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Rabbit Pie

It is not every day that you would eat rabbit. However, the tender and lean meat of the rabbit is very versatile, assuming you have plenty of time for your preparations.

This recipe with a Spanish twist uses some rabbit meat to make a very interesting rabbit pie, something your dinner guests may not have eaten before (unless they spent a lot of time in Basque Country). 

Rabbit Pie with a Spanish Twist

Depending on where you live, it may be either easy or extremely hard to find rabbit. If you are in one of the former places, congratulations! Hope you will try this recipe or any other with rabbit.

Rabbit can be caught in the wild, but it is also farmed. Wild rabbit tends to have a stronger taste - and usually less meat on the bone. If this would be your first time cooking rabbit, go for the farmed variety. 

Of course you could just buy rabbit legs, but I would always recommend buying a whole rabbit. Why? It does not cost much more than just the legs, and you get a whole lot extra to make a beautiful stew with!

To start off, carve up your whole rabbit (separate front and hind legs, and cut the remaining body in two to four pieces). Make sure the rabbit is at room temperature before you continue.

Browning the Rabbit in a Skillet

Fry in some olive oil or a mixture of olive oil and butter until browned on all sides. This will take about fifteen minutes. 

Rabbit Pie 

Tenderizing the Rabbit

Remove the rabbit pieces from the frying pan, and add some water (or white wine) to loosen up the good bits that stuck to the bottom of the pan (deglazing). Transfer the liquid into a large pot and add all the rabbit pieces. Now add pepper corns, bay leaves, juniper berries, smoked paprika, a teaspoon of tomato paste, some squashed cloves of garlic and a few slices of chili. Now add two thoroughly washed and quartered oranges and top of with water until every piece of rabbit is fully covered. Add a pinch of salt (not too much, as we will be reducing the liquid later on, which will concentrate the salt) and bring to a simmer.

Rabbit Pie

Simmer for at least an hour, or until the rabbit meat becomes tender and will come off the bone easily. Turn of the heat and allow to cool down.

Pulling the Rabbit Meat

Once cooled, take each piece of rabbit, and pull off the meat (yes, pulled rabbit sandwich or rabbit tortilla comes to mind here). As I started out with a whole rabbit, I ended up with way more rabbit meat than is needed for the pie, so I froze the rest for another time.

Rabbit Pie

Putting the rabbit meat to the side for a moment, sieve the liquid and reduce to a quarter of the original volume and thicken with some flour, whisking to make sure there will be no lumps. Check the taste regularly. 

Assemble the Pie 

Now start the pie. I cheated by using puff pastry from the freezer, but feel free to make your own dough. 

Cover a pie dish with the dough and add the filling. Pie traditionally is a very cost-efficient way to use meat. For the filling I used some cut-up parboiled potatoes, some veg (whatever I have laying around), and the pulled rabbit of course. Cover with the reduced liquid. Now add the dough top and perforate using a knife. You can do this with mathematical precision or the slightly rougher approach that I used. 

Rabbit Pie

Rabbit Pie

Cook the Pie

Cook in a hot oven (180º Celsius or 360º Fahrenheit) until risen and nicely browned (about half an hour). Take the pie out of the oven and let it rest for a while.

Rabbit Pie

Cut up into four quarters and serve at the table. Enjoy this very unusual dish!