This is a tasty recipe I have made, I don't recall where I got the original recipe from though. It is a little like a chicken pot pie except less veggies...if desired you could add them in though, I'm sure.

It works best if you know how to make a simple pie crust, be sure to make both a top AND bottom crust. I have found that if you use cookie cutters to cut shape-holes in the top crust before you place it onto the pie, you can then stick the cookie-cutout pieces on top and make it look really fancy...for example, for our fall harvest meal, the pies I made (savory AND sweet) had oak and maple leaf shaped cookie-cutouts used for them and some people were surprised that they were homemade, because they "looked professional!"

Ingredients for pie filling:

1 rabbit, skinned and gutted (I used a five-month-old New Zealand)
1 onion
8oz smoked bacon
2oz butter
1½ oz plain flour
1 pint of stock from cooking the rabbit (don't worry, you will make this with the other stuff)
2 tablespoons cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the rabbit, along with the bacon and onion (works best sliced), in enough water to barely cover, and simmer covered for an hour or more until very tender. (Note from original recipe: "A wild rabbit will take a lot longer to cook than a domesticated one, as they are alot tougher.")

Once tender, remove the rabbit from the cooking water, reserving the cooking liquor for later. (This is the stock mentioned above.) Strip all the rabbit meat from off of the bones, tearing it into bite sized pieces. Finely chop up the boiled bacon meat and add to the rabbit meat.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour. Mix well and cook for at least a minute before adding the cooking liquid, adding it a bit at a time, and stirring it well with each addition. Cook and stir until nicely thickened. Stir in the cream. Season to taste with some salt and pepper.

Add enough of this sauce to the rabbit and bacon mixture to bind it nicely. You may not need it all. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. (If it tastes a little bland, some Old Bay seasoning really works wonders!)

Pre-heat the oven to 190*C/375*F. Make your pie crusts and form into a pie.

Bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes and then lower the temperature to 170*C/325*F for a further 30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp, covering with foil during cooking if it is browning too quickly.

Let stand for a few minutes after cooking, then cut and serve! It can be eaten cold as leftovers but it is far more delicious when warm.

Sounds good! The cream is a nice touch.

It isn't the most bold dish but it's really decent, and I've had good luck with introducing people to rabbit with it, too. One gal swore she'd never eat rabbit ever...until she was over for dinner and was having something else while we were all eating warm pie.

After about ten minutes of watching us eat, she asked me, "Did he have a name?"

I lied and said no...and so she decided to give it a try.

Sneaky but good idea! It is often harder to eat a named animal. We had a hog roast for a graduation party and the hog was one we raised ourselves. She was named Hollywood because she was such a sassy youngster. People came knowing we were having a hog roast but some would have went away running if they knew her name was Hollywood!

Not to hijack your thread, Kyle, but you can find my method for rabbit pie here is you feel like comparing notes:
i-m-making-a-rabbit-pie-t3094.html

LOL, my rabbit's name was Dinner. His brother's name is Supper...but he's still hopping around. Supper is HUGE and a brick of meat with fur...I want some babies from him before he gets to live up to his name!

Your pie looks like it'd be more flavorful than mine...I actually think I might try your recipe next time, I love anything with apple in it.

__________ Mon Dec 05, 2011 2:00 am __________

Oh, I also forgot...a friend took pictures before we ate them all.

First picture has the rabbit pie in the foreground, two apple pies behind that, and a sweet potato pie way in the back: http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 9084_n.jpg

Second picture is of the rabbit pie (on the left) and an apple pie. http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 2238_n.jpg

That was the most grueling pie day ever. With my injured shoulder I could not lift or move much, and rolling the crust was almost impossible. I was very lucky to have friends who would help me with it!

Wow! What pretty pies! I must see what cookie cutters I have and try that trick.

My friend Art reminded me that he made a whole gallery of our feast, except of course I forgot to take pictures of one of the tables so most of the really dinner-foods got missed...but here was most of the spread: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 647&type=1 What didn't get photographed was a roasted duck, a tonne of colcannon, and some other stuff I seem to've forgotten.

The cookie cutter trick made people think the pies were storebought, lol! I like to make it look all fancy because then I think people realize that homemade, from-scratch foods don't have to be ugly or bland or tasteless, they are even BETTER than what you can just buy in a store!