Roast Goose

Because S. asked...and because it was really, really good.

Disclaimer: You might have to ask your grocery store to special order the goose for you, which should not be a problem. We got two after The Husband talked to the local Kroger's meat manager. The goose they got in is from roastgoose.com--you definitely need to take a look at their site as last resort for ordering everything goose related.

1 (10-12 lb) goose
1 large onion, whole
1 bunch of sage
1 bunch of thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
2 tsp coarse salt, divided
2 large onions, cut into wedges
1 1/2 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes unpeeled and cubed (small cubes)
grated rind of 2 lemons
2 cups mixed pitted olives (I used Greek Kalamata and green Spanish Manzanilla)

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Remove giblets from goose's body cavity and set aside for goose broth in a bowl.
3. Cut away excess neck skin flaps, excess fat and skin from goose cavity; place in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of water and put it on low heat while everything else is cooking to render the fat and produce goose cracklings. This is important and very, very, very rewarding--goose cracklings are some of the BEST things you ever ate. Seriously. This will take a while so just keep rendering on low heat under lid, look at it from time to time--lovely goose fat will slowly fill the pan while the skin bits get smaller and crunchier.
4. Cut away the lower 2 portions of the goose's wing at the joint and add to the goose broth bowl. Put in fridge until you get to it.
5. Place onion, 1/2 bunch od sage and 1/2 bunch of thyme in cavity of goose; sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. of salt and pepper.
6. With small sharp knife, carefully pierce skin all over goose to allow fat to drain during roasting. Be careful not to pierce meat. Rub outside of goose with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Place in roasting pan; don't worry if you don't have a rack. Add enough water to just cover bottom of pan--this will prevent splattering.
7. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove fat from pan with a turkey baster. Bake additional 15-20 minutes--remove fat again.
8. Meanwhile, toss potatoes, onions, olives, remaining sage and thyme, lemon peel, remaining salt and pepper in large bowl. Add to roasting pan; shake to evenly distribute.
9. Cover pan in aluminum foil; reduce oven temperature to 350 F and bake goose 1 hour, removing excess fat with baster after 30 minutes.
10. Remove foil; bake additional 20-30 minutes of until internal temperature reaches 175-180 F.
Cover loosely and let it stand 20 minutes.

While goose is in oven, you can make goose broth: place all giblets minus liver, and wing joints in soup kettle; add some carrots, parsnips and celery, couple of whole black peppercorns, salt and some fresh parsley. Cook on low heat, basely simmering for about 1 hour.

You can also make an additional side dish. Take I jumbo bag of frozen Brussels sprouts; ladle some of that freshly rendered goose fat in a large frying pan, heat it up until sizzling, add the sprouts, shake pan vigorously until they are slightly brown, pout in 1/2 cup good white wine, grind some black pepper on top, cover and let the wine evaporate until sprout s are tender. Add more wine if needed.

Now for the livers: these are relatively small in these geese sold for their meat, but they are there. So: heat a good bit of that rendered goose fat again, add the livers, shake and brown all sides, pour 1 cup of water under, cover with lid and cook until tender. Toast some bread, chop liver, pile on toast with the cracklings (if you still have them and people did not drift into your kitchen snatching them out of the bowl you placed them to cool like it happened with mine), and serve as appetizer before the soup and the roast goose.

You could make a gravy, but honestly, the meat of this is so gloriously succulent that why bother? Just slice the breast of the goose thinly, make sure everyone gets a piece of the skin, and a piece of the legs, together with the lovely gold-brown potatoes and olives, add some of the deep green Brussels sprouts and maybe a simple tossed salad--and voila, you have a really rich Christmas dinner using one single bird. With leftovers.