Happy 5 Brumaire! Alternately known as Foggy Goose day!

In the spirit of reason and Brumaire, I have found a goose and cooked it. I decided to take a page from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall‘s River Cottage Year and make a stab at his Christmas goose recipe. In an update to follow, I’ll describe the duck legs confit that I’ve got going in the fridge. Today, rather than roast the goose breast simply, as he describes in River Cottage Year, I went with a recipe for goose breast from his massive MEAT tome – The River Cottage Meat Book. His christmas goose recipe follows three main steps: first, making a sausage out of the neck, second, confit of the legs, and third, roasting the breast. This recipe for the breast was very simple and could easily translate to chicken thighs.

Goose or Duck Breasts with Pineapple, Chile and Soy

1 boneless goose breast

1/2 large pineapple

3 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp honey

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 inch piece of ginger, sliced

1 fresh red pepper

Heat the oven to 425. Peel and core the pineapple and reserve two slices. Juice the rest of the 1/2 pineapple and use the juice in the marinade. For the marinade, add the pineapple juice, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, red pepper and black pepper. Make 6 or 7 slashes in the skin of the breast and place in the marinade.

Once sufficently marinated (Hugh suggests a couple of hours, but 10 minutes would suffice), Heat a pan to very hot and add a small amount of oil. Sear both sides of the breast until the skin begins to crisp. Place the breast in an ovenproof dish and pour the marinade over the breast. Cook in the oven for 12 to 14 minutes. Remove the breast from the dish and let rest while cooking the pineapple.

Chop the reserved two slices of pineapple into chunks and cook in a lightly oiled pan. Sprinkle a little sugar over them to caramelize. Pour the juices from the cooked breast dish into the pineapple pan and reduce until syrupy. Place the meat in the pan and coat with the syrup. Slice the breast and enjoy!