well the wandering goat is ready to find its home on randolph, but there was need for one final celebration.  this time the goat got a little nuts and found its way to a beautiful old church (along with 150 other fun folks) that our dear friend michael has transformed into his home.  was a bit jealous since my condo would fit inside his basement, but was just excited to be there and thankful to be cooking in such a sweet space.  it was actually funny to see all of my helpers’ reactions when they arrived… ‘wow this place is awesome’ they said as they entered the ground floor (and yeah, a huge huge huuuuuuuuuuge thank you to all of you).  i then informed them that they were standing in the basement and should head up for a look at the rest of the place.  a huge gasp would always follow as they checked out the other three floors.  inevitably, the stuffed tiger on the top floor sent them running back down with their tails between their legs,  laughing about how they thing scared them as they got back to work. and no you’re not dreaming, i did say stuffed tiger…

i think this was my favorite menu of all the goats.  creamy brandade on crispy potatoes with smoked tomato and salsa verde was on top of my list, along with fresh smoked trout.  one of my sous chefs, dave, just got a sweet smoker so we had to have a little fun with it.  but the big hit among the crowd was the spot prawn soup.  we got beautiful prawns from our friends at sea2table that were flown in from alaska.  i honestly have never tasted such a sweet and succulent prawn.  the texture was so delicate that we wanted to preserve it so we just lightly poached the prawns in a bit of olive oil.  then, we took the shells and made a broth layered with flavors and finished it off with some fennel and crisp pasta.  i think that is one of my new favorite things to do, well new for me.  boiling pasta then letting it dry a bit, frying it until lightly browned and crisp, then letting it swim in a flavorful broth and rehydrate just slightly.  yum.  go spot prawns.

thank you to everyone who supported the wandering goats.  was a great way to meet some tweeters in person, and was a fun way to get a little practice before we open the doors of girl & the goat this spring.  the new place is slowly but surely coming together, and spring will be here before we know it!  get ready for some fun! oh and of course some tasty food, and lots of north american craft beers (we have decided to stick with this continent) and some drunken goat wine (we had already made the labels).