So there I was, on my way back from a jog, and I decided to pop into the butchers (this makes me sound healthier than I actually am) - and lo and behold,they had fresh rabbit (but no hare) at a pretty good price. So I bought it. And used it on a hare recipe. In hingsight, this was an error. Rabbit is clearly a very different meat to hare - however, cook it for half the recommended time and it works fine, especially as the sauce towards the end gives it moisture.
But I don't want to give away too much yet....the recipe I chose was Spaetzli of hare (aka rabbit at weekends) with a rosemary, Beaufort and chestnut crust. It ended up looking something like this:
But that's enough of a teaser for now... First of all, it's important to note that this is meant to be an overnight dish. Something that made Saturday dinner into Sunday lunch for me, as yet again I didn't read the recipe properly in advance. Nice one.
Next point - unless you like butchering, get the butcher to do all the chopping / bone breaking for you. I bought the rabbit whole, gutted but with kidneys and liver inside -so I had to cut it up and break it into pieces with the help of rabbit butchering instructions off the internet. That said, I didn't mind as it's something I couldn't do before and I'm not that squeamish about this sort of thing - but the sounds of breaking rabbit bones proved slightly too much for bunny-lover (not like that) Mark.
Right - now for the ingredients:
2 rabbits (the recipe suggests 1 haunch of hare - the rear legs- plus any extra front bits)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
vegetable oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large leek, peeled and chopped
1 large red onion, peeled and chopped
3 sticks of celery, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
3 bay leaves
1/2 bunch of fresh thyme
1 dessert spoon tomato paste
375ml (half a bottle) red wine
1 glass port (125ml)
rind from 1/2 orange, pith removed
3 star anise
1 litre chicken stock
100g pancetta lardons
100g button mushrooms
50g unsalted butter
100g breadcrumbs
1 bunch fresh rosemary,leaves picked and finely chopped
200g piece of Beaufort - alternatively the recipe suggests Comte or Gruyere. I used Comte
6 cooked chestnuts, grated
For the Spaetzli:
3 medium eggs
300g strong flour
125ml full fat milk (I used semi-skimmed, which in hindsight may also have been a mistake as the dough was stickier than a stick insect. But then the dough may have been that sticky anyway. Who knows)
1 dessert spoon vegetable oil
a pinch of salt
fresh nutmeg
Day 1
As hinted at above, first I butchered the rabbit to separate the hind legs, the ribs/front legs and the back/torso. I also saved up the liver (lovely, fried in a little olive oil and garlic) and kidneys (a bit rich) to serve with the main dish. I then seasoned the rabbit pieces with salt and pepper.
I preheated the oven to 130C and heated a heavy braising pan over a high heat until hot. I added a thin film of vegetable oil and sealed the rabbit pieces on all sides. I then removed the meat, and then added the leeks, carrots, onions and celery and sauteed the vegetables until they had softened. I then added the garlic, bay leaves, stalks of thyme and tomato paste and cooked for another few minutes before adding the wine and port to reduce.
Once the alcohol had pretty much evaporated, I returned the rabbit pieces, added the orange rind and star anise and then poured over the chicken stock. Once it had come to a gentle simmer, I skimmed off the fat bubbles and the whole pan was covered and placed into the oven.
Now for hare,this is meant to cook for almost two hours - for rabbit, it should be closer to an hour, as I discovered very much by accident. Once I realised the rabbit was already cooked, I removed the pan from the oven and left it for a couple of hours to come back down to room temperature.
While it was cooling, I decided to make the spatzli. I whisked together the eggs and added the flour, milk, vegetable oil and salt, added a generous pinch of grated nutmeg and left the mixture to rest for an hour or so. I brought a large pan of water to boil, prepared a lightly oiled tray and started the incredibly messy job of making spaetzli.
And oh was it messy - I was literally smothered head to toe in sticky spatzli batter before I had even made one spaetzli. The way to do it is to use a colander and push the batter through the holes into the boiling pan of water. When the batter is done, it rises to the surface.
Having experimented with an ikea colander (the blue one with the handle), a more traditional metal colander, and a steaming pan - I'd say the steaming pan worked best. But it was still made me lose my temper. I did end up with a few more spatzle than anticipated, so clearly Bruce factored in that half of the batter would end up all over the kitchen.
I put the spatzle in a tupperware box and in the fridge for the next day. Now, once the hare had cooled, I lifted out the meat and put it to one side. I strained the stock through a sieve into a clean pan and brought it to a boil, skimming the fat off before it reached boiling point. Once it had reduced by half, I strained it once more left it to cool and then put it in the fridge for the next day. I also picked the meat from the rabbit - also destined for the fridge - and discarded the bones.
About an hour before Sunday (meant-to-be-Saturday-dinner) lunch, I preheated the grill and fried the lardons (using barely any oil), lifted them out and set them aside when done. I then fried up the button mushrooms and set them aside as well.
I then melted the butter and added the breadcrumbs, fried them until they were crisp and golden, stirred in the rosemary and then laid them onto absorbent kitchen roll to strain the fat off.
I then heated up the stock and the rabbit in the fridge on a low heat, then added the lardons,mushrooms and spatzli.
Once it was done, I spooned the ragout into a gratin dish, covered with the sliced cheese and sprinkled the rosemary crumbs over the top,then placed under the grill until the cheese had melted. Just before serving, I grated the chestnuts over the top.
It tasted lovely - however I probably won't make it again because it's a lot of effort for something a little underwhelming. But at least I got to butcher a rabbit.
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