British Wedding Anniversary Dinner ~ Pie 2 ~ Rabbit Pie with Cider and Mustard

The second pie I made for our trio of British anniversary pies was a rabbit pie. 🙂 I wanted to make something out of the box, and rabbit isn’t something I use everyday. It was fun for me to cook with something different, and it felt like a special ingredient to use on our special day. It tastes a lot like chicken to me, so this recipe could be swapped with chicken, as well.

I started with a basic braise that left me with very tender meat and enough rabbit stock to freeze for later. (I use this method with chicken frequently. It’s a nice way to stock your freezer for the coming winter soup months! 🙂 )

Rabbit Pie with Cider and Mustard

Based on a recipe from BBC Good Food

Cooking the rabbit and the stock:

1 tablespoon high heat oil, such as safflower

1 rabbit, about 3 pounds, cleaned

2 carrots, roughly chopped

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 stalk of celery, roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon whole peppercorns

2 garlic cloves, crushed

½ tablespoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Preheat a large stockpot on medium high heat. When hot, add oil, and wait until the oil is hot and shimmering. Add the whole rabbit, and brown on all sides. Add the remaining ingredients and cover everything with water. Bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, cover the pot and place it in the oven. Cook for about 2 hours, or until the rabbit meat is easily shredded with a fork.

Strain the stock, and discard the vegetables and seasonings.

Shred all of the meat, and reserve 2 cups of the stock for the pie. Freeze the rest of the stock for future recipes.

Cooking the pie:

1 tablespoon high heat oil, such as safflower

1 small leek, finely sliced

1 teaspoon fennel seed

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ cup dry hard cider

2 cups rabbit stock

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 3-pound cooked rabbit, shredded

Preheat a large sauté pan over medium high heat. When hot, add the oil, and wait until hot and shimmering. Add the leek and fennel seeds, and cook until caramelized and softened. Stir in the flour, and cook for about a minute. Add the cider, stir well to fully incorporate the flour and scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the cooking liquid by half.

Stir in the mustard, add salt and pepper to taste, and then add the rabbit meat. Cook until warmed through.

To serve, add the stew to small ramekins and top with the pre-baked shortcrust pastry. (The instructions for the pastry can be found here in the previous beef pie blog entry.)

Up next, pheasant pie!