OLS: Goat Stew

This is the first week of the One Local Summer Challenge, organized by Liz at Pocket Farm. Basically, the challenge is to eat one dinner each week made from local foods. The fun part is that I get to define what local means.

Since I have never really focused on purchasing local produce and meat, my goals for this summer challenge are to educate myself about available local foods and, as the summer goes on, find my foods within a 50 mile radius of Palmyra. I want this to include everything in the meal. But, for this first week, and, until my CSA share starts, I limited myself to ingredients from Maine (which is a huge area).

Some of the ingredients for this Goat Stew are very easy to find. Potatoes are grown in Northern Maine. I would have preferred local new potatoes, but I wasn't very organized this week and decided to just use what I had in the fridge. Carrots, garlic scapes and onions came from the Pittsfield Farmer's Market. I cheated with the celery.

I have never had goat meat. There are a lot of foods that I have never had. Most of them, I am willing to try, except seafood. I respect those who love lobster, shrimp, clams and mussels, but I just can't eat them. But, meat and poultry, I will try. So I decided to make a soupy stew for this week's challenge using ground goat meat. Since I cook for one, I tend to make meals that can eat for more than one meal - it saves me time on following days and I freeze at least 1 meal for future consumption when I do not feel like cooking at all.

My goat meat comes from St. Albans, just a few miles down the road from me.

Not bad! People around me turned up their noses and said "GOAT? That will be really gamey and stinky." I guess because goats have a certain odor about them? Well, it was bad bad logic on their part (I mean, cooked chicken doesn't smell like live chicken - and I haven't found a meat yet that smelled like its live counterpart, so why would goat be any different). This goat, while a little greasy (drain off the fat!), is quite mild. Milder than lamb in a stew and I LOVE lamb stew!

Goat Meat Stew

1 pound ground goat meat (or, goat stew meat) ~10 miles traveled

1 onion, diced ~ 10 miles

3 carrots, sliced ~ 10 miles

3 stalks celery, sliced ~no idea!

3-4 potatoes, diced ~ The County ~ 150 miles

3-4 garlic scapes, chopped ~ 10 miles

herbs of your choice (I used oregano, parsley, bay and thyme) ~ 0 miles

water/broth ~0 miles

salt & pepper

Brown onion in a skillet. Add goat meat, salt & pepper and cook until browned. At the very end, add the chopped garlic scapes and brown lightly. In a large pot, combine the cooked onion and goat mixture, potatoes, celery, carrots, and herbs. Cover with broth/water and cook on medium heat until potatoes are tender. This would be nice served with a whole wheat bread - especially with the cool weather of this weekend!

So, my goals for the next week are to explore some local farmer's markets I have not been to and to plan a dinner that even my picky father and sister would eat!