Down on the Farm: Goat Loin and Homemade Butter

Roasted Goat Loin over Kale, with Asparagus and Caramelized Onions

Last week at the farmer's market, we were at one of the meat vendors, and we decided to give goat a try. They had some loin pieces that looked good, so we took a couple of them home with us and cooked up some asparagus to go with it. Delicious!

On an unrelated note, if you're wondering what to do with that extra heavy cream you've got in your fridge, I'll give you one word: butter. Gone are the days of sitting on a stool churning for hours and hours... all you need is your mixer and a little bit of time.

Whipping up some cream. Don't be like me - use the splatter shield!

First, whip cream using whisk attachment until it breaks apart into liquid and clumps. (This is well after it looks like whipping cream.) When it starts to breakup, switch to the paddle attachment.

Butter and Buttermilk

Keep beating until it's really divided into liquid and solid. Push the solid to one side of the bowl with a spatula and drain the liquid. Keep it - it's buttermilk! Now you can make biscuits, waffles, pancakes, or various other delightful buttermilk-y things.

"Washing" the butter

Now that you've got your buttermilk set aside, we need to deal with the butter. In order to keep it from spoiling, it's essential to get every last drop of milk out of it. So, we're going to pour in some ice cold water, mix again, and then dump out the liquid. (This is not buttermilk, just milky-water, so go ahead and get rid of it.) Then repeat this until the water runs clear.

Voila - butter!

It turned out pretty well, but honestly didn't taste much different than what we buy at the store. We were hoping it would be more like the Irish butter we occasionally splurge on - rich and creamy. Perhaps we need to use cream that isn't processed, and we definitely think we'll be adding a pinch of salt if we do this again!