Beer Braised Goat Shanks with Seven Sheds Kentish Ale

Kris: We are lucky to live nearby to the Tas Farm Gate Market, which is held every Sunday in the car park on the corner of Elizabeth and Melville Streets, Hobart. The produce at this time of year is amazing. It has still been mild at night (even though it’s Summer), so we thought some slow cooked goat shanks and roasted root vegetables would be an ideal dish to cook.
We found some Boer goat shanks, heirloom carrots, new season garlic and button squash. Our potatoes have been really productive, so we thought we should use some fresh from the garden. We also bought some really fresh strawberries and raspberries to enjoy after dinner.

Beer Braised Goat Shanks and Roasted Vegetables

(serves 2)

2 goat shanks

3 heads of garlic

1 large brown onion

fresh thyme

fresh oregano

375ml Seven Sheds Kentish Ale

2 tomatoes

1 cup beef stock

3 potatoes

6-8 button squash

6-8 baby carrots

olive oil 

salt and pepper

Method

Thinly slice the brown onion

Fry the onion, thyme and oregano in some olive oil until soft

Dice the tomatoes and place in the saucepan

Add the goat shanks and seal for a few minutes

Add the beer and beef stock

Place on a low heat and simmer for 2 hours

An hour into cooking the shanks, wash and quarter the potatoes

Wash the carrots and toss them in olive oil with the potatoes, garlic, button squash

Roast in a pre-heated oven for 45-60 minutes until golden

Season the vegetables with salt and pepper

Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste

Serve the goat shank on a pile of vegetables and spoon over some sauce

Kris: We matched this dish with the Seven Sheds Kentish Ale. The sweet malt complimented the sauce and the sweetness of the goat. I think a Dark Lager would be a great match also. The meat was really tender and just fell off the bone. A perfect dinner for a mild Tasmanian night.

Caroline: The goat was really tender and sweet and the Kentish Ale was a perfect match. They were both earthy and sweet, delicious!
(PS  Kentish ales are traditionally made in Kent, South East England. Outside of Kent, the term Kentish ale is typically applied to a pale ale with low hops levels and rich, malty sweetness).

Knowledge is power.

The Tasmanian Taste Festival

Caroline: It was a beautiful weekend for the Taste Festival down by the waterfront! Everyone came out to support local food/beer and wine! It’s so awesome having events like this that make it easy to try so much, all in one place!

Kris: Beautiful weather, great food, beer and company. What else could you ask for? The Taste Festival is week long event, celebrating all there is to love about Tasmania.

Kris: First stop, Observatory Hill for some Riesling and next door is one of our favourite Hobart Restaurants, Vanidol’s. We decided that a glass of 2008 Reserve Riesling would be a great match to a Thai beef salad. The wine is showing some aspects of it’s age; honeycomb etc.. but still has some lemon/lime flavours and some crisp apple/pear character as well. A great wine to drink with the Thai salad. We also tried the Crispy Quail, which would have been a great partner with the Observatory Hill 2011 Pinot Grigio.

Caroline: Every time we’ve been to Vanidol’s it has been delicious, and their food at Taste was no exception!

Caroline: The thai beef salad was full of delicious contrast, warm and cool, sweet and sour and spicy, tender and crunchy. It was the perfect snack for a warm afternoon. Plenty of chili and lime and zip! A cold, crisp riesling washed it down beautifully…

Kris: Our next mission was to match a selection of cheeses from Thorpe Farm in Bothwell with some of our favourite Tasmanian craft beers.

Caroline: We got a ‘taste’ (a healthy taste) of (from left to right) the Ironhouse Porter, Moo Brew Hefeweizen and Seven Shed’s Paradise Pale.

Kris: I matched the Camembert style cheese with the Paradise Pale from Seven Sheds.It is a refreshing English style summer ale, brewed with barley, malted wheat and Styrian Golding Hops. A classic match for Chevre is Wheat Beer, so Moo Brew’s Hefeweizen was an ideal accompaniment to this amazing cheese. This current batch is quite clear, but still maintaining the classic flavours and aromas of the style. Our third cheese to match with a local beer was a cow’s milk blue. I decided the Ironhouse Porter would be an ideal match with the rich, creamy blue.It is an English style Dark Ale with chocolate and caramel characteristics.

Caroline: If you want to read/learn more about matching beer and cheese please check out our older posts: Chimay Blue and Cheese and International beer and Cheese Matching. Happy cheesing!

Next up, our friends at Josef Chromy

Kris: I also really enjoyed sampling the wines from Josef Cromy, from the Tamar Valley. The Brut Rose was a great wine to match the raspberry tart Caroline discovered at the Christmas Hills Berry Farm stall.

Caroline: It was a long, hard day full of research for me and Kris, but hey, somebody’s gotta do it.