Duet of Rabbit Pie, with fennel mash spring onions and rich orange jus. Rabbit pie is a game pie consisting of rabbit meat in a gravy with other ingredients enclosed in a pastry crust.

Serves 10 people

Special bush equipment

Ingredients

• 1 packet of puff pastry
• 3 large rabbits, cleaned
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 head of celery chopped
• 3 large carrots, chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 5 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp juniper berries
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 punnet button mushrooms
• 1 cup cream
• 2 fennel heads
• 6 large potatoes
• 4 tbsp butter
• Juice and zest of 1 orange.
• Orange gravy (see recipe)

Method:

1. Remove the rabbit breasts from the bone and set aside
2. In a large pan heat some butter and add the carrots, onions and celery, and sauté till soft. 
3. Then add the garlic and brown, deglaze with the white wine
4. Add the rabbit legs, saddles and any bones that were remaining when cleaning the breasts
5. To this add the tomatoes, tomato paste, fennel and juniper seeds and mushrooms. Cook on a low heat for about 2 hours, till very tender and falling off the bones.
6. Strain the liquid from this and return this to the heat, adding the cream. Reduce it by half. 
7. Meanwhile let the cooked rabbit cool and then remove all the meat from the bones and return to the liquid being sure to return all the mushrooms and vegetables that might have been strained from the liquid.
8. Allow this mixture to cool slightly. Mean while season the rabbit breasts and sauté in olive oil till golden brown and partially cooked.
9. Slice the breasts up and set aside.
10. Meanwhile roll out ¾ of the pastry and line a greased 24”x12” baking dish. Bake the pastry blind for 6 minutes at 180°C.
11. Remove from the oven. Spoon in the rabbit leg mixture to cover ¾ of the depth of the pie. On top of this add the half cooked rabbit breast meat.
12. Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the pie. Brush with egg wash and place in the oven at 180deg C for 20 minutes.
13. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes and mash. Add the  butter and season.
14. Chop the fennel into a fine dice and blanch in hot water till tender.
15. Add to the mash potatoes with the chopped spring onions and season to taste.

16. For the orange gravy

17. Keeping all the juices and fat from the rabbit breast .
18. Place on the heat and begin to fry the chopped garlic. De-glaze with an orange juice.
19. To this add 2 cups of water which has had a stock cube dissolved in it.
20. In a separate cup dissolve 1 tsp of corn flour in about 100ml of milk. Whisk this into the boiling gravy liquid until desired thickness is achieved. 
21. Stir in 2 tbsp of butter test for seasoning, and the zest of half the orange.

Tips/Pointers

When making the gravy, if you have any excess liquid left over from making the leg meat sauce be sure to set it aside and add this to the gravy, it will make a much richer and tastier sauce.

Recipe from Safari Cuisine, a book by Andres Bifani