Meals for Monday- Recipe: Jerked Leg of Goat & Sweet Potatoes

I came across a variation of this recipe when I was perusing the web for ideas on how to use goat meat. Cabrito is goat meat from a young goat, typically less than six months old. Chevon is meat from an old goat (older than six months). Personally, I prefer cabrito because of the chevon is typically gamy, having more lanolin-like flavor.  Goat meat is usually consumed by those in the Middle East, meaning there are a ton of goat curry dishes. This dish, on the other hand, is more like a Moroccan dish (ok...maybe it's still Middle Eastern, but I'd argue Moroccan dishes are different), which uses a form of Ras el hanout.  If you're not a fan of goat meat, feel free to adapt this recipe to your favorite red meat (or even white meat).

Jerked Leg of Goat & Sweet potatoes

• goat leg, 4 goat steaks, or favorite cut of red meat (1.5lbs)
• 4-6 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ~2" cubes (rather big)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed (in a garlic press)
• 1 T thyme
• 1/2-1 t salt
• 2 t   black pepper
• 1 T  allspice
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/4 c soy sauce
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper or other favorite fresh/ground hot pepper (optional)
• NOTE: All spices are ground/dried, so adjust as necessary if you are grinding your own spices or have fresh herbs
• water

1. Place sweet potatoes in bottom of crockpot (~3 qt)
2. Add ~1 c water to the bottom of the crockpot
3. Add all of the ingredients together EXCEPT meat and potatoes, creating a paste
4. Rub paste over meat, piercing the meat if desired (useful if you have a goat leg or thicker cut of meat)
5. Wrap meat tightly in aluminum foil
• Myself, I placed some paste on the foil, added a steak, spread some more paste over the steak, added another steak on top, paste...etc.
• paste-steak-paste-steak...etc
• then sealed tightly in foil
6. Place meat on top of sweet potatoes
7. Cook on "low" for ~8 hrs

I hope you enjoy!