Slow braised Rabbit with mint and parsley

A relatively simple dish especially good as an alternative to a Sunday roast. 

Depending on the size of your rabbit, portion wise, one saddle is generally fair for each person. 

For four, simply increase all the ingredients by a similar ratio, although the amount of parsley should only be increased by half. 

Marjoram and Thyme are also great additions to the herb mix for this particular recipe and if using either, I would tend to use 15 grams of parsley to 5 grams of either of these herbs; i.e. still maintaining a 20 gram portion of fresh herbs in total.

For two saddles of Rabbit:

• Four dessert spoons of good olive oil
• 10 grams of mint, chopped finely
• Three large cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• Two good pinches of salt
• Two good pinches of caraway seeds
• 20 grams of flat leaf parsley, chopped roughly
• Two large onions, sliced
• 500 mls of good vegetable stock, reduced by half
• 50 mls of good balsamic vinegar

Place your Rabbit in a large bowl.  Add the oil, mint and garlic, the salt, the caraway seeds and the sliced onions and ensure the meat is evenly covered.

Place to one side, covered, at room temperature for 30-40 minutes or, in a sealable plastic bag in the fridge overnight, taking the bag out about an hour before you need to start cooking.

Pre-heat oven to 160c.

Reduce your stock and allow to cool slightly, then add the balsamic.

In a heavy oven dish, scatter a little more oil in the base and put half your parsley/herb mix onto the bottom.  Place the rabbit and onion mixture and the remaining parsley scattered on around and on top.  Add the liquid to the side rather than pouring over the top of the meat.  Cover tightly with oven foil and place in the in oven, for an hour.

At the end of this period, uncover, increase the heat to 180c and cook for a further 25/35 minutes, depending on the size or the number of rabbit pieces you have placed in your oven dish.

Take out of the oven, cover loosely and allow to stand in its juices for 20 minutes. 

Serve on a bed of Spring greens or puy lentils.

If you are serving with roast potatoes and want a thicker gravy, I would transfer the remaining juices into a saucepan and whisk in a little butter and flour, perhaps adding a little pinch of ground black pepper at the end.

Late Summer Lentils with liver / or toasted Halloumi

Puy lentils, one carb that can be cooked simply and still instills extravagance to me - or possibly this may be the romantic in me that associates these little green jewels with the South of France.

One of my tastiest suppers which takes a few nods from difference recipes over the past number of years (I won't admit how many) and which, is simply great at this time of year with the end of season celery and fennel.

 

The lentils:

• 150 grams of puy lentils
• 200 grams of roughly chopped fennel and celery (in equal proportions), include the tops of the celery if available, also roughly chopped
• One medium onion, roughly chopped
• Two large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 20 grams of finely chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon of dried thyme
• Water/vegetable stock to cover
• 25 grams of butter
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Heat the butter and oil in a shallow pan and add the vegetables and herbs and cook slowly until softened. 

Add the lentils and mix together with the vegetables until each jewel is glistening with the juices in the pan.  Turn the heat up and add your liquid, enough to cover the mixture to about a half to three quarters of a cm above the surface.  Bring to just below the oil and then simmer slowly until cooked.  Add more liquid if you feel the need.

Accompaniments:

Liver can strike most people with dread, but whether using chicken liver or, at this time of year, rabbit liver may be on offer from some artisan butchers, this is really good partnership with this dish.  Prepare your liver, clean and sliced, not too thinly, and fry in butter until brown on the outside and still pink, inside, but solid not raw.  At the end of the cooking add a little cider vinegar and let it evaporate in the heat of dish. 

Serve on top of the lentils with perhaps some chopped parsley or finely chopped tops of celery.

Alternatively, this goes very well with toasted Halloumi which is then mixed into the lentil mixture immediately before serving.  Or, for just an extra ten minutes, try slicing Brie or Camembert over the lentils in a shallow ovenproof dish and bake in a moderate oven until the cheese melts through and is just turning brown.