This is not a Maltese recipe, but an old traditional English recipe for rabbit pie. Although it may seem strange to bake rabbit in a pie…it is very delicious and you might like to try it:
Filling: 1 nice fat rabbit about 1.5kgs jointed; 2 onions chopped; 1 cooking apple peeled and sliced; 1 bayleaf; 1/2 pint dry cider; 3/4 pint stock (vegetable or chicken) or water; 1/2 ground nutmeg; salt and ground pepper; a handful of chopped prunes; flour and butter.
First put the rabbit, onion, bacon, apple in a large pan and add the cider stock, bayleaf and seasoning. (I also put in a bit of Maltese rabbit seasoning but that's not traditional!) Bring to the boil and simmer until the rabbit is very tender.
Then remove the rabbit etc. with a slotted spoon from the pan and put into a pie dish and add the prunes.
Then thicken the sauce with the flour and butter carefully…I whisk it to dissolve the lumps. Then check the seasoning, add the grated nutmeg and pour over the rabbit in the dish.
Next make the pastry:
8oz. SR flour; 4oz shredded suet; 1/2 tsp salt; ground pepper and enough very cold water to make a soft but firm pastry. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured board and cut a thin strip to fit around the edge of the pie dish. Moisten this and put on the pastry lid and press and flute the edges. If you have any pastry left over cut it into leaves…or any shapes you like – you can be artistic with that and stick on the top in any design you like. Make a hole in the middle to let out the steam and bake in a pre-heated oven at Gas Mark 7 until golden brown.
Voila! I serve it with peas or French beans, but any vegetable is nice, and with roasted or boiled potatoes.
home
contact us
Discussions
