Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run...

Baked Pasta with Rabbit

Run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run!

Don't give the farmer his fun! Fun! Fun!

He'll get by

Without his rabbit pie

So run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run

 

The conversation goes a little like this....

“Why don’t people eat more rabbit? It’s not like there’s a shortage of bunnies?”

“Three reasons – eww, how could you, bunnies are cute; never tried rabbit, so will stick to nice safe steak; and ‘oh, it’s so cruel to shoot and eat wild animals.”

(There’s a fourth reason if you’re Jewish – rabbit isn’t kosher).

Now I like rabbit – it’s lean, full of flavour and carries a sauce very well. Plus it’s usually pretty cheap – posh rabbits from Bolton Abbey estate are £4.50 in Cullingworth’s butcher and I’d lay a bet that you can get them cheaper than that in Bradford’s John Street Market.

Plus, of course, if you can shoot and have a landowner’s permission, you can go and get your own!

So there you are, dead bunny in hand (skinned and cleaned by a helpful butcher in our case) – what to make? Pies and stews are the classics but, for a change, try doing it Italian-style.

Lorenza De’Medici published a book on pasta and accompanying sauces including several recipes for rabbit and I’ve stolen the approach from her (although the actual recipe is not the same).

Baked Pasta with Rabbit (to feed six - or four greedy folk)

One rabbit (cut into sections)

Two medium onions roughly chopped

Three or four good sized carrots thickly sliced

Two good sized sprigs of sage

Large glass of red wine

Pennoni rigati (about 300g)

Pint of white sauce

Couple of fresh tomatoes

Salt

Black pepper

Olive oil

Heat the oil and brown the rabbit pieces and soften the onions and carrots then transfer to a roasting tray. Roughly chop the sage over the rabbit and vegetables and pour the red wine over the top. Cover tightly with foil and slow roast for about 3 hours at 100° (we want the rabbit to fall off the bones easily without being too dry – it’s worth checking after a couple of hours).

Strip the rabbit meat from the skeleton – you want it to be quite finely shredded so pull apart the meat as you take it off the bones. Mix the meat back into the vegetables and set aside.

Cook the pasta for half its recommended time (typically about 5 minutes in salted boiling water), drain and mix thoroughly with the meat and vegetables. Turn this mixture into an over proof dish.

Make the white sauce and pour it over the top of the rabbit and pasta mixture. Decorate with slices of tomato and bake for 35-40 minutes at 200° (180° in a fan oven). You’ll know it’s done when the top has begun to brown a little and is bubbling.

Lovely!

....

Friday Fungus: The Italian Pasta Rule

Not sure this has an awful lot to do with mushrooms but one of my less embarrassing dark secrets is a youth spent playing simulation wargames - in the days before all this computer malarkey. And the daddy of the WWII games was, of course, Campaign for North Africa - this was the wargame anorak's delight, the single most complex and involved paper wargame ever devised. Let's set aside that it was almost impossible to play - SPI, the designers, said 1,800 hours to complete and I reckon this was an underestimate! The game did detail and without doubt the most important bit of detail - the rule to beat all rules - was the Italian Pasta Rule. Meant as something of a joke (according to dear old Wikipedia) this rule decreed that Italian troops moved slower because they had to carry extra water supplies in order to cook the pasta! Brilliant! Which I guess brings us to spaghetti carbonara - and in this case a version with a mushroom of two added! Carbonara is one of the really classic pasta sauces - simplicity itself: spaghetti, pancetta, garlic, egg. The sort of sauce the charcoal burner could cook in the woods (assuming he'd complied with the pasta rule, of course). I add chestnut mushrooms because they add so much to the woody, smoky bacon sauce. To make carbonara you'll need: Spaghetti (about half a typical pack will stuff two folk) Pancetta (the little cubes are good if you can't find a deli with the real stuff to slice) Clove of garlic 2 eggs Salt & black pepper Half a dozen small chestnut mushrooms Boil salted water and cook the spaghetti (for one minute less than it says on the packet or else it will go all sticky and horrid). While this is happening chop up the pancetta and mushrooms into small cubes and mince the garlic, heat a heavy skillet. Add the pancetta and fry until the fat starts to bleed off then add the garlic and mushrooms, mix thoroughly, turn the heat right down and cover - cook for about five minutes. Beat the eggs with some salt and black pepper. When the pasta is cooked, drain and put back in the hot saucepan immediately. Add the bacom and mushroom sauce and mix thoroughly. Then add the egg and stir with a wooden spoon making sure the egg coats the spaghetti. Serve immediately into very warm (only just hand hot) dishes and eat. ....

Friday Fungus: Tagliatelle con funghi e panchetta

Most of the pasta sauces you get involve mince or some sort plus tomatoes. Now don’t get me wrong I like a nice ragu but you will agree that a change is necessary. So I give you bacon and wild mushroom pasta sauce:

You’ll need:

A load of wild mushrooms (or ordinary ones if you can’t get ‘em wild, we’re not really that fussy)
Cubed pancetta (or bacon lardons which are – whatever the Italians might say – essentially the same thing)
One small red onion (or a couple of those nice red shallots)
Herbs (dried sage is best)
Two glasses of Marsala (one for the sauce and one to drink)
Olive oil
Salt & black pepper

Chop the onion and fry with the pancetta in a heavy bottomed frying pan (with a lid) until the onion is softened and the bacon is just starting to curl. Add the roughly chopped mushrooms (how many times have I told you not to chop them too small), the herbs, salt and pepper. Fry a minute or two and then cover – turn the heat right down and cook for about 5 minutes (while you waiting drink the spare glass of Marsala). Add the other glass of Marsala, turn the heat up and mix thoroughly as the alcohol boils off. Remove from the heat and cover again to keep warm.

You will of course have forgotten to boil some salted water for the pasta, so do this now (and have another glass while you’re waiting or maybe a beer). Cook the pasta – I don’t need to tell you have to do that do I? Mix the sauce into the pasta. If you really, really must add some grated Parmesan or mature pecorino.

Note: On making your own pasta

You’ll need:

Bag of 00 Flour
2 eggs
Olive oil
Salt
A large clean surface (some use marble but I use a large wooden board)
A fork
A sieve

Tip the bag of flour onto the centre of the board and make a dent in the top of the pile (like a volcano).

Break the eggs into the dent and add a little oil, salt & pepper. Swirl the fork round and round in the eggs and flour starting from the middle. Soon you will have gooey lump. Remove this from the pile of flour and set to one side. Sieve the flour back into the bag (adding any stray lumps of goo to the main lump).

Imagine the gooey lump is your worst enemy and treat accordingly (i.e. knead it vigorously). You may want to add a little more flour if it gets too sticky. After about 15-20 mins you should have a smooth dough.

Clean the board & then dust it with flour. Get your long rolling pin and roll out the dough pretty thin (OK if you must you can use that pasta machine at the back of the cupboard). Then roll this gently into a long tube. Slice cross wise at ¼ inch intervals.

Unrolled this is your tagliatelle! Takes about 3 or 4 mins in salted boiling water. Enjoy!

Friday Fungus II: Spaghetti con fungi i pancetta

People do terrible things to both mushrooms and pasta - adding cream, putting in too much garlic or chili and stewing the resulting dish to an unappealing mess. In the spirit of simplicity, here's a nice clean pasta sauce.

1lb mixed mushrooms
Clove garlic
Parsley - a handful
Pancetta - about 2oz (you can use unsmoked bacon - about four rashers - instead if you prefer)
Half a glass of red wine
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Chop the mushrooms, garlic and parsley. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the bacon and fry for a few minutes until the bacon begins to crisp (not too crisp just enough to get the fat to come out). Now add the mushrooms, salt & pepper, stir and fry for a couple of minutes then add the red wine, cover tightly and cook for about five minutes. Add the parsley, recover and leave to stand.

If you're me you will have forgotten to boil the salted water you need for the spaghetti! Do this and add about half a typical packet of dried spaghetti to the boiling water (use the biggest pan you've got - not very green I know but you get a better result). Cook for about 10 minutes - check the timing in the packet and subtract a couple of minutes is the best measure I find.

When the pasta is cooked mix in the mushroom and bacon sauce, add a good slug of good olive oil and heat through again quickly. Serve immediately and shoot all those people who want to add parmesan cheese!