Despite the fact that March often brings the year’s biggest snows, I cling optimistically to an idyllic vision of spring. The sun coaxes me into a daydream involving windswept hills fresh with fragrant clover, buds bursting forth, and butterflies dancing their jagged jig while the goats and I frolic in a bracing breeze. The goats are there because to me, as much as melting snow, mud, and the returning robin, goats embody spring.
That’s not just a personal fancy. Goats have been associated with springtime for eons. The astrological sign of Capricorn is represented by the goat as he rules the sun’s ascent from the darkness of the winter solstice forward the spring equinox. The ancient Greek deity Pan was believed to be a satyr, a half-human, half-goat creature, and the god Dionysus is often pictured with a herd of playful satyrs cavorting about. Both were symbols of unbridled nature, lust, drinking, and celebrations held to honor the returning spring. It wasn’t until medieval Christians tried to stamp out nature-lovin’ religions that the horned goat became a demonic symbol.
Despite that association with the devil, goats—or more precisely, their milk and their cheese—feed into my vernal dreams; its pure whiteness makes me think of fresh innocence, a clean slate, renewed life—the essence of spring. Though I eat goat cheese year-round, a particular craving for it develops in the springtime. Thankfully, with the help of so many other fans, this stuff has evolved from an exotic food trend of the eighties to its current status as a grocery-store staple.
Beyond the popular acceptance of goat cheese, goat milk (a food source for about seventy percent of the world’s population) has become a real answer for people who are allergic to or can’t easily digest cow milk. Goat-milk proteins provide all of the necessary amino acids, with fats that are more readily absorbed and lower lactose levels. According to the Wisconsin Dairy Goat Association, this growing market is driving the industry in that state, making it second only to California as the highest producer of goat milk in the country. Jumping on the trend, some traditional dairy farms are moving toward goats because, though it takes roughly ten goats to produce the same quantity of milk as one cow, the cost and amount of feed for that one cow can be spread among fifteen to twenty goats.
So not only are goats a bargain, they’re also just more fun than those big, plodding bovines that seem to chew endlessly with vacant eyes. Goats play. They are far more sociable than cows and tend to form strong bonds with their owners. They jump and climb and race and seem to actively celebrate a warm, sunny day. When Mary Doerr started her Dancing Winds Farm in Kenyon, an hour south of the Cities, she named it for her frolicsome goats and the continual gusty winds on the prairie where they live. Doerr has been producing Dancing Winds goat cheese for nearly twenty years, at one point churning out nearly four hundred pounds a week. But then she realized that she wasn’t having as much fun as her goats, and so she scaled back the business to a more manageable level, now selling cheese only at the St. Paul Farmers’ Market or directly from the farm.
There seems no bounds to the contributions of the goat to the culinary scene. If you’re ever near Madison on a summer Saturday, or just fancy a cheese-focused drive, Fantome Farm has a market booth where, if you’re lucky, you will find—and snatch up—its Fleuri. Dusted with ash and cave-aged for a richer flavor, it is rated by the American Cheese Society as one of the top goat cheeses in the country. One of the loveliest uses of goat’s milk has to be LaLoo’s ice cream. Available at Whole Foods and Lakewinds Co-op, LaLoo’s takes all of the healthy benefits of goat’s milk and turns it into sinfully delicious ice-cream flavors like black mission fig, molasses tipsycake, pumpkin spice, and chocolate cabernet.
At local restaurants, goat selections have been moving off the cheese plate and appearing throughout the rest of the menu. At Spoonriver, they stuff wasabi goat cheese into orange blossom apricots and serve them on a green salad. For an antipasto, try Brix’s pecan-crusted goat-cheese truffles with warm rosemary honey. And while I haven’t yet fully tested this theory, I am convinced that the frittata on 128 Café’s brunch menu wouldn’t be anywhere near as satisfying without its roasted garlic goat cheese.
But enough about cheese. There’s no reason to rule out the rest of the goat. Most commonly known in our country by the French name chevon or the Italian name cabrito, goat meat is enjoyed in dishes worldwide, including Spanish, Middle Eastern, Asian, Greek, and Mexican cuisines. Far less gamy than some might suspect, young goat is tender and lean with a mild flavor. A great way to try it is in khasiko maasu, a Nepalese goat meat curry served at Everest on Grand. The curry flavors play particularly well with the goat without masking its slight sweetness. At Mexican restaurants around town, a favorite dish is birria de chivo, a specialty from Jalisco that calls for steaming the goat over a spiced tomato broth. The drippings from the meat are usually incorporated in the broth and the dish served as a hearty stew akin to pot roast. Head to La Perla del Pacifico on a weekend, the only time they make birria de chivo, with meat that is fall-apart tender and just a little crisp on the outer layer. If you can’t wait for the weekend, grab lunch at El Nuevo Rodeo and order tacos with birria meat. The meat carries the smoky tomato flavoring well, but also has a slightly richer, rounder flavor than the carnitas you may be used to.
If, after all that, you still wish to connect in a more direct way with the spirit of the goat, head on down to the Dancing Winds Farm. Doerr renovated a portion of her farmhouse into a guesthouse, which she runs as an educational farm retreat. I, for one, am convinced there is no better way to celebrate the spring (and my inner goat herder), than to wake up to a farm-fresh breakfast and a good goat frolic.
Dancing Winds Farm, 6863 Cty 12 Blvd., Kenyon; 507-789-6606; dancingwinds@juno.com.
St. Paul Farmers Market, 290 E. Fifth St., St. Paul; 651-227-8101; www.stpaulfarmersmarket.com
Fantôme Farm, Rt. 1, Ridgeway, WI; 608-924-1266, www.fantomefarm.com. Lakewinds Natural Foods, www.lakewinds.com. Whole Foods Market,
www.wholfoodsmarket.com
Spoonriver, 750 S. Second St., Minneapolis; 612-436-2236; www.spoonriverrestaurant.com
Brix Bistro & Wine Bar, 4656 Excelsior Blvd., St. Louis Park; 952-698-BRIX; www.brixwine.com
128 Café, 128 Cleveland Ave N., St Paul; 651-645-4128; www.128cafe.net
Everest on Grand, 1278 Grand Ave., St. Paul; 651-696-1666; www.hotmomo.com
La Perla del Pacifico, 6009 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis; 612-869-5358.
El Nuevo Rodeo, 2709 E. Lake St., Minneapolis; 612.728.0101; www.elnuevorodeo.com
SHOP TALK
Are you keen to see an Indian comedy about two thieves breaking into a pastry shop? Slow Food on Film—a juried selection of international shorts to be shown at the U of M St. Paul Campus on March 24, hosted by our local Slow Food chapter—promises to be much more exciting than it sounds. Visit the events page at slowfoodmn.org for more information … All budding molecular gastronomers and nerdy kitchen geeks (present!) must sign up for a new series of cooking classes based on the teachings of kitchen-science guru Shirley O. Corriher. Understanding the basics of why cakes rise and how chocolate is tempered might just lead you on the path to the ne plus ultra of nouvelle cuisine: foam (Let’s Cook, www.letscook.com, for more info) … The Parade of Homes offers a smart food focus this year, with three kitchen-themed tours to help envision your dream kitchen or take in demonstrations by local chefs, restaurants and cooking schools. Most intriguing, the old Cream of Wheat building, which has been turned into lofts, will feature Cream of Wheat cookies in a variety of flavors (www.paradeofhomes.org).
CUISINE SUPREME
Cooqi
There’s no need to suffer through leaden, tasteless health-snacks ever again. This vibrant, petite bakery touts itself as “the gluten-free bakery of your wildest, most scrumptious dreams,” and they’re not kidding. Even those who go for gluten will appreciate the organic ingredients, whole-grain flours, and lack of preservatives, trans-fats, and refined sugars. Breads like the rosemary focaccia, the dense multigrain, and Ellie’s kid-friendly sandwich bread sell out on a regular basis. The soft and cakey double fudge cookie, which is also available as frozen dough, should be a local legend. 2186 Marshall Ave, St. Paul; 651-645-4433; cooqiglutenfree.com
Sambol
So many terrific strip-mall restaurants, so little time. Get ahead of the game and take our word on Sambol. Featuring Indian and Sri-Lankan cuisine, this charmer tucked away in Eagan packs them in for the affordable Indian lunch buffet, offering pakoras, tandoori chicken, and a host of vegetarian specialties. If you go Indian at lunch, come back for a Sri-Lankan dinner. Cravable in every way are the hoppers (appam): rice flour crepes formed into a bowl, with an egg soft-baked into the bottom, then topped with either chicken or vegetable curry and onion chutney. You might also opt for the roti dishes, which are amply spiced without killing the flavor; or select chicken, beef, shrimp or potatoes to be “devilled”—that is, stir-fried with a tangy, fiery ginger sauce. 1260 Town Centre Dr., Eagan; 651-688-8686; sambol.com
Jake O’Connor’s Public House
True devotees will appreciate the traditional Irish breakfast with imported Galtee rashers and sausages, but nearly everyone can enjoy the properly crispy fish ‘n’ chips. Murphy’s Stout is as good in the food as it is in the glass, as evidenced by the hearty beef and stout pie or the tender braised lamb shank smothered with a stout demi-glace. These guys know enough to offer plenty of non-traditional menu items as well—and bless them, even the chicken tenders boast a remarkable, slightly sweet beer batter. 200 Water St., Excelsior; 952-908-9650.
