RABBIT PIE WITH A CREAM AND WHITE WINE SAUCE

This pie gives me a warm fuzzy memory of my childhood, I was very lucky to grow up in a local village public house, where most the locals were farmers or game keepers and often bartered with rabbits, pheasants and venison, The public bar had a large open fire with a manual spit roast in-situ and on most Sundays there was often a few rabbits or pheasants turning on the spit, my father would rustle up some diced roasted potatoes and side dishes where upon all the customers would dive in.  

INGREDIENTS

(Serves 6-8)

3 whole rabbits skinned & jointed

3 ltrs chicken stock

1 onion finely diced

2 stalks celery finely diced

3 carrots whole

1 leek sliced

10 black peppercorns 

2 fresh bay leaves

1 sprig of thyme

100g butter

100g plain flour

500ml dry white wine

150ml-300ml double cream

Salt and white pepper

1 pinch of cayenne pepper

SHORTCRUST ROUGH PUFF PASTRY

220g lard cubed

200g butter cubed

10g salt

360ml ice cold water

900g plain flour

1 beaten egg wash

First make the pastry, put the flour in a large bowl, add the salt, butter and lard, with your fingers give a rough lumpy crumble effect, you want to keep large lumps of fat as this is what will give the puff in your pastry when it cooks, add the water and bring the pastry only just together the lumps of fat is what will give your pastry the puff texture.

Wrap and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins, this stage you can do the day before.

Take your rabbits and place in a large stock pan, add the carrots, leeks, thyme, onion, celery, bay, black peppercorns, salt and stock, bring to a simmer and cook for 2-3 hrs, until the meat is falling off the bone.  Strain and reserve the stock.  Once the rabbit has cooled remove all the meat from the bone and put to one side.  Reduce the stock by half add the wine and reduce again by one third.  

Now make a roux by melting the butter and adding the flour, on a low heat cook out the roux for five minutes, start to add the hot stock one ladle at a time, stirring well to remove any lumps until you have a medium consistency for your gravy, you may not need all the stock, add the cream, the rabbit meat and season with salt, white pepper and cayenne pepper.

Roll out the pastry in two circles, one as the lid and one for the base, line your pie tin with the pastry base and fill with your rabbit mixture, egg wash the top of the pastry and place on your lid and gently seal, egg wash the top of the pie and bake at 200 degrees for 45 minutes or until piping hot in the centre.