Recipe of the Week: Roast Goose with Prunes and Chestnuts

Roasting a goose is a delightful thing to do at Christmas. Adn this recipe, abridged from Cooking Meat, has the sweet and savoury flavours of prunes and chestnuts to make it feel even more festive!

Serves 6 to 10, depending on the size of the goose

Ingredients:

1                        whole goose, 8–11 lbs
1                        orange
2 cups               dried prunes (divided)
6                        bay leaves (dried is fine, divided)
1 cup                 honey
4                        shallots, peeled and chopped
1 cup                 dry red wine
1 cup                 Madeira wine
1 cup                 prune juice
2 cups               Beef Stock
to taste             Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp               reserved rendered goose fat from the roast
2 Tbsp               all-purpose flour
1 cup                 peeled chestnuts, roasted until golden

Method

1. Two hours before serving, remove the goose from the fridge. Place the goose, breast side up, on your cutting board and remove the wishbone with a sharp paring knife. Score the goose breast in a cross-hatch pattern at ¼-inch intervals, making sure that you’re only cutting through the skin and not into the meat of the breast.

2. Roll the orange on the counter to break up the cells of the fruit inside. Using the tip of the paring knife, poke 8 to 10 holes all around the fruit. Place the orange, 1 cup of the prunes, and 4 of the bay leaves into the cavity of the bird.

3. Truss the goose, then season all over with salt and pepper, then place it on a roasting rack, and set the roasting pan on the center rack of a cold oven (note it is not preheated).

4. Turn on the oven to 400˚F, slowly allow the oven to come up to temperature, and roast the goose for about 20 minutes, or until the skin is golden. Turn down the oven to 300˚F and roast the goose for another 2 hours.

5. Fifteen minutes before the goose is finished roasting, heat the honey in a small pot over medium heat. Remove the goose from the oven, brush it all over with the honey, and return it to the oven for the final 15 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165˚F. Remove the goose from the oven, cover it with aluminum foil, and allow it to rest for at least 20 minutes.

6. While the goose is resting, make the sauce. Drain the fat and roasting juices from the pan into a bowl and reserve them. Set the roasting pan on the stove over medium heat and add the shallots and the wishbone, and stir well until the shallots are translucent and scraping up any bits of roast that are stuck to the bottom of the roasting pan. Add the remaining bay leaves, red wine, and Madeira, bring to a simmer, and reduce by half. Add the prune juice and reduce by half. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

7. Using a tablespoon, skim the fat from the top of the reserved roasting juices and reserve 2 Tbsp of it (refrigerate any excess for another use—hello, roast potatoes!). Add the roasting juices and the beef stock to the saucepan, bring to a simmer, and reduce by a half again. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

8. To thicken the sauce, mix the reserved goose fat and flour in a bowl to make a paste. Slowly whisk this paste into the sauce, bring the sauce to a simmer, and allow it to thicken—that should take about 5 minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean saucepan. Add the remaining prunes and chestnuts and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour into a sauceboat.

9. Carve the goose and serve on a platter, surrounded with the sauce.