Braised rabbit in cider (or as in this case Cidre)

For this rabbit dish you shall require:here

1 rabbit (1.2 to 1.5 kg dressed weight, skinned and cleaned, no head or offal)

250 ml of dry Cidre (out of a 770ml bottle, what you do with the rest is your own business)

250 ml of game stock (but chicken will do)

2 apples (Holstein-cox or Brayburn)

250 gr Black pudding (Blut or rot wurst)

1 bunch of soup vegetables (leek, carrots, celeriac peeled and chopped will give you about 500g)

400g onions (peeled and sliced)

2 cloves of garlic, peeled, crushed and finely diced

Game spices

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp. of Rapeseed oil

2 tbsp. of olive oil

1 bouquet garni (sprig of sage, rosemary and a couple of bay leaves tied together)

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Clean and wash your rabbit, joint it into legs, thorax, saddle cut into half. Rub with salt and pepper, sprinkle with plenty of game spices (you can buy them ready made but I make my own, you can find out here what I use and how I do it).

Plenty of Game Spices

Salt

Set aside, while you clean and dice the root veg, onions and garlic.

On the hob

In a heavy bottomed casserole, heat the oil (50-50), when very hot put in the rabbit pieces (you will more than likely have to do it in two lots), brown all over and then remove from the pan and set aside.

Turn down the heat, add the onions and garlic, sweat until translucent (watch not to burn the garlic). 

Add the diced root veg

Sauté for a few minutes.

add the Cidre and stock, 

add the rabbit pieces on top (they don’t need to be completely covered but should be mostly submerged ) add the bouquet garni and push under the liquid and put the lid on.

Place the casserole into the pre-heated oven and turn down to about 160°C for two hours.
 (it isn’t that important as it should be a low, slow braise).

Cut your black pudding into quite large chunks (if you want the black pudding to disappear into the sauce remove the skin, if not leave it on), peel, core and dice the apples into large chunks, place into lemon-water to stop oxidisation (going brown).

40 minutes before the end, lift the lid (it is rather difficult if you don’t) and put in the black pudding and the diced apples, check the liquid, if it has reduced down too much add some more stock and if you have any left cidre. Turn up the heat to 180°C

We were having roasted veg so you can now peel and par-boil these (beetroot, parsnip, carrots and kohlrabi), allow to drain in a sieve, pour into a roasting tin (or an ovenproof roasting dish), sprinkle with a good tbsp. of Herbs de Provence and splash all over with olive oil, a grinding of Salt and pepper. Mix the lot together (get your hands in, it really is better) set aside. 

Put the veg into the top of the oven at the same time as you put the apples and black pudding into the casserole.  After 40-50mins the whole shooting match will be ready to serve. 

You can if you wish serve with potatoes, rice or even noodles, but as we are on a diet, I had decided that it would be a no carb low calorie meal. Depending on the size (I think this gives 4 good portions) it will be approx. 650 Kcal. for the braised rabbit casserole and 250 Kcal. for the veg.

This recipe works very well with skinned chicken legs or a single large turkey leg, but in this case check the inner temperature at the thickest part and adjust the cooking time to suit.

The addition of dried prunes  and apricots is a good addition instead of the apples, but in this case I would use a nice dry white wine and a splash of apricot brandy.

An interesting rabbit tale from my childhood. 

We had when we lived in the village an allotment (well “Wor Dad” did), he kept pigs, chickens, ducks and my favourite’s, the rabbits. I would often go with him in the morning (this was my pre-school days, so about 4-5 years of age) when he came in from night shift down to feed the animals, I loved it, It was my job on the way to gather dandelion leaves to feed to the rabbits (I didn’t realise that dad was also feeding them), these I would push through the chicken wire and watch as they devoured the fresh greenery. Because we grew our own vegetables and supplied our own meat and eggs, we always had a “good” Sunday dinner (Rationing was still on so that was not always the case for many). One Sunday, sitting down to “Dinner” (13:30 sharp), I asked a question that had been puzzling me for ages (most likely since my last visit to the “Garden”), so I asked to no one in general but directed at “Wor Dad”. 

“You know, that when we go down to the garden to feed the animals” , yes was the reply, well said I “the rabbits (I didn’t know which), have little ones”, yes came the reply, “I was wondering why there are never anymore, I mean we never seem to have more rabbits”,  “be quiet and eat your rabbit” came the reply this time. 

I think it is all part of the growing up process; it didn’t upset me or put me of eating meat for life, but it did put things into order in my little world.

I enjoyed my rabbit that day and have ever since, no matter if wild or hutch!