It's a work in progress for tomorrow's supper. My brother, who finds domestic rabbit bland, is going to visit and I am out to change his mind about rabbit. He's supposed to bring a bottle of his homemade wine to go with it, so it should be quite a feast. Still pondering what to serve with it.

Ingredients:
- meat from one mature rabbit
- 4 small onions, chopped
- three carrots, cut in large pieces
- 1 apple, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 5-6 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon salt
- flour for dredging, seasoned with black pepper, allspice and cloves
- 1/2 cup apple juice, a dash of apple cider vinegar (or use apple cider)
- about 1/2 cup water or enough to make gravy

Cut meat into pieces the size of your thumb or thereabouts. Dredge in seasoned flour and brown in oil in a large pan. Add liquids and loosen any browned bits stuck to pan. Add onions, carrots, apple, garlic, bay leaves and rosemary, stirring gently to combine. Cover and lower heat to simmer.

We don't normally add salt, but taste testing indicated a bit was needed so I added one teaspoon. Mushrooms would be wonderful, but I didn't happen to have any in the house.

1:00 PM. Smells and tastes wonderful but the meat is still tough and needs lots more time to simmer. I did add a scant teaspoon of salt.

I made the pastry using the Tenderflake Lard recipe. I gather this is a Canadian brand so I will post the recipe, which could be used with any brand of lard. The wording may not be identical to what is one the packaging.

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or 6 cups cake flour
2 tsp. salt
1 lb. Tenderflake lard
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 egg, lightly beaten
Water

Mix together flour and salt. Cut in lard with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse oatmeal. (I use two knives to get started and then my fingers.) In a 1-cup measure, combine vinegar and lightly beated egg. Add cold water to make one cup. Gradually stir liquid into flour mixture. Add only enough liquid to make dough cling together and do not "work" the pastry more than absolutely necessary or it may be tough. Gather into a ball. This is supposed to make six pastry shells. I never expect to get more than two deep dish pies out of it. Pastry rolls out more easily if it is chilled and may be made a day or two ahead. Excess may be frozen. I like to roll my pastry on a sheet of parchment paper as it makes it very easy to transfer to the pie dish. Small amounts of leftover pastry can be used for jam tarts, turnovers or meat or cheese pasties.

Oooooh my goodness...the houserabbit is starting to sound yummy...quick Pepper, hide!

I don't know, Cait....Pepper is so long and lanky, you wouldn't get much off her anyway! hehehehehe I am just teasing, Pepper, don't mind me!

Just took the pie out of the oven...



I made this pie in a casserole dish so it is very deep. Traditionally, in England, meat pies were decorated while fruit pies were not. I guess it helped tell which was which in the larder.

I often make a meat pie for winter solstice and then I use a sunburst to symbolize the return of longer days. Since this is a spring pie, I thought using a leaf motif might be nice.

We'll serve it with red currant preserve and a simple salad. I sure hope my Big Bro remembers to bring the homemade wine!

Now THAT is a meat pie! YUMMO! We lived overseas as a kid and I developed an appreciation for meat pies that most people my age just don't have...they look at me weird when I mention "meat" and "pie" together, as if they were mutually exclusive or something!

Yeah, I don't get it. They'll eat those Jamaican patty things that bear no resemblance to the real thing, but turn up their noses at good country cooking. My ancestors were English and I have always had an affinity for English country and village life... so I guess I get particular pleasure from things like this. Mom used to occasionally make steak and kidney pie and although I am no big fan of beef kidney, there was always something special about it.

Defintely, meat pies are special occasion food only though... white flour, lard... not exactly health food.

Oh, I will have to send you my recipe for pie crust that uses olive oil....much healthier than lard!

Sounds interesting, Shannon. Is it perhaps French?

Hmm...don't know, it came in my Southern Home Living CookBook, which is the best cook book ever! I also has an incredible recipe for Shepherd's Pie...another European fave of mine.

That is the most amazing meat pie I have ever seen!!!How was it? Id like a chance at that olive oil pastry recipie. I have never made a pie in my life but am very good in hte kitchen and am even better at following directions. I think im going to give this a try!!

That look so good. I need to make something like that. I love meat pie also and Shepherds pie I love. We don't use lamb here as it is pricey I use ground chicken or turkey. My kids wont touch meat pie so strange even chicken pot pie is hard for them to eat.

The pie got rave reviews. It was good, even though I say so myself. And my brother remembered to bring the wine... a very nice Jerez that went well with it.

I found there was a bit too much gravy when I assembled it, so added a handful of ground oatmeal (just zapped it in the blender) to take it up. It worked very well. Another time I'd cut back on the water and also increase the amount of rosemary. But that's just tweaking.

Big Brother liked it so much that he took the little pie made from the leftovers home with him. We talked about the rabbit meat he had from us previously and decided that the reason he found it bland was either that it was fryer rather than roaster or because it was pellet-fed. That was before I learned enough to switch to natural feeding. I do think the natural rabbit tastes better.

1 1/4 cups all purp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 2 Tblsp EVOO Olive Oil (the really light one)
3 - 4 Tblsp ice water

Combine flour and salt; add oil, stirring until mixture is crumbly.
Sprinkle with ice water, 1 Tblsp at a time, stirring quickly.
Gather dough into a ball.
Roll pastry to 1/8" thickness on a lightly floured surface.
Place in a 9" pieplate; trim off excess along edges.
Fold edges under, and crimp. You can use the excess to decorate.
Cook as usual.

To make the Rabbit pie, you will need two batches of this.
DO NOT double the recipe, it won't work right, been there, done that.

Thanks, Shannon... certainly a healthier alternative. I'll give it a try. I remember my Mom switching to a corn oil recipe sometime in the 1960's in the interests of "healthier". My Dad never asked what was for dessert... It was always "What's for pie?"

The trick with this is NO kneading and NO stretching. That will make it tough.