Hen Corner

Clear out your fridge!

Now this recipe has been developed especially to use the leftovers from Christmas. Do worry if you really don’t want another big meal after all the feasting, your cold meat can be frozen and then defrosted just before you are ready to create this dish. This dish uses goose trimmings & joints (wings, legs, etc.), ham off-cuts, ham stock (from the first boiling) and sausages (pre-cooked if you have them as leftovers or you can cook fresh sausages at the beginning of the recipe).

A key benefit of this recipe is that the quantities are rather vague; if you don’t have goose to hand a couple of duck legs will do the trick (roasted or confit), if you have more of one meat left over that’s fine, if you need to add extra sausages and bacon to feed everyone – then, again, that’s fine!

Prep time 30 mins, cooking 3 1/2 hours

Ingredients:

Goose trimmings, jointed and/or diced

Ham leftovers (including fat), diced

Sausages (leftovers or fresh fried in goose fat)

Ham Stock (reserved from the first boiling)

Goose Fat (reserved from the first roasting)

1 whole head of Garlic, each clove peeled

2 large Onions, chopped

3 sticks of celery, sliced

4 large Carrots, peeled & sliced thickly

Bunch of Thyme

4-6 Bay Leaves

Freshly ground Black Pepper

2 x 400g tins Haricot Beans

2 x 400g tins Peeled Plum Tomatoes

2 x large handfuls of Breadcrumbs to finish

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150c.
2. Warm some goose fat in a large flame proof casserole, fry your sausages until brown if they are not already cooked.
3. Add the peeled garlic cloves, onion, celery and carrots and fry gently until starting to soften, but not brown. Season with black pepper. Adding additional goose fat if needed.
4. Add the cooked meats (goose, ham & sausage), thyme, bay leaves and ham stock and heat to a simmer.
5. Add both tins of tomatoes and bring back to a simmer.
6. Add both tins of haricot beans (drained) and bring back to a simmer.
7. Stir gently and top up with boiling water, if necessary, to ensure all ingredients are covered in liquid.
8. Cover the casserole and transfer to the oven, cook gently for 2 hours, adding additional boiling water as and when needed.
9. Check for meat that has fallen off the bone – remove any clean/meat free bones. Return to the oven, uncovered, for 30 mins at the higher temperature of 160c.
10. A crust should now have formed, gently stir this through the whole dish.
11. Sprinkle half of the breadcrumbs over the top of the dish and return to the oven for a further 30 mins.
12. A new crust should have formed, again gently break this and stir it through.
13. Sprinkle with the remaining breadcrumbs and return to the oven for the final 30 mins.

Enjoy with saute potatoes (if you have any more goose fat left!) and steamed greens (beans, sprouts, cabbage, etc.).

A rewarding dish cooked slowly and made mainly from leftovers…