Curry goat

It's considered bad blog etiquette to start a post by apologising for being away for so long but given my performance over the last year or so I feel I have to.

The enforced peripatetic life of a tenant means that not all food bloggers have a dream kitchen and for the last year I've endured the foodie hell of living in a town with some really excellent food shops in a flat with a tiny kitchen.  I just haven't wanted to cook anything more than the simplest meals, which is why there have only been four posts in the last year, and I note that one of those has the word "fail" in the title and another "leftovers."

Another move has happened though, and this one through choice!  Shall we find out what good quality, value eating is like in one of the foodiest destinations in the south?  We're going to have to because after a long absence I've returned to Brighton.  There's everything here, from the dirtiest fried chicken or kebab to fine dining via some of the most exciting, innovative food going.  I'm really looking forward to this chapter.

Let's start with some home cooking though.

If this blog has a regular reader, he or she might remember a rant I did a couple of years ago about the quality of food at outdoor events.  My internet campaign didn't change anything, obviously.  I still go to folk music festivals where the food is amazing, and I still go to more traditionally male events like air shows where the food is barely fit for the dog.

Never mind.  In consolation, I polished off a most amazing Jamaican curry goat from a stall making its debut at the Cropredy Festival this year and when, a month and a house move later, I saw a stall selling goat at the monthly Lewes Farmers' Market I knew what I had to do.

I can't claim this as being a "value" dish because the goat mutton was expensive - £9 for 500g, making it about twice the price of braising steak - which suggests there's something wrong in the industry.  There's a huge amount of goat milk and cheese available in our shops... what's happening to the male kids?  I'd suggest the goat meat industry has to grow as an urgent welfare issue - presumably they're just being slaughtered otherwise. If it's happening anyway, much better that the meat goes to good use.

I did some intensive googling and came away with this recipe from Girl Interrupted which I pretty much followed to the letter, except for running out of ginger and using coconut milk instead of water to cover the meat before putting it in the oven.

It includes a step of dry-frying spices, which I quite like doing at six o'clock in the morning after a night shift because it means the first time I see my girlfriend is when she appears round the door saying "That smells amazing," which is not what she usually says to me first thing.

Oh, and I used home-grown Bartlett's Bonnet chilli peppers.

Definitely one to add to the repertoire.  It was easy and delicious, and if you can't get hold of goat it would be just as good with sheep mutton - and if you can't get that (and it is stupidly hard to get hold of) I reckon lamb neck would be a good economical substitute.

Balance is maintained.  One of the first things I did after moving was attend the Shoreham Air Show which was a brilliant event marred by beige food.  If it wasn't cheap fried meat you wanted, tough tits.  Shame.

Oh yeah, I didn't, did I?  Sorry for being away for so long.