I know that eating rabbit might not be politically correct, but it is very tasty. More and more restaurants are serving rabbit and you can buy it from Ocado (like I did). The meat is very tender and juicy and looks and taste similar to darker chicken meat. The rabbit meat is just tastes a bit sweeter.

This was the first time I cooked rabbit, and after looking around on different recipes I realised that cider was a common accompaniement and went for that.

Rabbit stew with cider, serves 3

olive oil

300 g rabbit meat in chunks

4 slices streaky bacon, smoked, in small pieces

flour

1 large schallots or a small regular onion

1/2 fennel, in slices

2 carrots, sliced

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

1 dash concentrated game stock

500 ml dry cider

1 tsp honey

1 small garlic clove, pressed

1 tsp tomato paste

coloring agent (not necessary)

Fry the bacon in some olive oil and remove from frying pan. Fry the meat in the bacon fat until nice and brown, season with salt and pepper. Remove and put with the bacon in a casserole dish. Sprinkle on some flour and shake the dish to coat all the meat. Put the dish without lid in 175C for 5-10 minutes. Shake it and put it back in for another 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, fry the fennel, onion and carrot in the same frying pan as before for a few minutes but don’t let them brown. Pour the vegetables into the casserole, add the cider, honey, stock and add the herbs too. Put the lid on and leave it in the oven for about an hour.

Strain the casserole after an hour and remove the herbs. Reduce the sauce to the thickness you want. I added tomato paste, garlic, salt and pepper and colouring agent. Serve with rice or roast potatoes.