What's up, doc?
OFF WE GO again, a new year to broach, 1995 no less, and I hope you all have a ball. I find it extraordinary to think we are so near 2000, which seemed almost impossible to reach a few years ago. I wonder if I shall make it? We have just passed 5 January, which was the feast of that eccentric saint, St Simeon the Stylite, who chose to live on top of a pillar for 37 years. He was trying to escape from the disturbance of men and women — an odd method if you ask me. Of course they came to see him on his pillar more and more, so he had to make the best of it and preach to them twice a day. Now with the Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, we are ready to have the Bean Feast and the Punch Bowl and the Gallette des Rois by tradition; also it is the birthday of Joan of Arc, who is commemorated by rich dishes of sole, chicken and eggs, all of which have a good deal of foie gras within. I'm sure the poor girl never had such goodies herself.
I was in one of those quizzes on Question of Taste and was told to make a dish from rabbit, prunes and mustard, a curious trio. I did my best but what I was really thinking of was a lovely dish as follows:
Lapin aux pruneaux 1 rabbit or about 6 pieces of rabbit
6 or of prunes 1 tablespoon olive oil '/2 oz butter '/2 oz plain flour 7 fluid oz red wine '/2 pint chicken or game stock 2 garlic cloves, crushed bouquet garni of thyme, bay leaf and parsley salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley For the marinade:
pint red wine
1 large bouquet garni 1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, coarsely chopped 6 black peppercorns, slightly crushed 1 tablespoon olive oil
Cut the rabbit into six pieces if whole, place in a glass or china bowl. Mix in the marinade ingredients and pour the oil on top. Cover and leave at room temperature for 4 to 12 hours, giving it the odd turn. Pour boiling water over the prunes, cover and leave to soak for three hours or so. Remove the rabbit from the marinade with a slotted spoon and pat dry with paper tow- els. Heat the oil and butter in a frying-pan or shallow casserole and brown the rabbit pieces all over. Remove from the pan, add the carrot and onion from the marinade and fry gently until soft. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring until the flour browns. Stir in the marinade, the wine and bring to the boil. Add the stock, garlic, bouquet garni and season with salt and pepper. Replace the rabbit pieces, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Transfer them to another shallow casserole and strain the sauce over them through a mouli or a sieve, pressing the vegetables through. Drain the prunes, add to the rabbit. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the rabbit and prunes are tender. Transfer the rabbit to a serving dish and spoon the prunes over the top. If necessary, reduce the sauce by boiling until it just coats the back of a spoon. Adjust seasoning and spoon over the rabbit. Sprinkle with parsley before serving. You can add 4 oz of sauteed bacon lardons and 2 oz of raisins to the rab- bit for the last 15 minutes of cooking. On the other hand, you might try the rab- bit with mustard from Albert Roux. I was given a box of different mustards for Christ- mas, which seemed an omen to do so.
Rabbit with three mustards
6 pieces of tame rabbit 1 large carrot, roughly chopped 1 stick of celery, roughly chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 3 twigs of thyme 3 twigs of parsley 1 large tablespoon each of Dijon, tarragon and savoury mustard
1/2 bottle dry white wine
'/2 pint cream 1 pint of good stock, rabbit, chicken or game
Sweat your rabbit in a casserole in butter and a little olive oil. When golden remove the rabbit and add the rough-cut vegeta- bles. Cook until nicely browned. Return the rabbit to the pot and sprinkle 2 dessert spoonfuls of plain flour over it. Mix well until all the flour has amalgamated with the juices. Add the wine and the stock, which should cover all the ingredients. Cover and cook in the oven at Gas 4, 350F, 180C for 45 minutes. Remove rabbit and reduce the liquid by half, add three quarters of the cream, bring to the boil. Take off the heat and mix in the rest of the cream and the mustards. Strain over the rabbit, strew with chopped parsley and serve with boiled new potatoes.
Jennifer Paterson
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