It is very common in Europe to eat rabbit. For those of you who live on a farm, or know someone who does, rabbit is a lovely meat. There is no fat, and if you are worried about the game taste, freezing it first for a few days works, otherwise you can soak the meat in water and vinegar, overnight, especially for a hare.

We have a lot of rabbits running around. They would completely take over, if we did not kill them. We do it humanly, ( we would never use poison ) and we would never kill an animal for the fun of it. We eat what we kill.

Here is an easy and really delicious pie that my student from Brazil - Julia made for me and she took most of the photo's, (while I told her what to do). We only used the pastry for the top.

Pastry - I used gluten free flour, made from grinder&grain for a gluten free pastry, you can purchase this in Raeward Fresh in Queenstown, but you could also use my other recipe, using regular flour. See recipe below.

Rabbit Pie Recipe

3 rabbits - using the hind legs and the backstraps - remove meat off the bones and cut into cubes.

coconut oil for frying

1 onion - chopped up finely

3 tbsp flour - rice or plain flour

1 green apple - cubed

15 pitted prunes - pitted

1 tbsp rice or plain flour

1 tbsp honey

400 ml apple cider

4 cups chicken stock

1 tsp dried thyme

carrots, thinly sliced and broccoli, cut into small pieces.

Pastry - see recipe below

milk - for brushing on pastry

Method

Oven 200 c

1 - In a fry pan, fry quickly, the meat, small batches is best, try and get some colour, Now remove meat, and place in a large heavy base pot.

2 - Wash your fry pan, and now heat oil, and fry onion, apple and prunes, cook for 5 mins, until lightly brown.

3 - Sprinkle over the 3 tbsp flour and honey, cook for 4 mins, and then add the apple cider. Sir for 3 mins or until thickened. Pour into the pot with the meat.

4 - Add thyme, and chicken stock. Put and lid on, and simmer, on low for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender. Stirring every now and then. Add more liquid for it is sticking.

5 - Just before the end, add any other vegetables, like broccoli, and carrots.

5 - Pour into a large casserole dish, lay pastry on top.

6 - Prick the pastry, to release air, and cook, until golden brown.

Option 1 -Gluten Free Pastry

1 egg

2 cups Gluten free flour

150 gr butter unsalted

1/4 tsp sea salt

Method

Blend in a food processor, (add a little more flour if sticky) then rest, until you are ready to use. This pastry is suitable for the top of a pie only.