Billy Ray Hawkins III
Most recently I had a full meal from the garden and my goose which I harvested and processed myself. It was a standard weekend night for me, some light jazz playing in the kitchen as I gather my ingredients.
I threw my crocs on and went around the side of the house to the garden. I unsheathed my knife and carefully cut around 20 or 30 of the biggest Collards I could see from their bases. With my bundle I went to the sink and cut each stem up and about halfway through the leaf, to remove it. The stems are woody and fibrous, edible but not delicious like the rest of the leaf. I rinsed the leaves and watched them turn a brighter green under the hot water. Aver rinsing all my leaves I rolled them into a bunch and cut that bunch into strips. At this point I took a break for an ice cold Coors Banquet, delicious. Feeling reinvigorated I started two burners and set the over to preheat at 425.
I plucked the remaining feathers off the goose breast with the skin on and seasoned and scored it. I then cut the bacon into knuckle sized pieces and threw them in the plan with the greens and some garlic to sauté. Lastly I peeled the long strips of skin off of the butternut squash and cut it into halves and then into bite sized chunks. I seasoned it lightly with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a few other desired spices and tossed with a bit of sunflower oil before throwing it in the oven at 425 for roughly 30 minutes.
I cooked the goose to a beautiful medium rare starting with the skin side down. The aroma in the room paired with the jazz the way a dark red wine would with the goose. I’d recreate that meal again and again and look still forward to it every time.