Garlic & Herb Goat Roast, Tandoori Chicken & Saag Paneer, Turkey Enchiladas, Meatball Soup & More!

We’ve had another jam packed couple of weeks of amazing meals made with local ingredients from our farm and all the other local and regional farmers and producers we source from!

There was a delicious goat roast with bright flavors and colorful veggie sides, Indian-inspired roasted chicken, greens and lentils, chipotle enchiladas with leftover pulled turkey, a really delicious veggie-loaded meatball and white bean soup, quick tuna salad rice bowls with sesame kale and a fruit and oat crisp with homemade ice cream!

Garlic & Herb Goat Leg Roast with Whipped Feta, Dill Potatoes, Beets & Carrots

I found my favorite way to eat a goat roast and it’s oven roasted to medium rare rather than slow cooked until falling apart.

I didn’t grow up eating goat meat and over our years of raising meat goats, I have tried lots of different ways to cook it, mainly taking my lead from cuisines and cultures that eat more goat meat as a regular part of their diet.

But one thing I have learned is that while I enjoy pork and beef roasts slow cooked until they are falling apart, I do not like that texture and flavor combination with goat meat.

But I love the flavor of goat with bright and punchy flavors like garlic, lemon zest and herbs like rosemary, oregano, thyme and dill.

So for a goat leg roast on Easter, I decided to look at some leg of lamb roast recipes and came up with this combination where I minced some garlic with fresh oregano, rosemary and thyme, slashed some cuts in the roast and slathered the herb mix on with olive oil. I also seasoned with plenty of sea salt and sumac, for a sour note that can take higher temperatures without getting bitter than lemon zest can.

I cooked it at 325 degrees for a little over an hour; the roast was 3.25 lbs or so. When I took it out to check the internal temperature, I was tempted to throw it in the pressure cooker to reach the falling apart stage. But I forced myself to have restraint and remind myself that some chew is preferable, for me at least, than totally tender and falling apart meat. I cut off an edge to sample and it was incredible!

The middle was much closer to medium rare, but it was absolutely delicious this way and made for great leftovers, too. I reheated pieces in the toaster oven and in a skillet throughout the week. Eventually Grant roasted the bone and polished off the rest of it gnawing straight from the bone, primal style!

To go with it, we had some whipped goat feta, roasted potatoes with dill garlic butter, carrots steamed with butter and chives and beets dressed with orange infused olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, Meyer lemon vinegar and coconut aminos. Altogether, it was delicious and memorable meal.

And I am going to resist my instincts to slow cook goat legs and shoulders moving forward and serve them medium rare like this!

Tandoori-Inspired Chicken, Saag Paneer, Red Lentils & Rice

Beautiful chard and kale from River Queen Greens, made me want to make Saag Paneer, an Indian dish with onion, garlic, ginger and spice-infused greens that you puree with a little cream and then fold in cubes of pan seared paneer cheese.

And since we require a lot of protein in our household, I rounded out the meal with Tandoori-inspired chicken leg quarters, a red lentil dal and rice.

For the chicken, I made a marinade with yogurt, garlic, ginger, lemon juice and a bunch of spices including black pepper, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, garam masala, paprika, red chili flakes and turmeric, coated the chicken and let it come up to room temperature before baking at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, I simmered the red lentils with salt and turmeric. The flavor in the dal comes from making a tempering oil and adding that at the end of cooking, along with lots of lime juice and cilantro. The tempering oil has fresh garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and scallions.

Chipotle Turkey Enchiladas & Salad

Back when my family was in town at the end of March and we cooked one of our J&L Green Farm pastured turkeys, we immediately made made broth with the carcass. And wow, there is a lot of meat on a turkey carcass!

So my dad did me a solid and pulled all the meat off of it and I froze it in a ziplock bag with a little broth to help keep it covered from any freezer burn.

So that meat was perfect to take out for a fairly quick and easy pan of enchiladas!

We got some corn tortillas to try from Tortilleria Luz Dorada in Kenner and we will likely start carrying them in the store soon.

For the enchiladas, I first made a sauce with some red spring onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, broth and chipotles in adobo sauce, along with some other spices.

Then I reheated the turkey, with some more sautéed onions and garlic and a bit of the sauce and folded in some goat creole cream cheese at the end.

I went the easy, lasagna-style route with the enchiladas versus rolling them individually. It can be easier to cut for leftovers and you get a better filling to tortilla ratio this way.

I layered sauce on the bottom, then layer of tortillas, then the turkey mixture, then more tortillas, the rest of the sauce and topped with a few different shredded cheeses and baked until bubbling and the cheese was brown.

It was really tasty with a salad with a creamy dressing on the side.

Beef Meatball Soup with Veggies & White Beans

This was another great meal prep dish that reheated and tasted so good throughout the week!

I started with some simple beef meatballs with breadcrumbs, eggs, parmesan cheese and garlic and onion powder and black pepper. I like to start them on the stove in cast iron pans and transfer to the oven to finish cooking. No turning required this way!

For the beans, I soaked for 36 hours with a little vinegar as usual and cooked in beef broth with a piece of kombu seaweed (as I always mention, both of those things really seem to help with digestibility).

For the soup, I sautéed spring onions, chard stems and carrots and then added garlic once those veggies had softened. Then I added the canned tomatoes and more beef broth. Once that simmered together enough, I eventually added the white beans and the meatballs and the chard leaves until they were just cooked through.

We topped the finished soup it with freshly grated parmesan and it was really delicious. And somehow, even without any pasta, the leftovers gave Spaghetti-O’s vibes, in the best way.

Tuna Rice Bowls with Sesame Scallion Kale & Avocado

We’ve made three variations on this in the past week and a half with both canned tuna and canned salmon and it really does not disappoint!

When cucumbers are in season, I like those included and sometimes I do teriyaki-esque tofu cubes, as well, but here the season kale salad paired really well in the absence of cucumbers!

For the canned fish, I added a little Japanese barbecue sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, mayo, sriracha, minced ginger and onion-garlic salt. For the kale salad, I massaged in sea salt and sesame oil, then tossed in scallions, onion-garlic salt and rice vinegar.

We ate the bowls (plates?) with Jasmine rice, avocado, sesame seeds, crispy onions and these crispy tempura seaweed snacks that are so good, especially in dishes like these.

Strawberry Mulberry Rhubarb Crisp with Homemade Ice Cream

We got an ice cream machine a few months ago and Grant has been perfecting his ice cream recipe and methods. Since it’s more his thing, I haven’t documented it like I do my cooking with photos. He does a custard base with heavy cream, milk and egg yolks. We’ve done chocolate, vanilla, miso butter pecan, strawberry and for this last batch, we’re back to vanilla to go with a fruit crisp I made with fresh strawberries and mulberries and some of my frozen Wisconsin rhubarb.

I tossed the fresh berries and frozen rhubarb with sugar, flour, cornstarch and vanilla extract and then mixed up the topping in the food processor with all purpose flour, a little rye flour, oats, butter and brown sugar. It was a really good combination!