Rabbit Pie

Course: Main
Servings: 6 people
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 100 minutes

Ingredients:

  • Rabbit - 1
  • Shetland butter - (or oil of choice)
  • Wild field mushrooms - (or mushroom of choice)
  • Mace blades - 2-3
  • Whole cloves - 1-2
  • Allspice berries - 3-4
  • Whole black peppercorns - (to taste)
  • Whole nutmeg - (freshly grated)
  • Shetland Dairies single cream - (plus Shetland buttermilk)
  • Puff pastry - 1 Quantity (home made or shop bought)
  • Shetland hens' egg - 1 (mixed with a little water to make an egg wash)

Instructions:

  1. I soak the rabbit over night in cold water. You don’t have to though.
  2. Then I simmer it in stock for about an hour. If it’s not tender then and falls off the bones easily, it gets boiled up for the dogs and cat.
  3. I then fry the meat in a little butter, but you can use any oil of your choice, Butter, I think, gives a better flavour.
  4. Next find some wild field mushrooms, if not any kind of mushroom is good. The big wild ones are a better flavour and texture. Chop them roughly, nice big chunks are best and add them to the rabbit in the pan and let them cook a little.
  5. For the seasoning, I take a pestle and mortar and pound a small quantity of mace blades, a clove or two, some allspice berries, black peppercorns and be generous with the nutmeg. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of the mixture over the rabbit and mushrooms.
  6. Then add some single cream. The rabbit will soak up a lot of cream so sometimes I put in some Shetland buttermilk too so it’s not too rich. If the sauce is a bit thin a tablespoon of Philadelphia will thicken it again. Now taste and add more of the pounded spices if needed and some salt.
  7. I make a puff pastry with half plain flour and half strong white bread flour, butter and lard. Resting it in a bag in the fridge between turns means it won’t shrink on top of the pie when you cook it.
  8. Fill a deep pie dish generously, nothing worse than a pie with cavities!
  9. Cover pie with the pastry , egg wash it and give it 40 minutes or so in a hot oven.
  10. One Wascally Wabbit put to good use!