Recipes

Chosen from The Eagle Cookbook by David Eyre et al, this particular recipe for Lasagne with Rabbit comes from Tom Norrington-Davies. He writes "Ask the butcher to chop the rabbits up for you, as it's a messy job. You want the legs, shoulders and the meaty part of the body (the saddle). Throw the rib cage away. Serve with a watercress salad, dressed simply with olive oil and lemon juice."

Serves 6

    3 tbsp olive oil
    2 wild rabbits (about 2kg in total), jointed
    3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
    2 onions, roughly chopped
    A small bunch (about 30 leaves) of sage, roughly chopped
    About 1/2 bottle of red wine
    2 tbsp tomato puree
    1 tsp sugar
    1 tbsp butter
    1 packet lasagne pasta
    Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Bechamel Sauce

    100g butter
    50g plain flour
    750ml whole milk
    A pinch grated nutmeg
    100g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Method

First prepare the meat sauce. This can easily be done the day before you intent to eat this dish (indeed, all the better as the meat rests in the boozy gravy). If you do this, refrigerate as soon as it reaches room temperature.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Brown the rabbit pieces all over and then place to one side in a casserole. Lower the heat under the pan, add the garlic, onions and sage and fry until soft and translucent - don't worry if they catch a little. Pour in the wine and stir thoroughly so that it degalzes the pan a little. Add the tomato puree, sugar and some salt and pepper and pour all this over the rabbit pieces. If it does not quite cover the rabbit, top it up with some boiling water from the kettle. add the butter, then cover the casserole, place it over a high heat and bring to simmering point. Lower the heat and cook for about 1 1/2 hours or until the rabbit is very tender. It should literally be falling off the bone. If it begins to look a little short on juice while cooking, do add a bit more water. You will have plenty of opportunity to correct the seasoning later on. When the rabbit is cooked, leave it to cool and drain off all the gravy. Keep this to one side. Pick all the rabbit meat off the bones and put it back into the gravy, then check the seasoning.

To make the bechamel sauce, gently melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the flour. Let it eat up all the butter; at this point things will look pretty unpromising. Cook over a low heat for 3-4 minutes, then slowly add the milk, stirring continuously, and bring to the boil. When you have a creamy white sayce, about the consistency of single cream, remove from the heat and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir in two-thirds of the grated Parmesan.

Now you are ready to build the lasagne. Grease a baking dish well. Start with a layer of the rabbit mixture and top this with pasta. Top the pasta with a thin coating of white sauce. Now start again with the rabbit, finishing with pasta and white sauce. Cover the top with the remaining Parmesan - this can all be done well ahead of the meal.

Bake for approximately 35 minutes at 180C. I always start a lasagne on a low shelf or covered with foil. This stops the Parmesan browning too fast. About 10 minutes before the cooking time is up, test the pasta for softness with a fork and transfer the dish to the top shelf until the cheese is as browned as you fancy it.