Rabbit with Onions and Prunes

Tonights dinner was inspired by recent brief trips to Morroco and France. In Marrakech I had a lovely lamb with onion and prune tagine heaped with saffron-sweet caramalised onions. It was so good I had it two days running.   I wondered if it had been inspired by a classic French dish – Rabbit with prunes.

Although I have cooked with Rabbit successfully before in Barley Stew  and with Chorizo and Mushrooms  ,however my last encounter did not go well , so badly in fact it got binned it smelt bad .  So it was with some trepidation I experimented with this dish. Jointing the rabbit is hard it smells pretty strong and meaty.

The results were worth the risk ,  tender melt in the mouth rabbit,  soft onions and sweet prunes with just a hint of alcohol from the brandy.  Dish wipingly delicious

Rabbit with Onion and Prunes
1 large rabbit jointed
5 onions finely sliced
10 strands of saffron
50ml of french brandy
25 dried prunes
2 pints of boiling water
1 tbsp of butter

1. Fry the onions in half the butter on the hob in a cast iron pot, cover and occasionally stir . Cook for  long enough to allow the onions to soften & caramalise.
2. Remove the onions set aside , add the rabbit  to the pot , turning the pieces to allow to brown on all sides
3. Pour  boiling water over the saffron in a mug
4. Return the onions and rabbit into a cast iron cooking pot
5. Pour over the saffron water ,  brandy and add the prunes
6. Cover , place in the oven and cook for at least 2 hours at 180degC
7. Allow to rest covered for 30 minutes before serving  .

Serve with warm french bread and peas

Beef , Barley & Ale Stew

I am shattered , I try to get one day a week working from home to avoid the 2hours each way commute but it just didn’t happen this week. We have plenty of quick recipes but stir fry, chops etc and LBF is a brilliant cook but he works hard too and  sometimes you want something with layers and slow cooking.

Thankfully our overflowing freezer steps in when time is short, I feel desperately organised getting a lump of brown something or other out in the morning to find by the evening it has defrosted to reveal a  delicous stew

One night this week a  beef and ale stew revealed intself. Thankfully stew only seems to improve with age often  better the day after cooking . Here served poured over some sauteed kale, nuggets of barley soaked in meaty gravy,  it had me licking my lips and rolling my finger around the bowl.

Beef , Barley &  Ale Stew

400g of Beef Brisket chopped into cubes
3 medium carrots roughly chopped
1 large onion roughly chopped
1 large leek
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 bay leaf
500ml dark ale
1 pint of beef stock
Dash of worcesterhire sauce
Several handfuls of pear barley
2 bays leaves
1 sprig of rosemary
Salt and Pepper

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper
2. In a heavy botton casserole dish fry the beef in a little oil until brownn
3. Add the onion , garlic and carrots. Cook until beggining to soften
4. Pour in the ale , stock and barley
5. Bring to a gentle simmer and add the herbs and worcestershire sauce
6. Cover and place the stew into the oven at 160degC for two hours until the meat is tender.

Pork, Chorizo & Bean Stew

This dish has it’s origins in my plan for a dinner of  tapas , but after a  busy week cooking a lot of little dishes had the potential to go horribly wrong and result in a lot of washing up  .So I scaled the dish back to one slow cook dish, throwing everything together and serving it with  plenty of freshly baked bread and wine.

The dish was lovely , heat from the chilli and paprika and a depth from the sherry. It might seem a little strange to use two types of beans but I like the different textures, but you could use potatoes as well.

We made some fresh foccacia from a recipe from the Domestic Goddess in Training

Pork, Chorizo & Bean Stew

200g pork shoulder cut into 1cm cubes
100g cooking chorizo cut into 1cm cubes
100g dried butter beans (soaked overnight)
100g dried chick peas (soaked overnight)
300g tinned tomatoes
1 large onion finely chopped
2  handfuls of stonned black olives
3 garlic cloves  finely chopped
1 tsp of dried chilli flakes
1 tsp of smoked paprika
Handful of chopped fresh parsley
1 pint of vegetable stock
Slosh of dry sherry

1. In a cast iron pot
2. Gently fry the garlic and onion with the spices and a little olive oil
3. Add the chorizo and pork shoulder to brown
4. Add the butter bean , chick peas , tomatoes , olives stock and sherry
5. Cover and place in the oven at 190decC for 1 hour.
6. Serve with fresh bread or rice