Roast Goose Stuffed with Mashed Potato

I'm not sure why I've always had the urge to roast a goose. Even though I've only experienced a Snowy Christmas once in my life I always think that snow, roast goose and roasting chestnuts is the way Christmas should be. I'll probably have to give up my Australian citizenship now that I've said that.

Goose is best eaten in winter when the goose is fat and plump but of course our Christmas is during summer so the birds are smaller. Even if it is a big beast, it is quite cavernous so it only really feeds six people which was just about perfect for our Christmas dinner as we had vegetarians to feed. Luckily for Mr NQN's vegan mum there wasn't a head attached to it or it might have been a terrifying scene. I was lucky enough to score a fresh free range goose from Tim at Urban Food Market and since I'd placed my order early enough I got it at a discounted price ($70 for a 2.75 kilo goose).

Roast Goose Stuffed with Mashed Potato

Adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 3 hours

• 1 goose, dressed weight about 4.5 kg/9 pound or so with giblets  (I could only get a 2.75 kilo/5.5 pound goose)

• 1.5 kilos/3 pounds potatoes, peeled cut into large chunks and rinsed

• 4 onions, chopped coarsely

• 50g/1.4ozs butter or goose fat (rendered from the fat of the goose)

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped finely

• 1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

• grated rind of 2 lemon

• salt and pepper

• lots of paper towels to dry the goose

For the gravy

• 4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped

• 25g goose fat (rendered from the goose)

• 1 goose neck bone and gizzard, cleaned, chopped coarsely

• 2 sticks of celery, chopped

• 1 onion, peeled and chopped

• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped

• 2 tablespoons Calvados

• 150ml/5flozs marsala

• 300ml/10.6flozs strong chicken stock

• 1 scant tablespoon redcurrant jelly

• 1 heaped teaspoon cornflour

Step 1 - First prepare the goose. The day before you want to eat it, remove the gobbets of pale fat that lie just inside the goose's cavity that are attached to the skin. You'll make some precious goose fat with this. Put them in a pan and on a very low heat allow it to melt. It might take about 20 minutes all up to do this. Set aside.

Step 2 - To get a cripsy skin like a Peking Duck, put the kettle on. Put the goose on a rack in its roasting tin and think of the most annoying person you can think of and stab at it lightly (resist the urge to stab deep) with a skewer or sharp knife.  Then pour the boiling water on top of the skin and tip the water out of the tin making sure to tip out any water from the goose cavity. Now you want the skin to get as dry as possible so wrap the goose in paper towels-I put two on top and two on the bottom. Change it when the paper towels get damp. It usually dries out overnight or you can hang it if you have access to a friendly butcher or you have room. Nigella even suggest pointing a fan on it to dry it out even further.

Step 3 - Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/220C/440F. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, drain well and mash coarsely. We tested out the new Dreamfarm Smood potato masher that we were sent. It has collapsible coils plus a silicon grip on the bottom coil. It was very easy to mash, one press and a whole potato was mashed which is a very obvious upside. However it does require potatoes to be peeled whereas a ricer doesn't so I guess it's up to you whether you find peeling potatoes a more cumbersome task than using a ricer. I prefer to get Mr NQN to peel potatoes and then smash it with this to get out any latent frustration ;).

Step 4 - Fry the onions in the goose fat until golden brown and add the garlic and stir them both into the mashed potato. Then add the chives, lemon rind and some salt and pepper. Rub more salt and pepper over the goose and inside the cavity. Then feeling a bit dodgy (or is that just me?), pack the cavity with mashed potato. Place the goose back on the wire rack and place in the oven.

Step 5 - Roast for 30 minutes and then turn the temperature down to gas mark 4/180c/350F. Cook the goose for a further 2.5 hours if you have a 4.5 kilo goose (adjust for the size of your goose). Don't baste it if you want a crispy skin but every half hour carefully pour away the fat that comes out of a goose to avoid an accident every 30 minutes or so, particularly in the first hour (best to avoid emergency wards at Christmas).

Step 6 - Make the gravy while it is roasting as it takes a while to make. Fry the bacon in goose fat in a heavy bottomed pan until crisp and brown. Add the neck bone and gizzard and cook until well coloured and then do the same with the vegetables. Pour off any excess fat and add the Calvados and Marsala. Bring to the boil and reduce until syrupy. Pour in the chicken stock and redcurrant jelly and simmer for 30 minutes.  Strain through a fine sieve and allow to settle and skim off any fat from the top. Add 2 teaspoons of cold water to the cornflour stirring it well and bring the gravy back to a summer until clean and slightly thickened but do not boil or it will separate and thin the gravy. lace the lid on the saucepan to keep warm. When the goose is ready, rest it for 15 minutes before serving.