Rabbit Stew

A few weeks ago I was on my way to buy some fish and stopped off at the butcher's for a scotch egg for lunch. Seeing they had some wild rabbits, I bought one for dinner that evening. It was just £4.50 which is quite incredible when you consider that a chicken breast can cost £5 these days. Admittedly one rabbit will only serve two by my generous portions but it's great value for such a tasty animal. Until then I'd never eaten rabbit before so was hoping for great (okay, decent) results from this Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall stew.

Rabbit Stew (serves two)

1 wild rabbit, jointed into six (I asked the butcher to do this for me)
125g pancetta
1tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thickly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 carrots, cut into four
2 celery sticks, cut into four
1 bay leaf
thyme sprigs
250 ml dry cider (I used Aspalls)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
salt and pepper

1) Pre-heat the oven to 120c. Then heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and sizzle the bacon until it is lightly browned. Transfer to a casserole dish.
2) Next brown the rabbit pieces and add them to the casserole dish as well. In the same pan, fry the onions for five minutes and then add the garlic, cooking it for a few more minutes. Add to the casserole with the carrots, celery, bay leaf thyme, cider, honey, mustard and enough water to just cover the rabbit.
3) Put a lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven for one hour and twenty minutes. Serve with mash potato.

I've never eaten rabbit before and although it was slightly overcooked I'd say it went pretty well. The rabbit had a surprising amount of meat on it and it was very tasty although it is slightly annoying to eat with all the bones. As for the rabbit is has a plesant mild game flavour which is nothing like chicken.