This isn’t a perfect recipe yet, but it is the first time I have managed to make any goat, other than a rib rack, perfectly tender since I started eating goat instead of beef and lamb five months ago.

2/3 cup arboreal rice

1 cup balsamic vinegar mixed with 2 cups of water

Garlic powder.

Onion powder.

Chili powder.

Extra virgin olive oil.

2 4.25 oz trays Green Giant Just for One Niblets Corn in Butter Sauce

2 4.25 oz trays Green Giant Just for One Broccoli & Cheese Sauce

(Okay, sue me. Those are the vegetables I had in the freezer and I like them. They work well for a single guy.)

5 Small loin goat chops.

Grated Feta cheese.

Grated Romano cheese.

(Grated Romano cheese.)

Salt.

Freshly ground pepper.

Marinate the goat chops in pomegranate juice, garlic powder, chili powder, and onion powder twenty-four hours or longer. The meat should be swimming in the juice, completely submerged.

Place the balsamic vinegar and water in a sauce pan at high heat.

Trim the meat off of the goat chop bones. Place the bones in the vinegar and water sauce pan.

Reduce the heat in that mixture to medium. Trim the connective tissue off of the remaining meat and discard. Slice the meat into thin strips one quarter of an inch or less wide by one half inch or less long. You can see that the acid in the pomegranate juice has slightly cooked the outside of the meat. Reserve.

In a large frying pan or wok, brown the rice in olive oil that has just reached the smoking point then reduce the heat to medium.

As soon as the rice has started to brown and you have reduced the heat, sop up the excess oil with bunched up paper towels and add some of the balsamico/water/goat mixture. This is when the usual risotto making process begins. At medium heat the liquid in the rice should not boil. The starch in the rice is pulled out as it absorbs the liquid. As the liquid turns into a thick sauce new liquid must be added. The mixture must be stirred almost constantly. (Short bathroom breaks allowed.) The whole process will take about twenty minutes, at which point the rice will be tender and the sauce will be thick.

Start heating olive oil in a frying pan at the fifteen minute mark.

At the seventeen minute mark add the vegetables to the rice mix. If they were frozen to start with they must be thawed and somewhat warm when you add them. (There is a little butter in the Green Giant corn and a little Velveeta/Chedder/what the heck? cheese sauce in the Green Giant broccoli so if you use fresh vegetables, compensate.) If they are fresh I would recommend giving them a short sauté before adding them. Add a little salt and freshly ground pepper as well.

At the eighteen minute mark the olive oil in the frying pan should be starting to smoke. Add the goat a few pieces at a time and quickly sear it.

After about two minutes remove the goat and transfer it to the rice pan. Continue stirring. The goat is so lean that it will absorb some liquid along with the rice.

At twenty minutes add the feta cheese. I didn’t have as much feta as I would like so I also added some Romano cheese. Remove the rice from the heat.

Tender goat. Finally!

This dish may be a little acidic for some tastes. If so, reduce the amount of balsamic vinegar and use chicken stock instead. Experiment! Next time I’m going to try less balsamico, some chicken stock, and a touch of teriyaki. I’m also going for a lot more Feta cheese!

Enjoy!

Gregg