who have not tried goat I would recommend it, here’s my recipe.

Roasted leg of kid (or baby goat) with garlic, orange and herbs

Mouth watering roasted baby goat

Ingredients

1 cup dry white wine

zest of an orange

juice of 1/2 an orange

2 tsp chilli flakes

sea salt

3 tbs olive oil

2 tbs each of chopped mint, parsley and coriander

3-4 large garlic cloves cut into slivers

Method

Place the leg of kid in a large dish.  Make holes at random in the flesh and insert slivers of garlic.  Pour over the wine and the olive oil.  Season well with sea salt and sprinkle with the chilli flakes.  Sprinkle with the orange zest and fresh herbs, pour over the orange juice and cover.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, longer if you wish.  Remove  meat from fridge and transfer to a large baking dish, pour over the marinade.  Heat oven to 220c and place the leg on the top shelf, roast for 1 hour, turning the pan around once and basting with the juices.  Reduce heat to 180c and move leg down the middle shelf, roast for a further 2 hours, basting and turning the pan occasionally.  Remove from the oven and rest under foil for a further 1/2 hour.  Carve and serve with a gravy made from the juices.

In spite of the freezing weather we have been having my parents’ vegetable garden is still producing.  Leeks, fennel, red cabbage and winter herbs like Italian parsley.  The chickens are still laying eggs and there is a store of pumpkins and apples, along with other things, in the back room.  Winter in the country does not produce the bounty that is harvested in the warmer months but there is still plenty going on.  The lunch we ate on the north facing veranda was made almost exclusively with ingredients produced on the property.  Mum made some of her excellent potato and leek soup which we ate with some of their own toasted sourdough.  This was followed by a frittata made with vegies from the garden and eggs from the chickens.  To take home, Mum gave me some fennel and red cabbage.

Potato and Leek Soup

Comforting Potato and Leek Soup

Ingredients

2 large leeks (washed and thinly sliced)

1 onion (chopped)

3 medium potatoes (peeled and roughly chopped)

600ml chicken stock

150ml thick cream

25g butter

sea salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)

Method

Sweat the onions and leeks in the butter without browning, add stock celery and potatoes.  Season to taste and simmer until the potatoes are soft.  Blend with a stick blender until smooth.  Can be eaten hot or cold (served cold it is vichyssoise).  Top with a teaspoon of cream and some chopped chives.  A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg can also be added to each bowl.

Red cabbage in the garden

I cooked the red cabbage with a couple of apples, a tablespoon of sugar, a dash of vinegar, some all spice and some caraway seeds.  You could omit the caraway seeds and add star anise instead.

Freshly cut red cabbage

Fennel just pulled from the ground