If you're buying the meat for this rabbit recipe from your local butcher, choose the larger hind leg and saddle joints as they have more flesh on them.
Preparation Notes: plus marinating for 6 hours or overnight
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Yields:
6
Prep Time:
40 mins
Cook Time:
1 hr 30 mins
Total Time:
2 hrs 10 mins
Ingredients
4
garlic cloves
1kg
(3lb) rabbit joints
2
sprigs fresh thyme
2
bay leaves
600ml
(1 pint) red wine
350g
(12oz) each onions, carrots and fennel
2
celery sticks
75g
(3oz) streaky bacon rashers
30ml
(2 level tbsp) plain flour, plus a little for dusting
60ml
(4tbsp) olive oil
150ml
(1⁄4 pint) medium-dry sherry
600ml
(1 pint) chicken stock
15ml
(1 level tbsp) redcurrant jelly
Sprigs of fresh chervil or flat-leafed parsley to garnish
Directions
Step 1
Crush the garlic and place in a bowl with the rabbit, thyme, bay leaves and red wine. Cover, refrigerate and marinate for 6hr or overnight.
Step 2
Roughly chop the onions, carrots, fennel and celery. Roughly chop the bacon. Drain the rabbit pieces, reserving the marinade. Pat dry with absorbent kitchen paper, season and dust lightly with flour. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based, flameproof casserole, add the rabbit and fry in batches until well browned. Remove and set aside. Add the bacon, fry for 2-3min, add the vegetables with more oil if necessary and cook, stirring, for 10min or until the vegetables are soft and beginning to colour. Add the remaining 30ml (2 level tbsp) flour and cook for 2-3min.
Step 3
Return the rabbit to the casserole with the reserved marinade, sherry and stock. Bring to the boil, cover and cook at 170°C (150°C fan) mark 3 for 1hr or until very tender (see tip).
Step 4
Lift the rabbit out of the cooking liquid, then cover and keep warm. Strain the sauce, pushing as much of the vegetable mixture through the sieve as possible. Add the redcurrant jelly, bring to the boil and bubble for 5min or until syrupy. Return the rabbit to the casserole and simmer for 5min. Season to taste and serve, garnished with chervil.
Step 5
Prepare ahead. Complete the recipe, cool quickly, cover and refrigerate for up to two days. To serve. Bring the casserole to the boil slowly. Cover and reheat at 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4 for 20-25min or until hot.
Step 6
To freeze. Complete the recipe, cool quickly, pack and freeze. To serve. Defrost at room temperature overnight; bring the casserole to the boil slowly. Cover and reheat at 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4 for 20-25min.
Pre-packed rabbit joints are available from most supermarkets. If you're buying from your butcher, choose the larger hind leg and saddle joints as they have more flesh on them.
The cooking time given is for farmed rabbit. If using wild rabbit, allow at least 30min extra cooking time as it has a darker flesh and firmer texture.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
