Milk Roasted Goat Ragù with Homemade Pasta and a Side of Wilted Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts
Posted by Food Rockz Man at 2/6/2008 8:45 AM and is filed under Wine,Cooking Adventures,Pasta,Goat,Vegetable Sides 
One of foodrockzfan's favorite dishes she's eaten in a DC restaurant is Komi Chef/Owner Johnny Monis' milk roasted goat ragù . . . so I made it Saturday night using the recipe Chef Monis provided to Food & Wine magazine when it named him one of the nation's top ten chef's in 2007. Komi's my favorite DC restaurant, so it's a pleasure to have access to the recipe for one of Chef Monis' best dishes. Monis uses "baby goat" . . . I bought a goat shoulder from Cibola Farms at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market, but I'm not sure of the age of the goat it came from. I served the ragù with some fresh egg pasta, but rather than hand-cut it into pappardelle, as the Monis recipe instructs, I cut it into fettuccine using my pasta cutter. I was running a little behind schedule and this was one of my time-saving shortcuts. I made up a simple side dish of wilted spinach with raisins and toasted pine nuts. I reconstituted the raisins by pouring boiling water into a bowl with the raisins and soaking them for 10 minutes, while toasting the pine nuts in a skillet and then adding the spinach to wilt it . . . before draining the raisins and tossing them with the spinach and pine nuts.
This was another great course, if I do say so myself. The ragù is on the more complex side, flavor-wise . . . with cinnamon and thyme shining through . . . while the spinach side was simple, but interesting . . . a good counterpoint to the ragù. And you can't go wrong with homemade pasta!
Along with the E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône 2004 that we began drinking with the first course, we added a great Greek red wine, Nemea "Driopi" 2005, made from 100% Agiorgitiko grape in the Southern Greece Peloponnese region—a smooth dry red wine with a lot of tannins and fruit.
Keep reading for the grand finale of our Saturday night dinner . . . dessert.
Wow, this looks fab. Can I ask where you bought the goat?
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nevermind--i totally skipped over the line where you say where you got it. I was too busy drooling!!
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Thanks, Lemmonex. On a separate subject . . . I just read on your blog that you recently received some hate email. That's so cool! You know you've arrived when someone takes the time to hate you. I never get hate mail . . . I'm a little jealous. But I couldn't find the actual mail you received on your blog. You should post it . . . or pass it on to me via email . . . and I could pretend is was aimed at me . . . so I wouldn't have to be jealous anymore!
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I didn't allow the hate mail through--I blocked it for my sanity, though i have some staunch defenders that probably would have hopped all over this person. I can forward it to you, but seeing as you are a guy, the comment probably wouldnt make any sense. These trolls need to get more original!! I prefer my insults with some creativity.
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Fair enough! Yeah . . . unoriginal insults are laaaaame!
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Oh my goodness, that sounds fabulous. And you had to post this on Ash Wednesday when all I have to look forward to tonight is a bowl of spaghetti michaelangelo? I am going out goat hunting soon!
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Your baby sister ate at Komi when she was in DC for a conference last year . . . ask her about it!
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Found you through the magic of Google.
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What were you googling for? Rockz?! This just might be the sweetest comment anyone's ever left. "Lick-the-screen worthy!"? I'm beyond flattered. Thank you!
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I had some goat ragout at Mio that was great the other day, too. .
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