Thursday, June 15, 2006
Pasta with Goose and Caramelised Red Onion
Right, I think I give up. For weeks now I have been trying to juggle a full-time job, reworking
my dissertation for publication, this blog, my share of the household and a social life, and I finally have to admit that I just can't do it. Every time one is sorted, one of the others start sslipping. There just isn't enough time in a week. At first I thought of axing the blog, but then I decided that that would be the wrong thing to do because I really love to share my thoughts and food with you. But I can't really quit my job or refuse to do any tidying up anymore with the excuse that I have to keep the world up to date on my culinary adventures. So I will have to scale back the blogging a tad and I will definitely have to go back to cooking less complicated food. Spending an hour in the kitchen every day is just no longer feasible, even if I play online poker while I'm chopping onions.I made a good start on the new simplicity rule with tonight's dinner. Not that that was difficult. As per usual at the end of the week, we didn't have much food left in the house. So I cooked what the fridge yielded: Fresh spaghetti with shredded goose, caramelised red onions and chopped plum tomatoes. It's all incredibly simple:
enough pasta for 2 people (I used fresh spaghetti, but any long, thin-ish pasta (fresh or dry) will do)
2 tbsp goose fatIn all, this dish took 15 minutes and only 2 pans to prepare, so I had plenty of time to waste on all kinds of other things, such as meeting an old school friend of mine who arrived in Dublin tonight. This didn't help the blog much, nor did it sort out the dissertation or the household, but it did give our social life a bit of a lift. In fact, it was kind of fun to sit in the pub watching the football and not even worrying about work the next day. OK, I will have to pay the price tomorrow, but every once in a while it is well worth having to down a quadruple espresso before breakfast in order to wake up for work after a fun night. -- Or, just do what I did most of December, not really wake up at all all day. We'll see...
1 red onion, halved and sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp sugar
1 goose breast (or the equivalent amount of leftover goose meat of any kind), shredded
a dash of Marsala wine
1 chicken Oxo cube (or enough stock granules for 150 to 200ml liquid)
1 plum tomato, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp chopped chives to serve
Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and set aside. Do not rinse, oil or do anything else to it to prevent it from sticking together. This will also cause the other ingredients to slip off the pasta and the dish will end up disintegrating. Just rely on the sauce to get the pasta knot unstuck.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the goose fat in a pan over medium heat. Fry the onion, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, mix and then stir in the sugar. Allow to caramelise lightly, about 1 minute, before adding the shredded goose. Add a generous dash of Marsala wine and continue cooking until the liquid has evaporated. Now add the pasta and toss to mix. Crumble in the Oxo cube and add a few drops of water if necessary to dissolve the granules. Finally, stir in the tomato cubes and continue cooking just long enough to heat through. You don't want to cook the tomato. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve garnished with the chopped chives.
Christine at 11:43 pm
