Roast Goose With Sausage, Fennel, & Currant Stuffing & Wild Mushroom Port Gravy

Directions

Make the stuffing:

Toast the bread cubes in one layer in jelly-roll pans in a preheated 350º F. oven, tossing them occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until they are dry, transfer them to a large bowl, and let them cool. In a large heavy skillet cook the sausage over moderate heat, stirring and breaking up any lumps, until it is no longer pink, transfer it with a slotted spoon to the bowl, and pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat remaining in the skillet. To the skillet add 2 tablespoons of the oil, in it cook the garlic, the onion, the fennel, the sage, the thyme, and salt and pepper to taste over moderate heat, stirring, for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft, and transfer the mixture to the bowl. In the skillet cook the mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste in the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over moderate heat, stirring, until almost all the liquid they give off is evaporated, transfer them to the bowl, and stir in the chestnuts, the currants, the parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. The stuffing may be made I day in advance and kept covered and chilled. (Do not stuff the goose in advance.)

Rinse the goose, pat it dry, and season it inside and out with salt and pepper. Pack the neck cavity loosely with some of the stuffing, fold the neck skin under the body and fasten it with a skewer. Pack the body cavity loosely with some of the remaining stuffing and truss the goose. Transfer the remaining stuffing to a buttered 2-quart baking dish and reserve it, covered and chilled. Put the goose, breast side up, on a rack in a roasting pan, scatter the carrot, the celery, the onion, and the chopped giblets on the bottom of the pan, and roast the goose in the middle of a preheated 425º F. oven for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325º F., pour 1 cup boiling water carefully over the goose (the juices will splatter), and roast the goose, basing it with the pan juices and skimming off the fat, reserving it for another use such as sauteed potatoes and celery root, for 2 to 2½ hours more, or until the juices run clear when the fleshy part of a thigh is pricked with a skewer and a meat thermometer inserted in the fleshy part of a thigh registers 175º F. During the last hour of roasting bake the reserved stuffing, drizzled with ½ cup of the broth and covered, in the 325º F. oven. During the last 30 minutes of roasting let the porcini soak in 1 cup of the remaining broth, heated. Transfer the goose to a heated platter, remove the skewer and the trussing strings, and keep the goose warm, covered loosely with foil.

Strain the porcini liquid through a fine sieve lined with a coffee filter or a double thickness of rinsed and squeezed cheesecloth and reserve it. Rinse the porcini, drain them well, and chop them fine. Remove the vegetables and the giblets from the roasting pan with a slotted spoon and discard them. Pour off the fat from the pan juices and reserve it. Add the wine and the Port to the pan, deglaze the pan over moderately high heat, scraping up the brown bits clinging to the bottom and sides, and boil the mixture until it is reduced by half. In a saucepan combine ¼ cup of the reserved fat and the flour and cook the roux over moderately low heat, whisking, for 3 minutes. Add the remaining 2 cups broth, the wine mixture, and the reserved porcini liquid in a stream, whisking, bring the mixture to a boil, whisking, and simmer the gravy, whisking occasionally, for 3 minutes, or until it is thickened. Stir the porcini into the gravy with salt and pepper to taste, simmer the gravy for 2 minutes, and transfer it to a heated sauceboat. Spoon the sauteed potatoes and celery root around the roast goose and garnish the platter with the fresh parsley sprigs.