Goat-herd's Pie

Many of you already know of the interesting culinary relationship Matt & I share: he's a carnivore of the 'quick; get the defibrillator, and it'll be able to get up & walk away' variety, and I'm an ova-lacto vegetarian.

Yeah. Good times.

Now, my reasons for going veg are mainly ethical, although I won't deny the health benefits. But I have never pushed my beliefs on anyone (well, with the exception of Alex, who...let's face it...started off veg; why not continue?), and don't intend to start. My experiences with religion have taught me the way you live your life has a much greater impact on others than forcibly shoving your doctrines down someone's gullet.

As it is, I have no issues making meat-based dishes for Matt, and do so regularly. In fact, with few exceptions, any meat dish you see on this blog was prepared by me.

Just because I haven't eaten it in over a decade doesn't mean I don't know how to cook it!

And Matt's also quite content eating meatless dishes. It's common for us to go weeks with little more than a chicken dish for him; the rest of our menu made of all sorts of interesting recipes made of vegetables and tofu, and eggs and cheese. This works for us.

There are a few things I am not comfortable cooking for him, however.

First, I will not allow veal in the house. Actually, if he wants to continue receiving kisses from me, Matt knows veal shall never pass his lips again. I just can't deal with it.

I'm not crazy about lamb, although I have cooked it on occasion.

But when we went to the farmer's market & found one of the stalls was selling meat, and Matt decided that goat stew meat would be perfect for the shepherd's pie recipe we had lined up, I had to invoke Nancy Reagan and Just Say No.

I have a hard enough time getting images of frolicking baby lambs out of my head; I didn't want to deal with sweet little goat bleats haunting me for weeks!

So, Matt made a variation of this recipe from Michael Chiarello. I have no idea of the specifics, beyond following my suggestion for swapping the mashed potato topping (which he does not like) for thin slices of potatoes, as I kept myself occupied in another room, and far away from the kitchen.

I will say this: it smelled divine. And he really seemed to like it.

I'm just happy I had didn't have to be the one to make it.




Blog Party#26 is coming, and this month, we're focusing on What's Inside! All your favorite appetizers with something to hide, and drinks, too...if you can manage!
Entries are due 20 September; hope to see you there!




Tagged with: Food and Drink + Shepherd's Pie + Goat + Potatoes + Stew + Michael Chiarello + Recipes