I'm making a rabbit pie...

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You could certainly mix chicken or even pork in with the rabbit meat. You might want to consider tweaking the seasonings, depending on what you generally use with chicken. Now that I no longer have rabbits, if I were to use this recipe again I would substitute pork tenderloin for the rabbit meat and perhaps replace the rosemary with fresh sage. But it's all a matter of personal preferences.
 
worchestershire sauce is a good addition to rabbit recipes. Also, instead of rolling out the crust, you can just press it into place in the pie pan to get a really flaky crust.

Lard does make better pie crusts and better french fries, IMHO, but it's not supposed to be all that healthy. Maybe having healthier rabbit in the pie will make up for the lard in the crust? Maybe use whole wheat flour with the lard to make it healthier?

What's an easy way to debone a rabbit?
 
worchestershire sauce is a good addition to rabbit recipes. Also, instead of rolling out the crust, you can just press it into place in the pie pan to get a really flaky crust.

Lard does make better pie crusts and better french fries, IMHO, but it's not supposed to be all that healthy. Maybe having healthier rabbit in the pie will make up for the lard in the crust? Maybe use whole wheat flour with the lard to make it healthier?

What's an easy way to debone a rabbit?
Some people can debone a rabbits neatly and efficiently, but I'm not one of them. I'd section the rabbit into pieces: front legs, back legs, loin etc. and just cut as much meat off them as possible in chunks. The remains on the bones didn't waste -- they went into the stock pot with the rib cages etc. for soup. Once cooked, the fragments of meat come away easily to save for the soup. The bones can be returned to the pot for further simmering to extract all the goodness.
 
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.
Sounds yummy. Hope to try in the future. With those kinds of stew stuff I like to give the meat a few minutes in the pressure cooker to tenderize before adding veggies. Or a few hours on the wood stove. Think a salad with lots of the wild edibles that the rabbits eat added would be good side. Think lambs quarters, purslane, violets, viola, anise, sheep Sorrel, wood sorrel, garlic chives, basil... Stud with edible flowers. Borage, bee balm, radish tops.. nothing bland about this meal. Mouth is watering. Have to dream about this all year!
 
Sounds yummy. Hope to try in the future. With those kinds of stew stuff I like to give the meat a few minutes in the pressure cooker to tenderize before adding veggies. Or a few hours on the wood stove. Think a salad with lots of the wild edibles that the rabbits eat added would be good side. Think lambs quarters, purslane, violets, viola, anise, sheep Sorrel, wood sorrel, garlic chives, basil... Stud with edible flowers. Borage, bee balm, radish tops.. nothing bland about this meal. Mouth is watering. Have to dream about this all year!
Your salad sounds perfect to accompany the pie, dlynn! Don't forget the dandelion leaves! My favourite springtime salad is dandelion leaves, sage, and peppermint with a blue cheese dressing. But yours sounds much more exciting.
 
Your salad sounds perfect to accompany the pie, dlynn! Don't forget the dandelion leaves! My favourite springtime salad is dandelion leaves, sage, and peppermint with a blue cheese dressing. But yours sounds much more exciting.
Yep, sounds great! We don't seem to have many dandelions in the north woods. I've had to learn to adjust. I am looking forward to trying the pie recipe.
 
worchestershire sauce is a good addition to rabbit recipes. Also, instead of rolling out the crust, you can just press it into place in the pie pan to get a really flaky crust.

Lard does make better pie crusts and better french fries, IMHO, but it's not supposed to be all that healthy. Maybe having healthier rabbit in the pie will make up for the lard in the crust? Maybe use whole wheat flour with the lard to make it healthier?

What's an easy way to debone a rabbit?
I found this tutorial helpful and easy. (I don't do the "rack of rabbit" part though - I just run a knife down both sides and get a long, thin strip of extra yummy meat)
 
Just took the pie out of the oven...

View attachment 458

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. ;)
Wow! This is beautiful. I’m definitely going to try this - this fall once our grow outs are ready to butcher.

Maggie, how did you make the leaves on the pie? Do you have a cookie cutter of sorts?
 
Wow! This is beautiful. I’m definitely going to try this - this fall once our grow outs are ready to butcher.

Maggie, how did you make the leaves on the pie? Do you have a cookie cutter of sorts?
No cookie cutter. I just rolled out a bit of leftover pastry and cut them out freehand with a sharp knife. If it had been a more complicated decoration, I would have drawn the leaves on thin cardboard and cut them out, using them as a pattern to cut around. It sounds harder than it is. ;)
 
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