Sometimes I think I like the process of cooking/baking more than I like the eating part at the end.  Don’t get me wrong, I love eating (who doesn’t, right?), but I often find myself in situations where I’m trying to figure out how to make the most elaborate thing possible.

This weekend’s cooking extravaganza was a prime example of this.

I’ll be honest.  I didn’t really make this.  I made the marinade and the side dishes.  The real work was from these two guys:

(Why yes that is my boyfriend wielding a knife like a butcher bad ass.)

So I can’t really take credit for roasting the goat, but I’ll take credit for the marinade: lemon zest, lemon juice, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, cilantro, mint, salt (lots of it), pepper, onions and lots and lots of garlic.

I’m not joking.  It really was a whole goat.  40 pounds. That means a whole lot of marinade is needed and a whole lot of people to eat it, the latter is not really an issue.

So Jesse built a contraption, because I can’t think of another way to describe it, to roast the goat on.

Clearly he’s the handy one in the relationship… Unfortunately upon picking up the goat early on Saturday morning, we found the goat was too big for the roasting contraption. Oops.

Plan B.  Roast the goat in pieces.  Not an ideal situation.  I really wanted it to be an entire goat, because honestly, that sounds more exciting (and maybe intimidating?).  But this worked too.

Now friends, the trick to roasting a goat is low flame and patience, because it takes hours.  It took about 4 hours to make, and I imagine if we had done the whole thing in one piece it would have taken far longer.  In the meantime, there were snacks and drinks and music.

What does great with a goat?
Here was my menu:

-Roasted Goat
-Goat Kabobs with Goat Meat, Onion, Red Peppers and Pineapple.  Brushed with oil and grilled (FYI These were AMAZING)
-Spinach-Strawberry Salad with Red Onions, Candied Pecans and Balsamic Vinaigrette
-Jeweled Rice: Cinnamon and Cardamom Spiced Rice with Dried Fruit and Nuts
-Bread and Tortillas
-Dessert: Fresh Watermelon, Passion Fruit Cream Pie (recipe coming soon!), and Lemon Cream Pie

All sorts of tasty.

(Oh yeah, that’s totally my boyfriend slicing a goat leg like a boss)

So let’s be honest.  Roasting a goat is a little ridiculous and probably not something you’re going to do on your average weekend, but for the food enthusiast, I would say it’s worth it.  At the very least, it’s fun to sit around with your friends as a goat roasts behind you, like a super elaborate BBQ… with a goat leg on it…

Or maybe just so that when people ask you what you did this weekend you can say “I roasted an entire goat.”

You decide 🙂