But our friends trust us when it comes to food (I don't know why, considering that we've now fed you rabbit, homemade dried sausage, and other delicacies), so we threw a nice formal dinner party, including homemade spaetzle and lentil soup. The lentil soup is another family tradition, because like the black eyed peas in the south, for Italians, eating lentils on New Years is supposed to bring luck for the coming year. Particularly financial luck, but I think that has more to do with the resemblance between lentils and coins.
With a little help and trust from our friends, the goose turned out to be wonderful. I mean really wonderful. It tasted like butter. It was legendary. Only I forgot to get pictures last year. I did however snap a few shots of what became of the leftovers, also delicious.
Salad with avocado and goose (because the goose was not rich enough on its own...)
Goose, brie, and arugula paninis on rosemary sourdough. Yes, it was as good as it sounds:
This year, of course, we had to get another goose and repeat the fantasticness and keep up the tradition. Only I messed up. I called Central Market (North) a few days before New Years while we were still in NY. Me: "Do you have (any goose? geese?) goose available for the holidays? Butcher man: "oh yes, we have a ton of goose!" Me: "(oh crap I guess I don't need to reserve one, this man will think I am silly) ok thanks!" Oops. When we went two days later...no more goose. But Rob was all over this 'goose chase' (yes, intended) and immediately called CM South, which thank goodness, had plenty of birds. This time we reserved one and made the trek south.
I thought Schlitz only made beer!
I present to you, the goose, stuffed with fruit stuffing and covered in wild game seasoning, pre-roast:
post-roast:
What we did with the leftovers this year, goose ragout with homemade potato gnocchi.
gnocchi ready to go:
goose ragout!
