Getting my Goat…

Brrrrrr...still cold. With weather like this I find myself wishing for a little sunshine and warmth. My favourite place for a holiday is Barbados. I’ve been there three times and I hope one day to be able to go again. What a great place it is. The beaches are perfect, the people friendly, the water clear and teeming with colourful fish (great for snorkeling), and the food can be delicious. I have a very fond memory of eating lunch at a roadside pull-up be the airport. The pull-up really was little more than a wooden shack at the side of the dusty road, open-air benches and tables, bowls and spoons and a fridge full of cold beer. The other customers were mainly Barbadian workmen, we were the only tourists, but I reasoned that if they were eating there then it had to be good – and it was. It was delicious, plentiful and cheap. The menu was limited to half a dozen dishes, all very simple - chicken, fish, beef, pork, macaroni, and goat. We had the goat.

It was good, very good, and as we always do we tried to work out what was in it so that we could make it when we got back home. Getting goat in the UK is pretty hard so we have always substituted lamb. Our first attempt tasted nothing like the rich, aromatic dish we had in Barbados, far too bland, but we persevered and after five or six tries got it taste almost like that meal we had on that scorching hot afternoon, sitting on a bench by the side of the road with yellow lorries whizzing past, big black workmen eating and laughing. Gaynor hit on the secret eventually though – you need to marinate the meat overnight!

Perfection!

Here it is…by the way you need to prepare this the day before you want to eat it.

Seasoned Barbados Lamb (Goat) in Spinach Sauce

You’ll need...

About a pound of lamb cut into cubes (we used some of Holly’s pet lamb chops. Removing most of the fat first)
A teaspoon of grated fresh ginger
Half a teaspoon of dried thyme (we tried fresh, but dried is better – we dry our own)
Two tablespoons of olive oil
One chopped onion – not too fine, not too chunky
Two garlic cloves, crushed
One tablespoon of tomato paste
Half a largish chopped red chilli pepper – or a whole one if you are brave
Half a pint of lamb stock – Knorr is a good cube
Four ounces of fresh spinach, finely chopped
Salt and Freshly ground black pepper
Sunshine (if you can get it)
A rum and ginger beer (whilst you are waiting for it to cook)

This is what you do...

1. Place the lamb (goat) in a glass dish. add the chopped ginger, thyme and salt and pepper. Cover the dish with cling film and put in the fridge overnight.
2. Next evening, heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan, not non-stick - you want the meat to make some crust in the pan from it’s juices, and you can’t do this with non-stick.
3. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently until the onion is soft – this should take five minutes or so, time for a sip or two of the rum and ginger beer.
4. Add the lamb and fry until sealed and the meat has a slight crust. Keep moving the meat about.
5. Add the tomato paste and pepper and fry for a few more minutes, stirring often.
6. Add the stock.
7. Cover and simmer for at least an hour until the meat is really tender. Add more stock if you need but you need it to be a thick juice not a watery liquid. You need to aim to have just enough juice to make a nice thick sauce when the spinach is added.
8. Stir in the spinach and cook for about four minutes.
9. Serve with plain boiled rice or mashed sweet potatoes.

Eat and enjoy. Its the next best thing to being there - Apart from the rum and ginger that is.

Song along now...'Oh, I’m going to Barbados!'...One day, one day.