It's a rabbit-fest at our house!
Another wild rabbit from our Yarra Valley food tour was consumed tonight in this wonderful, although very time consuming, pie. I have mentioned before that I am not a fast cook, but four hours to prepare a mid-week dinner has to be a record even for me.
The first step was to poach the rabbit. For two hours. Damn. I didn't start cooking until 3:30 having spent the afternoon chatting to my Dad, but having promised rabbit pie to my boys for dinner, rabbit pie it was going to be.
Step 2 - Make shortcrust pastry. I realise that making pastry is not for everybody but I am completely hooked on the taste and I am getting good at it too! Stephanie would have been VERY proud of tonight's effort. My best yet by a mile. As my friend Emma would say, I am getting my pastry hands!
Step 3 - Sauté bacon and mushrooms, then sear liver and kidneys. My little rabbit came sans liver, but I was amused frying my first kidneys to find that they bounce like superballs.
Step 4 - Toast almonds and mix with everything else cooked so far to make the filling. Add parsley for lovely green colour and as it turns out, fantastic flavour.
Step 5 - Make decadent, creamy white sauce mixed with rabbit stock, lemon juice and cream. Mix with rabbit and other bits.
Step 6 - Roll out pastry and bake blind.
Step 7 - Make breadcrumbs. Thank you Thermomix.
Step 8 - Put it all together and bake until lovely and brown.
Looking back I am not as embarrassed at the four hour cooking time as I thought I might be. As well as being a fantastic dinner, tonight's effort also represented recipe number 150 (hooray!) and also my first completed chapter. Only 506 recipes and 113 chapters to go.
It's OK, even I think I'm mad.
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