Ooh look, a post about food. A recipe nonetheless! Yes I am still cooking, but since my wee girl arrived I’ve found us falling back on tried and tested dishes or quick and easy meals by necessity, instead of anything new which I could write up for the blog. Now she’s fast approaching her first birthday though we’re starting to make a bit more space for old hobbies or taking more time over meals at weekends. Especially if it’s something she can try eating herself!
We had a whole rabbit in our freezer for a couple of months and the Sunday after Hogmanay seemed like a good time for a low and slow winter stew. The bunny was taken out the day before to defrost then I put together this simple casserole with some leftover festive carrots and a handful of frozen spinach (if you don’t have a bag of frozen spinach in your freezer go to the shops and get some, it’s brilliant for chucking in stews or pimping instant noodles, ready made curries and soups). Cooking the rabbit on the bone means not a single bit of meat is wasted and it turns out there’s a surprising amount of it on wee thumper! We got two large dinner portions out of this and there was enough leftover for another two small servings or one big lunch serving (which came to work with me on the Tuesday).
You don’t have to go to a lot of effort to joint it nice and neat. Mine was just cut into quarters and then once the rabbit was cooked I fished out the quarters, slid the meat off the bones and returned it to the pot along with the frozen spinach for the last bit of cooking. Easy.
We gave Chloe a bit to try and she loved it, as did one of our cats. The other one wasn’t interested at all but you can’t please everyone.
Serves 3-4
1 Rabbit, quartered
3 Balls of frozen spinach
3 Carrots, chopped into large chunks
500ml Chicken stock
1 Sprig Rosemary
Handful of fresh thyme
1 Glass of red wine
1 Onion, chopped
1 Clove of garlic, chopped
Worcestershire sauce
Plain flour
Pre-heat the oven to 160C or gas mark 5
Dust the rabbit in some seasoned plain flour and fry off the quarters in a casserole dish until browned, then take them out and leave to one side.
Gently fry the onions until soft then add the garlic and carrots.
Once you can smell the garlic, raise the heat and deglaze the dish with the wine.
Add a large splash of Worcestershire sauce and then return the rabbit to the pot.
Pour in the stock, add the rosemary and thyme then cover the dish and put it in the oven.
Leave to cook for at least an hour and a half then remove from the oven and fish out the rabbit quarters.
Strip the meat from the rabbit bones and place it back into the casserole along with the frozen spinach.
Return to the oven for 20 minutes then remove the lid and continue to cook for another 20-30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
Serve with mashed tatties or big chunks of crusty bread.
Mince and Skirlie 