Goatscape

Reader/friend Lynn D. told me about some things she was making with goat's milk that sounded pretty amazing. There was a creme caramel from Elizabeth David's posthumous essay collection, and a leek gratin with a goat's milk bechamel..I just had to try something. I'd had goat's milk only a few times in the past-to drink, but not as an ingredient. I remembered that I'd liked it, but not exactly what it tasted like. "An extra tang", was how Lynn described it.

When I had a chance to stop in Whole Foods, I picked up a quart of Albert's Choice Goat's Milk. In choosing between the two available brands, I was influenced by the fact that Albert's was not "ultrapasteurized." I was also swayed by the picture of the nubian goat on the label. Several years ago, I feel in love with some baby nubian goats at a county fair, and have harboured an entirely unlikely yen for a few goats of my own ever since.

The nubians have these very appealing, rather vulnerable looking floppy ears. Since the fair, I have wavered somewhat in my choice of imaginary goats, having encountered a couple of exceptionally delightful, very fuzzy pygmy goats. Anyhow, since I am otherwise entirely urban, it seems unlikely that this particular hankering is going to be satisfied in the near future.

In the meantime, there's nothing to stop me from cooking with goat's milk, except, of course, my absentmindness and distractibility. After some daydreaming and indecision, I realized that the goat's milk was nearing its expiry date. Not only had I failed to decide, but it was Sunday -there wasn't alot else in the house, and I had a minor case of sprained ankle. No biggie, but enough to make me think a walk to the store and grocery schlep would be unwise.

Well, the bottom line is , I probably didn't make the best use of this quart. Half of it is making me some yogurt. The other half is part of a bechamel in a noodle gratin composed of foodstuff that was around here. The gratin is, though not awfully pretty, actually, really good. It has some rather strongly flavored components, which are probably stiffling the goat's milk taste a little. But maybe not. This is really surprisingly delicious and very rich. Maybe it's my imagination, but the goat's milk seems to go a bit caramelly with the heat.

The gratin, unmeasured except for the 12 oz pkg of little, square, wavy Hungarian noodles cooked al dente, also contains a few peas, soaked and slivered dried morels (they are the dark bits, that look burnt, but fortunately are not), leftover cubed smoked pork chop, the bechamel, a bit of nutmeg and white pepper, grated emmenthaler mixed in, and parm on top. It took about 30 oven minutes at 350F. It tastes a bit as if it was made with creme fraiche. I will let you know how the yogurt turns out. And I will be getting more goat's milk for sure. I need to try the creme caramel, and I've been thinking maybe moussaka? Or dulce de leche from the evaporated stuff?

We'll see.

Thanks, Lynn.

Update: Yogurt very, very tasty, but a bit runny for my taste. Probably I did not mix in sufficient starter yogurt.

Comments

[steven]

The gratin sounds delicious. I'm a lover of all things goat. The cheese, the milk, the dulce de leche and most of all the nubians who have such great personalities.

[Tanna]

Well, I thought the gratin looked really wonderful. Actually, my first thought was how nice it would be to sort of fall in here (on the photo) most especially if I had spoon or fork in my hand! Maybe I should try some goat's milk. Aren't we glad there is Whole Foods!

[the chocolate lady]

It looks pretty to me too! I have a funny story that involves goats, eating, and Pittsburgh. I'll have to add it to my growing list of things to be blogged if I ever get to them.

[Julie]

That's a pretty fabulous gratin to pull together from what you have on hand. It looks delicious.

But what I'm really waiting for are your forays into cajeta.

[Luisa]

Whole Foods sells these tiny bottles of drinkable goat's milk yogurt (some flavored) that I actually find quite tasty. Maybe because there's not too much in them, so the taste isn't overwhelming? I can't wait to hear about your cajeta. In my opinion, it takes the cake over dulce de leche, confiture de lait and our own caramel.

[ann]

goats milk and goats butter go insanely well in mashed/pureed dishes
i once made a smooshed potatoe and pea dish using goats milk & butter that was so good i nearly fell over
keep experimenting, goats are fabulous and amazing animals!