Another recipe from the Trelystan cookbook -following a little too quickly on the heels of Crab Apple Jelly perhaps. Don't worry, this isn't turning into a foodie blog - its more that the opportunity presented itself. Here in the small mountain kingdom we are having a fortnight of Not Buying Food/Eating Stuff from the Freezer. An icy parcel of meat turned out to be a rabbit when defrosted....
Oop north, on one of Stockport's mean streets lives DLB who's expressed a wish to cook rabbit in mustard sauce - presumably as his mother makes it. DLB - this one's for you.
First up, acquire your rabbit. No, no, no - not from that hutch in the neighbour's garden or
'pets at home. Try a decent butcher's or fishmonger's - Evans in Didsbury, the one on the Brow in Stockport or the fish market in the Arndale in Manchester. I've seen them for sale still in the fur in Ludlow - it's that sort of foodie place - but I'm not sure if rabbit skinning photographs would attract the right sort of reader. I suppose a rabbit will feed 3 hungry people - cook two and there will be some to heat up tomorrow....
Joint your rabbit. 2 x back legs, 2 x front legs. 1 bit in the middle - the saddle. Kidneys and heart are OK too. In an ovenproof casserole (I'm using the ancient and ancestral Le Creuset) sweat a chopped onion in a generous chunk of butter, 25 - 50gms. Mix a teaspoonful of English mustard with the best part of a jar of Dijon mustard. Dust your rabbit portions with seasoned flour. Pour two glasses of white wine.
Add the floured rabbit to the pan with the onions and brown gently.
Add the mustard mixture and a glass of wine - I'm adding about a tumbler full here. I'm drinking the other glass myself. It's a reasonable Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.
Mix well. Add a bundle of herbs - parsley and thyme are good.
And put the lid on....
Leave to cook gently, barely bubbling for about 1¼ hours. I kept ours on the hob but you could put it in the oven at 170 degrees. Keep your eye on it - sometimes it sticks on the bottom and we don't want a sticky bottom do we? When it's about cooked add some double cream - about a wine glassful (70 - 100cl). If you like your sauce thicker take some of your seasoned flour - not much, about a dessert spoonful and mix with some of the cream to make a thin-ish paste. (Add cream to flour not the other way round). Stir this into the hot rabbit and keep stirring in with the rest of the cream to make a smooth sauce. Check seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Garnish with chopped parsley. Good with boiled potatoes, rice or crusty bread, green salad or a green veg.
Best of luck DLB.
11 comments:
Have not had rabbit in years, it's very hard to find here in the States. Once had it at a pub in England where it was listed as Underground Mutton. LOL.
Love rabbit.
I've never cooked rabbit and only eaten it in a watery,tasteless stew cooked up by a nearly illiterate backwoods hunter. He couldn't have read a recipe and I doubt that his mother ever sweat an onion or possessed a jar of dijon. For that reason I've since avoided rabbit at all costs. Your recipe could almost make me change my mind - almost.
Sounds delicious - mum used to make rabbit stew and I have eaten rabbit in France but never tried to cook it myself. Might give it a go.
I'm fairly sure I can't buy rabbit here in Ohio but I'll look for it. The recipe looks great! As I type my husband is in the woods bow hunting so we might be living on venison for the next few weeks....
Plenty rabbits on Bolton market fur on or off, but when you have had lovely pet ones it difficult.
That pork pie is still posing too.
Very tasty if only... I could eat rabbit without thinking how they are "mass produced" now. I cannot find any 'organic' one and on top of that, we turn more and more to vegetarians. Only because the garden is still offering so much delicious fresh food. But I did just the same: found the last Ludlow pheasant in the freezer. Might do very well with that rich sauce, mmmmhhhhh. Thank you! P.S. I knew you would drink the glass of white ;-) it's called cooking wine - and me too, I joined long time ago the "no-cork-club" :-))
This is really "à recommander"! And with a bit less moustard really tasty for game bird like pheasant. THANKS again!
Used to eat rabbit when we lived in Spain and wild ones were readily available and delicious .
Youngest daughter would be firmly told by big sisters and me that it was chicken so there would be no danger of the next forkful being identified with Florence , the stuffed rabbit that sat on her knee .
P.S. Many thanks for the Audible book tip . I'm loving them !
Lapin a plenty here in the shops or courtesy of friendly hunters , great cooked with prunes too, yam yam as the kids say!!
Perhaps your other half could pop over the hill with a gun. It's like Watership Down - you've read the book, seen the film, now eat the pie!!
Even more food for free
Thoughtful blog you have here.
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