Roast goat with potatoes and lemon in the wood fired oven

Oven-roasted kid goat with potatoes and lemon sauce is a classic and widely cooked recipe in Greece. Of course, a more ordinary version of this dish is lemon roast lamb. They are quite similar; and while goat meat is leaner and contains less fat than the lamb, they are both equally tasty. A few spices and herbs are added along with the lemon juice for lemon-flavored roasted potatoes. There are two factors that will take the flavor of this dish to the next level: the slow-cooking in the indirect wood-fired oven and the clay baking tray, which also guarantees slow-cooking and distinctive flavor. Let’s see how to roast kid goat with potatoes in the indirect wood-fired oven.

INGREDIENTS

1.5kg (3.3lb) leg of kid goat
2kg (4.4lb) potatoes
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp rosemary
1.5 tsp oregano
4 garlic cloves
Lemon juice of 2 lemons
200ml extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION

Use 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) of baby goat meat from the leg. Ask your butcher to only break the bone not to split the leg in half, so that it looks like a whole leg. Peel the skin off your potatoes and cut them lengthwise into quarters as shown in the video.

Place the leg inside the clay baking tray and spread the potatoes on both sides of the leg. Pour the lemon juice of two lemons over the meat and the potatoes. If you prefer it less sour, add the juice of only 1 ½ lemon. Then, add half of the spice mix (scented salt) to the potatoes and pour 100ml olive oil over them. Mix to spread the spices evenly. Thinly-slice the garlic cloves and add half of them among the pieces of meat and spread the rest over the potatoes. Sprinkle the rest of the spice mix over the goat meat and potatoes. Pour 100ml olive oil over them, as well. Lastly, add a little water. The total amount of liquid should only cover up to half the height of the potatoes. Now you’re ready to cook.

COOKED ON Indirect wood-fired oven

COOKING

Your first task, before preparing the ingredients, is to preheat the indirect wood-fired oven. Place pieces of wood inside the fire chamber, as shown in the video. Use dry hardwood for higher heat. Initiate the fire and wait until the chamber’s temperature reaches 200⁰C (392⁰F) and the fire has burnt down to embers. Then, the upper chamber is ready for cooking. The way this type of oven is built, along with the ingredients we use for its construction, makes it capable of accumulating heat and radiating it during cooking, slowly and steadily. For a well-cooked dish, the temperature must drop slowly and at a steady rate. Don’t add more wood to increase the temperature. We must light the oven only once and then cook our food slowly so we can enjoy it in full flavor.

It’s highly important to ensure that the temperature inside the chamber doesn’t fluctuate. The clay baking tray accumulates heat, as well, and transfers it slowly and steadily to our food. The cooking goes on evenly throughout the surface of the tray.

The slow-cooking process takes approximately 2 hours. Remove from the oven, when the roast and the potatoes are nicely browned. There should be only oil left in the tray.

Remove the clay baking tray from the oven and wait until the food cools down. It’s served warm with seasonal salads. Enjoy this recipe with your company.

Happy cooking everyone!