What's Cooking With Phil? (and … er … Dive) - Wabbit!

"What's up, Doc?"

"I'm huntin' WABBIT!"

This post goes out in honour of the perennially disappointed Oryctolagus cuniculicide and famed rhotacistic Elmer J. Fudd.

Yup, we're eating bunny.
Say "aaah" and I'll slap you.

Cute, my ass!
See? Take off the fluffy bits and they look like a cross between pork, poultry and baby meat.
Chop the wabbit up into two big ol' hind legs, a couple of mid-sections and keep the forequarters for making stock.
You can give the head to the children to play with.

Today we're over at Phil's house and we'll be cooking wabbit stew.
Keeping Bugs company at the table will be Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and their friends Rosemary, Corporal Carrott (sorry, Pratchett fans), Monsieur Onion, Larry Leek and some mushrooms whose names I didn't catch.

Taking photos for a cookery post is so much easier when you have someone else doing all the work.

See? Done already.

Right. Let's get some flour, season it and roll our bunny corpse in it bit by bit.

Then brown that sucker off in a little olive oil.
Mmmmmm … Looky!

Time to:
(a) brown off the onions, carrot and garlic (I forgot to mention the garlic earlier);
(b) toss 'em around in the pan like a poser; and
(c) apologise on Phil's behalf for the colour of his kitchen. It came with the house and he'll be changing it for something marginally less 1970s at his earliest opportunity.

Ooooh, yummy! Cider! This is getting good!

Greek honey, too!
At least I think so … Either that or beeswax, my Greek's not good enough to tell but we'll find out when we open it.

Hokay: veggies ready and some nice bayleaves from the garden popped in with them.

Add the rosemary to the wabbit in a big stew pot and drizzle honey (yes, it WAS honey) over it.

Now whap up the heat, throw in the veggies and pour over the whole bottle of cider.
Add just a splash of water if necessary to cover everything.

Bring your stew to the boil then turn the heat right down and let it simmer for about one hour forty.
In the meantime, get nasty with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.
Slice and dice! Ignore their pitiful screams, you're about to eat a bunny for Pete's sake!

An hour and forty minutes later (much watching of rugger and cricket on Phil's TV) and it's time to grab the tongs, yank your wabbit out of the stew pot and tear its flesh from its bones.
Don't be squeamish; this tastes gooooood!

Check the seasoning (we added a little more pepper), add in a shitload of cream, a dollop of grain mustard and some peas (I like peas).

Give it a stir and then Bugs can go back in for the last ten minutes or so, minus his bones.

While the stew is finally reducing your potatoes should be done, so drain them, add a knob of butter, a splash of cream and a teaspoon of Colman's English Mustard and mash those suckers to bits!

Dish up your stew and plop the potatoes in the middle.

Then raise a toast to Elmer J. Fudd and Eat That Wabbit!

Yes, I know Phil's dining table is posier than mine.
Anyhoo … Wabbit Stew à la Phil.

Enjoy!