My inspiration for this dish was local produce. I live in the hills and rabbit is a sustainable, good quality and cheap meat. The rabbits we get are ferreted by a local farmer, skinned then dropped at our door.
Ingredients
1 rabbit (whole, with offal)
2 slices prosciutto
50g pancetta
1 onion
1 clove garlic
Splash of port
1 tsp red wine vinegar
100ml chicken stock
1 thyme bunch
100g butter
60g potato
30g cavolo nero (Italian kale)
30g carrots
1 parsley bunch
Teriyaki ingredients
30ml soy sauce
10g light brown sugar
10g honey
10g cornflour
Instructions
Take loins from saddle and cut the leg meat into chunks. Keep all bones for later. Quickly brown the offal in a hot pan and blitz into a paste.
Lay prosciutto on a board, overlapping the long edges. Place the saddle on top and spread the offal down the middle. Roll everything tightly together and tie with a butcher’s string.
Put all the teriyaki ingredients, except cornflour, in pan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, add cornflour and allow to thicken, stirring continuously. Cover the rabbit leg chunks in teriyaki and put in the oven for 15 minutes at 180°C.
To make the sauce, pan-fry the rabbit bones, remove, add the pancetta, garlic and onion and fry until soft. Deglaze the pan with wine and vinegar. Add the thyme and slowly pour in the stock. Allow it to thicken.
Clean the carrots, cut the cavolo nero into smaller pieces and chop potatoes into 1cm cubes. Finely-dice the onion and garlic. Pan-fry the potatoes in butter until they begin to crisp and transfer to the oven for 15 minutes at 180°C to crisp up.
Pan-fry the saddle until prosciutto crisps up and transfer to the oven for 10 minutes at 180°C.
While the rabbit is in the oven, blanch cavolo nero and boil carrots until al dente.
Strain the sauce, plate up and enjoy
Inspiration
My inspiration for this dish was local produce. I live in the hills and rabbit is a sustainable, good quality and cheap meat. The rabbits we get are ferreted by a local farmer, skinned then dropped at our door. I enjoy taking ideas from different styles of cooking and bringing them together. I always want to use the whole rabbit because every part has so much flavour. I wrap the saddle in prosciutto because it keeps the flavour inside, and the meat stays tender. The teriyaki adds umami and sweetness to the dish. I love the flavours all rabbit creates when combined with other ingredients. Knowing my dish is local inspired me to design and make this dish.
