Easter Sundries: Egg-ceptional holiday eats from the Goose

Carrot sticks and chocolate eggs may fill the kids' baskets, but a little bunny told us you want meat for Easter...and we're all ears.

Terry Knudson has been raising lambs since he was 11 years old. Today, his twin boys, Conner & Hunter, along with his wife Jane work with him at Viking Lamb, their Morristown, Indiana, farm that supplies Indy's best chefs with tender, tasty, all-natural , and humanely raised lamb. Chris wrote this recipe for Roasted Leg of Lamb--rich with garlic, rosemary, and a sherry vinegar pan sauce--with Viking Lamb in mind.

Call 317-924-4944 to pre-order for pick up
March 30 -- April 7.We highly recommend pre-ordering as Easter cuts sell out each year!

Lamb from Viking Lamb in Morristown, Indiana
Bone-in Leg of Lamb: $9/lb
(whole leg about 9 lbs; half leg about 5 lbs)
Leg of Lamb Deboned, Rolled, and Tied: $10/lb
(whole about 6-7 lbs; half about 4 lbs)
* Remember, other cuts of lamb like loin, shoulder, and racks are also available!

Whole rabbit
Raised all-naturally on Indiana's own Gunthorp Farm in LaGrange, Indiana: $9/lb--averaging about 3 lbs each

Limited Release
Sugar Cured Easter Hams
Cut from Duroc hogs raised all naturally on Gunthorp Farm in LaGrange, Indiana, these boneless hams are cured with maple and brown sugar before smoking over cherry wood. The Smoking Goose is preparing a limited release of these fully cooked, unsliced, heat-and-serve Easter hams.
$9/lb--only whole hams (6-8 lbs each) are available
Call 317-924-4944 to order and pick up at Goose the Market.
Call 317-638-6328 to order and pick up at Smoking Goose.

Applewood Smoked "City Ham"
We're curing and applewood smoking hams from Gunthorp Farms. They're available bone-in or boneless, but either way they're fully cooked, unsliced, and ready to heat-and-serve.
Boneless City Ham: $6.50/lb (hams are about 6-8 lbs each)
Bone-in City Ham: $5.75/lb (the smallest bone-in ham is 10 lbs)

Brûlée Sugar for finishing your Easter ham
For an additional $2 each, let us know if you'd like our housemade spiced sugar for finishing your ham (or pork loin or short ribs) with a sweet and savory brûlée crust. Instructions will be included with each pre-ordered packet, but you'll need to provide your own blow torch.

Call the Goose to reserve your Easter treats: 317-924-4944 or hop over to check out the goods!

"Green" Beer at the Goose!

There once was a drinker so weak
On St. Paddy's green beer she would seek
Now her friends tell her
"Go to the Goose cellar!"
She's become a proud Hoosier beer geek.

A little Irish ditty to introduce some of the crafty, Irish ales now in the Goose cellar for your St. Paddy's Day imbibing. From Dublin's first brewpub, Porterhouse Oyster Stout, Red, and Wrasslers XXXX Stout.

Cupid uses an arrow but the Goose has what really works

Valentine's Day is less than a week away! Order our V-day Dinner for Two package and all you have to concentrate on is the lovin'.

Order by 3pm Mon, Feb. 13: 317-924-4944
Pick up Tues, Feb. 14
$75 gets you...

• choice of Fischer Farms dry-aged 16oz boneless ribeye OR 16oz New York Strip ready for the pan or the grill
• 1 whole live lobster ready for the pot
• 2 servings housemade orange zest & cardamom bread pudding ready to heat & serve
• 1 bottle Cercius Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010 (85% Grenache, 15% Syrah; 93 pts, Robert Parker) ready to set the mood

Flavinoid Fix: organic stone ground chocolate now at the Goose

Taza Chocolate crafts stone ground chocolate from bean to bar.

Their direct-trade-certified cacao means a fair wage for the Mexican chocolate farmers they know by name. And the company founder even hand-carved the granite millstones still used by Taza today.

Stop by the Goose for Taza's 60% Dark Organic Chocolate Baking Squares, Ginger-infused Organic Chocolate Baking Squares, and Organic Roasted Cocao Nibs.

What to do with Taza's treasures? We're hungry for Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies, Chocolate Beignets with Coffee Creme Anglaise, and Nib Dip.

The Batali is in the Playoffs: Sandwich of the Year

Just in time for the Superbowl, 46 Indiana sandwiches are facing off to claim Sandwich of the Year. The Goose's own Batali sandwich is in the running! Cast your vote here then come and order one here.

Only the top sandwiches will move on to the next round. You can make the Batali part of the Sweet Sixteen with your vote before Friday, Jan. 6th!

Sassaka, or "bacon butter"

The lumberjacks in northern Italy know how to keep warm. Centuries ago--even before salame was a widespread Italian tradition--the tree huggers of Udine along the Slovenian-Italian border needed a way to keep meat on their bones...and to keep their recently butchered harvest from spoiling.

In their cool cellars, they cured pork belly and back fat in garlic-marinated wine, salt, and whole black peppercorns. Both sides went into a cool smokehouse so the sweet smoke permeated the cured the slabs but didn't render the fat.

The lot was finely chopped and blended with crushed white onions to make a paste that could be packed into jars or rolled into logs. Kept cool and covered, the flavor-packed schmear would keep for months as the lumberjacks moved through the northern Italian forests.

To warm up from the inside out, those ancient foresters only had to toast a slab or two from their hearty loaf then spread on a thick layer of the sassaka. On top of hot toast, the "bacon butter" warms and begins to render for a stick-to-your-ribs starter layered with sweet, smoky, salty flavor.

Come into the Goose soon for your allotment of bacon butter! We've revived this traditional recipe with all-natural, pasture-raised Duroc pork from Gunthorp Farms in LaGrange, Indiana.

Prep at your table is simple. Squeeze the sassaka out of the its package and let it come to room temp, about 20 minutes. Cut slices of crusty bread--the Italians prefer rye--and slather on the bacon butter while the toast is still hot, red plaid flannel optional.

Any leftover sassaka can be kept tightly wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge. If properly stored, it'll keep till New Year's. But with flavor like this, we wager there'll be a need for seconds before 2012, Mr. Bunyan.