Mom Mom taught me years ago that one difference between baking and cooking is that in baking you better stick to the recipe, or at least close to it or your cake will be left on the plate. Won’t rise, too crumbly, tastes like dirt… The science is crucial in baking.
But cooking allows, actually often requires more creativity. For that reason I find cooking more fun! The more you experiment the easier it is to find ways to test out new foods. That’s not to say, even for someone like me that LOVES to cook, it’s always a success.
Example – My sweet neighbor gave us a goose. Thankfully de-feathered and prepped. When it comes to feathered creatures, I’ve done turkey, duck, chicken (though not all together as in the infamous turducken), guinea hen…but never attempted Wild Canadian Goose before. I turned to Google for a recipe that seemed simple, didn’t take a ton of time or fancy sauces and had good reviews. I found a recipe for roasting, seasoned with herbs, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. When the timer went off it appeared just as in the picture. So pretty!
So, how’d it taste? Not so pretty. It was…ok. Gamey. Goose is a very dark meat poultry. Kids took their obligatory bites. Hubby and I just a couple more. But I am Mom Mom’s granddaughter and I refuse to waste so much perfectly good meat. I put it in the fridge determined to find a way to transform that ugly gosling into the swan of another meal!
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a recipe, you know one of those super edited cooking videos on social media that look like they take a handful of ingredients and 2 minutes of work? It was for Cheesesteak stuffed peppers. BINGO! I had the ingredients on hand.
So dinner the following night I sliced up the left over cooked goose, really thin. Tossed it in to the recipe in place of the steak and voila!
No the best pic, but that’s what was left in the pan of goose, onion and mushroom after I filled the 6 pepper halves. And it was divine! Entire family thought it smelled amazing…obviously Pip included. Hubby and daughter loved it. Son has a thing against onions and mushrooms…at least where he can see them so he wouldn’t touch it.
The Cheese steak stuffed peppers is definitely a recipe saved to my keeper collection.
Dietary notes: Definitely gluten, grain and nut free. You could omit the cheese, but it wouldn’t be the same. Not vegetarian, don’t even go there.
Fit & Fresh Blog 