Last year for Christmas I roasted a goose. It was my first time roasting one and it brought back memories of one of my favourite stories when I was young. It was about a goose lady who lived in a farmhouse. She had a flock of geese and one night when it was thundering and lightning outside she brought in her geese from the storm to protect them. I thought that it was a charming story especially as I had only a passing interaction with pets (and you can’t really hug a goldfish, they tend to die when you do) so the idea of having a live goose in a house was something that I dreamed about.
Little did I know that a few decades later I would find out that my mother in law Tuulikki was a goose lady. When I told Mr NQN of my plans to roast a goose he told me of how his mother had looked after a flock of geese when he was growing up. One of them was sick and nursing a broken foot so she brought the goose in to sleep with the family.
I told you they were an unusual family didn’t I? 
He also revealed to me that rather than being charming, the goose was quite frightening to his chubby, tiny four year old self. “They hiss at you you know!” he said. So much for fairytales!
In any case, I still roasted that goose, being sure not to place it in front of Tuulikki lest it traumatise her. And I still had the several cups worth of goose fat that rendered from it. The fat lasts for quite a while in the fridge and of course the best partner for goose fat is potatoes. After Christmas this year, we still had a surfeit of potatoes and while I was cleaning out my fridge and cupboard I decided to try and make a potato salad but instead of using boiled potatoes, I wanted to use golden roasted potatoes instead and make it a warm potato salad!
A little more cleaning out of the fridge gave me just what I needed for the dressing with some some buttermilk as well as a little jar of lovely boutique sweet chilli sauce. And after roasting the potatoes in the goose fat so that they crisped up bronzed, golden and crunchy I seasoned the crunchy, golden potatoes and drizzled some tangy, creamy and spicy buttermilk dressing on top and as they say, everyone lived happily ever after.
Except the goose, sorry about that.
So tell me Dear Reader, what pet did you want the most when you were younger?
Golden Goose Roast Potato Salad With Buttermilk Dressing
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
- 2kg potatoes (chat potatoes are good)
- 5 tablespoons goose fat
- 1/4 cup fine polenta or semolina
- 1/2 cup sliced chives or green onions to garnish
- Salt and pepper for seasoning
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (or sour cream)
- 2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1-2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce (depending on your taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley and chives each
- pinch of salt and pepper
1. Preheat oven to 200c/400F. Scrub and wash the potatoes keeping the skin on (or peel them if you prefer, I just find that task very boring and not worth the effort). Boil or steam the potatoes for 10 minutes and then drain them well-you don’t want them too soft. Slice the potatoes into small bite sized pieces as shown. In a saucepan (not too heavy) heat up the goose fat and add the potatoes-do this in two or three lots as it can get quite heavy otherwise. Sprinkle over some polenta or semolina to give them crunch and then toss them bashing them up slightly on the edges to give them more crunch.
2. Bake the potatoes on a parchment lined tray for 30 minutes and then take them out and turn them over to give the other cut side a good golden roasting and then bake them for another 30 minutes turning up the heat to 220c/428F for this last half hour. Cool slightly and sprinkle generously with salt.
3. Make the dressing while the potatoes are cooling-you don’t want them stone cold but you don’t want people burning their mouths on the potatoes. In a measuring jug, add the buttermilk, mayonnaise, sweet chilli sauce, mustard, paprika, herbs, salt and pepper and whisk until combined. Drizzle over the golden potatoes. Garnish with chopped chives or green onions.
If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your friends?
What is NQN up to now?
NQN on Facebook
RSS
67 Comments | Add your own
Those potatoes look incredibly beautiful and tempting! Great dressing too.
Cheers,
Rosa
LOL love the story about your mother in law
I never knew we could get geese in Australia but that’s silly ofcuz we can…just ignore me I can be so ignorant sometimes
This salad sounds scrumptious!!! I try to stay away from having too many potatoes but I still wanna try ~
As a kid i always wanted a puppy but my parents just wasn’t sold that I’d take care of it. So i got a rabbit instead I called him Noddy after the cartoon
how delicious!
I wanted a horse when I was younger!!!!
Yum! I have always wanted to try potatoes roasted in duck or goose fat. Your husband is right about the nasty side of geese – there were some that lived by the lake at Uni and were best avoided. I had my dream pet as a child – a puppy! Love them still.
Rolling in the deep! (goose fat that is) Hairy is Greek so we live on golden roast potatoes, Im off to DJs food hall to see if I can get me some G-fat.
T xx
Oh lordy…these potatoes would represent something of a last meal dish for me! One word…heaven!
P.S. love the MIL goose story.
What delicious looking potatoes. Congrats on cooking a goose. I have never cooked one as that oily gland you have to remove has always worried me. I do cook a lot of duck and have containers of duck fat in my fridge so I’ll make these yummy looking potatoes with duck fat.
Lorraine: They sound wonderful, especially the goose grease!
Would you have another dressing suggestion, that is non-dairy?
Thanks
Charlie
I have tried to roast potatoes numerous times and never do they look like yours. That buttermilk dressing sounds like the perfect accompaniment. Yum!
Coming from a household where my parents would forbid us having pets I never had the luxury of owning anything. When I get my own house and setlle down, a dog will definitely be something I want
Those potatoes are gorgeous and I have buttermilk in fridge and need to do something with it. I had no idea geese hiss. Now you know how to keep relatives away if you want to. Sometimes I do.
My dear Mom used to roast geese and ducks, she loved it. I have to admit I am a little worried about roasting a duck or a goose from the amount of fat it renders. I saw a recipe by The Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) where she boiled the fat out of the bird and then roasted it http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roast-duck-recipe/index.html. Clever, but still a challenge not to have it splish splashing all over the stove. I loved your post from Christmas last year, it looked like your family had a blast!
I was fortunate enough to have a Bunny as a childhood pet. And up until a few years ago, I’ve had an adorable little bunny fur ball all my life. We decided not to upgrade when she passed away because we travel so much.
OMG!, my artaries. How crisp and golden and delicious and I love the buttermilk dressing, it would be perfect here!
Yum. I have been too afraid to roast potatoes in goose or duck fat…..untill now that is!
Oh Lorraine, my mother loved goose fat! Thank you for sharing.
Yum! Wish I had this recipe before Christmas
Yum! forget the dressing, just give them to me with some salt straight from the oven! As for pets, I thought it was incredibly unfair that I couldnt have a baby giraffe in our small 2 bedroom apartment!
A parrot and a monkey, specifically chimpanzee I could train and the parrot I could teach to talk. I was a very bossy child! Roast potatoes with buttermilk dressing sound delicious, they are so much better cooked in goose fat. GG
yum!! i have never tried goose, or cooked with goose fat.
we lived on a farm so i had many pets, including lucy my lamb. i always wanted a rabbit but since they were pests and my dad caught them in traps he would NEVER let me have one!
Well if duck fat potatoes are anything to go by, goose fat potatoes must be amazing!
My parents let me have pet chickens, and while they were tiny I was allowed to keep their box in my room and let them roam around there- very free range
My mum once gave mouth-to-mouth to an ostrich that fainted from shock, there are lots of hobby farms where she lives, and the neighbors ostriches stampeded after being buzzed by a hot air balloon. Apparently an ostriches breath tastes’fishy’
These look incredible!
Yum, warm potato salad! I was thinking of doing that on Chrissy day but ran out of time to roast…
They look so perfect and crunchy! I could honestly eat that whole bowl myself
Those potatoes look fantastic!!! roasted a drake recently and used the fat for my Xmas spuds,so golden and crispy,the drake was huge!so have lots of fat for future decadent dishes.
This looks absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing L. x
these look lovely! yum but i might sub in normal canola oil that should work too right?
I can hear the crunch as I virtually bite into one of these. They look amazing!!!
I always wanted a horse when I was little. No idea why I think I just liked the idea. I also wanted a monkey because they are so cool!
Lovely, scrummy looking spuds, Lorraine. I’m not sure they would have made it as far as a salad in our house – the golden, crunchiness would be just too tempting.
I want one of these now! We have a goose in the river below us in Bagni di Lucca. Lucky for him, he might be a bit old and tough by now.
Nice recipe. I loved having dogs as pets, they are awesome animals (and have yet to taste dog meat!).
Lorraine these looks AMAZING! I am definitely going to try this recipe.
I always wanted my own dog when I was little… and at the age of 23 I finally got one. She’s a very cute but naughty little monster.
P.S. I’m scared of Geese
Dear Lorraine,
Your potatoes look absolutely divine and I think it would be even more awesome with a generous lashing of bacon salt that I just made
I don’t have any goose fat but I have a ton of duck fat. Close enough right? Geese are foul, vile, unnatural creatures that will attack you without a second thought. Seriously, one attacked me while I was jogging. I’m kind of scared of birds (hummingbirds are exempt), and I may have screamed…loudly enough for the whole park to hear.
I always wanted a pony. Still haven’t had got one. Sulk. My grandparents raised and killed their own chickens, ducks and geese. Grandad would phone us when he was about to kill one and had a chopping block. Shudder. Then the women would clean and pluck then and cook them while the men sat around and smoked. No wonder I didn’t willingly eat meat until I was in my 30s.
Well you know ahead of time what I would be likely to say about the calories and the fat and the fact I hardly ever eat potatoes
! But, in all honesty the salad does look moreish, and how 
! Yup, I think geese can be awfully ornery too – so can the beautiful swans my daughters tried to feed all over Europe the first time we went: oh boy, they had to learn fast to run fast 
! Oh, I wanted a BIG dog – an Alsatian or Labrador: the most wonderful, faithful and trusty companions in the world! Would still like one, but logistics preclude 
!
I also agree with Mr NQN – geese are frightening creatures – when I was little I was scared of them at my friend’s place – they not only hiss but they honk rather loudly – though these days I love seeing the goslings at the lake when they are young and fluffy
This looks perfect; I have some duck fat at the moment.
I desperately wanted a guinea pig when I was a kid. When I was older I forgot about the idea and got cats and dogs instead.
Geese are scary – they make better guard animals than most dogs!!
I have never used Goose fat, but love duck fat…this sounds amazing.
Hi Charlie-Hmm good question! Perhaps a vinegar based dressing? We have salt and vinegar dressing on our potato crisps here so that might work?
I adore potatoes cooked in goose or duck fat–these make me weak at the knees.
I always wanted and finally got an otter which I grew up with. He slept with my brother for years.
—I so love when you combine your family stories w/ your cooking. Sleeping w/ a goose. Superb. I hope the hell they didn’t eat it afterwards!
A Pet? We always had Siamese Cats in our house. I love those gorgeous, sleek, wise, blue eyed creatures.
do you have pets?
Love to you, Sweets.xx
Ooh these look delicious! The sauce sounds so fab. I hope your MIL didnt get too traumatised
First of all,
A Very Happy New Year to you and your loved ones my dear…
This potato salad looks really yummy-tummy good….. I like how you added buttermilk. I always have leftover on hand never know how to use it….
Yummm…
Ok I always wanted a monkey, i know weird LOL
This recipe sounds delicious!
I have roasted potatoes with duck fat and spices before. It turned out delicious.
Making a buttermilk dressing to pour over the roasted potatoes is new to me. I must try it.
I love all types of potato salads like they are all my children! But these look gooooooooooooood!
Buttermilk dressing is my favourite. I wanted a horse really, really badly.
I wanted a pet snake. A green snake to be specific.
Yum! That looks so good…. I absolutely despise geese… they scare the s**t out of me!!! I love eating them though!
*drool*
I wanted a horse.
Until I got one.
I hated her as much as she hated me.
Oooh, I love the use of polenta! Definitely didn’t see that coming.
To be 100% honest, the pet I really wanted was a sugar glider. When that was clearly not going to happen, I wanted a dog. When that wasn’t allowed, I wanted a rabbit, which I got, but it didn’t turn out that well. So we got a dog, and that. was. best.
That is such a scrumptious-looking potato salad!
I was laughing so hard at the line about the geese hissing. There’s a small church near my office that’s surrounded by a moat and there are geese there. Kids try to lure them with bread, but the fat nippers just hiss back!
Roast potatoes in goose fat are the best ever…and I love the idea of the buttermilk to cut through the fat. My mom used to tell us the story of walking to school for miles in post war Germany and being terrified of the geese that hissed at her and tried to snap at her on the way.
omg, this is just so funny, actually my boyfriend grabbed the goose fat fried frozen potatoes from aLDI on sunday and I was like what ? so funny, your;s look yummy Lorraine…we had our aldi ones with fish fingers avacado and Paul Newmans salad dressing…so funny..sometimes everything is in sychnoroticy xo
wow your roast potatoes look so crispy! Potatoes are my favourite side, in fact, I had just potato salad for dinner and lunch a few days ago…:D Had too much left over from New Years.
My favourite pet as a child was a duckling. Mum ended up buying 2 for me but one day when I got home from school, the bigger one had trampled all over the smaller one and it died!
I was so so upset…mum gave the bigger one away. 
Love potatoes- i agree they look scrumptious!
I love the idea of a roast goose for a christmas lunch- it seems to be the thing in the UK.
Still to attempt to roast the goose, but the warm potato salad would go perfectly- I would never of thought to use a buttermilk dressing.
Those potatoes look insane! I love the crunchy brownness of them. I just used my goose fat and duck fat to deep fry my potatoes… what a luxury. Then I filtered it and popped it back in the freezer to fry another day! Can’t wait to try this recipe.
What a lovely post, Lorraine. And happy new year!
Once every autumn I have come into the habit of making confit of ceps and keep the lovely mushroom goose fat to use for roast potatoes. But I haven’t thought of making a potato salad out of them, so thanks!
What gorgeous potatoes. Love the color. My brother in law had geese in the field behind their house and they are mean. I wouldn’t want one in my house. xoxo Mum
I wanted a rabbit, still do! No geese in my house – they scare me haga *blush* Live the sound of this buttermilk dressing!
Heidi xo
It’s funny that geese are mean…so untrue to the fairy tales! My brother once got attached by a swan (really! he was fine, more shocked than anything), which was a big downer for me, lol.
I have an abundance of potatoes in my fridge as I type this and I’ve been thinking about what to make. I don’t have any goose fat but I will try to improvise — these look crispy and delicious!
Geese are horrible, horrible creatures… better guard animal than any doberman. My Nanna used to have a few that would chase me and my little brother out onto the street every time we tried to go through her garden gate. Those experiences along with many magpie swoopings, and emu attacks has given me a mass phobia of birds. Haha
OMG, this looks amazing! I love potato dish and I would love to try this buttermilk dressing. Sounds amazing and this is a winner recipe for a potato lover like myself.
Happy New Year Lorraine!
geese DO hiss–they’re extremely scary when you’re a wee tyke! i’ve actually never tasted goose, but your potato salad is a great idea and a fine way to keep that fat from going to waste.
This would be the perfect hangover cure. I could use it right now
A Bunny Rabbit of course!
I made similar roast spuds this year for Christmas (with duck fat + polenta) – LOVED them and could not stop eating them, haha. Inspired idea to use them in a salad.
Had the buttermilk dressing on vegies roasted with polenta (but not duck fat) last night for dinner. Just had to pop in to say thank you! It was delicious and will definitely be happening again
Post a Comment