Tommy Banks’ honey-glazed spiced roast goose & confit potatoes
The beauty of goose is that it’s basically self-basting. Pouring boiling water over the meat before roasting helps to tighten the skin and ensures it goes crispy before you glaze it.
Serves 6-8 Prep 30 mins plus resting Cook 3¼ hrs
5kg oven-ready goose, trussed for roasting 3 small onions, halved
1 garlic bulb, halved, plus 2 cloves,
finely chopped large rosemary sprig
1 orange, halved
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1.5kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and
thickly sliced small bunch parsley, finely chopped
FOR THE GLAZE
3 tbsp good-quality honey
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. For the glaze, mix the honey with the spices and lots of cracked pepper, then set aside. Remove all the fat from inside the bird and, using the point of a small knife, prick the skin all over. Sit the goose in an empty sink and slowly pour over a kettleful of boiling water. Repeat the process a few more times until the skin is tight and glossy. Cool, then pat dry with kitchen paper. Season the inside of the goose and stuff with the onions, halved garlic bulb, rosemary and orange. Rub all over with the oil and season generously with salt. Sit the bird on a wire rack set over a large roasting tin and tightly cover with a large piece of foil. Cook in the oven for 1½ hrs.
2 Remove from the oven, discard the foil and use oven gloves to lift the rack (and the goose) out of the roasting tin. Pour the fat from the tin into a bowl and set aside. Scatter the potato slices in the roasting tin, season with salt and mix with a small drizzle of the fat. Sit the goose rack back in the tin and cover with foil, then roast for 1 hr. Remove the foil, then brush the goose all over with the honey mixture and return to the oven for 15 mins. Transfer the goose to a large board to rest, uncovered, in a warm place for 30 mins. Pour away most of the fat from the potatoes and return the potatoes to the oven until crisp and golden brown.
3 Stir the parsley and the chopped garlic through the potatoes just before serving. Carve the goose at the table and serve with the potatoes. PER SERVING (8) 818 kcals, fat 49g, saturates 15g, carbs 38g, sugars 7g, fibre 4g, protein 54g, salt 0.5g