I was at a local farmers market collecting items on my shopping list and looking for oxtail. I have had a craving for a dish I made last winter with the cooler weather we have had here recently. This was my first time at this market and I was enjoying walking slowly and speaking with the vendors. Nobody had oxtail but one farmer asked if I liked goat meat. I love goat cheese I told him but never had eaten goat meat. After talking to him for a bit about what he had, I decided to try the goat sausage.
Now I came home and did a lot of research on what goat tastes like and the best explanation was a little like lamb with almost that same finish you get from a fresh goat cheese. It’s true. Totally dead on for what it taste like.
There are a lot of recipes out there for goat sausage from jerk recipes to curry. A friend of mine suggested a stew and I might give that a whirl next time. I cooked mine up in a pasta sauce. It was so delish. I manged to get a couple of my guys to eat it without knowing what meat they were eating. I don’t normally do this but wanted an honest evaluation without …eewww this is goat?. My 11 yr old finished his plate and then I told him and his reply was “I love me some goat!” Middle son knew and wanted to eat it anyway after a long day at work and hubby was enjoying it and thought we had already eaten the goat meat he saw in the freezer in another dish. So safe to say it is not that funky of a taste.
Why goat meat? To try something new. Ok here are some facts I found from the USDA about goat meat. 75% of the world population eats goat meat. For some reason in America we just don’t. My guess is the highly processed diets we eat. Knowing now what I know about some processed foods, goat meat doesn’t seem so scary to me. Twinkies scare me, unless of course there is a zombie apocalypse. Then I want those never go bad suckers around.
Goat meat is lower in fat, nearly as much as chicken (hence why you need to cook it low and slow to make it tender), it’s has as much protein as beef and more iron than beef. It also had lower saturated fat than chicken with the skin off.
So here’s my pasta sauce recipe for using goat meat sausage. I think next time I am going to add one of my favorite local wines to the sauce, Bully Hill’s Love My Goat. Ok I admit I might have gone to far with that one. But I am being honest.
Pasta with Tomato and Goat Sausage “Meatballs”- Serves 6
1 lb of goat sausage, cut into about 1 inch pieces (leave on casing)
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots , diced
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
1 32 oz can of whole tomatoes
2 Tablespoons of butter
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
spices to add to taste: rosemary, basil, oregano, chili flakes, salt and pepper.
1 package of your favorite pasta.
What to do:
1. In a large pot or saute pan, heat the olive oil and then add the onion and carrots. Cook until the onions are clear. Add in your garlic and cook for just about a minute. You should smell the garlic at this point.
2. Add in your goat sausage and cook till brown.
3. Add in your spices and give a few good stirs.
4. Add in tomato sauce and hand crush the whole tomatoes and add to the pot. Give a good stir to mix everything up and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer 45 mins – 1 hour.
5. Cook your pasta according to directions and drain. While the pasta is cooking add in the two tablespoons of butter to the sauce and stir to melt. This is optional but I think it gives the sauce a nice creamy taste.
6. Put your drained pasta into your sauce, mix around and let it absorb some of the sauce. Serve and enjoy!
Next time I plan on adding a 1/2 cup to a cup of wine in before I add the tomatoes. I just didn’t have any when I made this. For those locally in CT wanting to know where I got goat meat, I bought it from Blue Slope Farms.
Till next time,
Blessings
Shelly's Cookery 