Rabbit Bolognese | Game recipes | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

DifficultyNot too tricky

BUY THE BOOK

BUY THE BOOK

1. Preheat the oven to 110°C/225°F/gas ¼.
2. Wash and trim the leeks, then trim the carrots and celery, and wash the onions (skin on). Roughly chop the bacon.
3. Place the bacon in a large casserole pan on a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, fry for a few minutes until golden, then add the bay, strip in the rosemary leaves, and put the rabbit and offal on top.
4. Peel the white skin from the garlic, leaving the bulb whole, then drop into the pan with the leeks, carrots, celery and onions.
5. Add the dried porcini, followed by the tinned tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon as you go. Pour over the beer, add the tomato purée, and just enough water to cover everything (roughly 1 litre).
6. Bring to the boil, season generously with black pepper and a few pinches of sea salt, then finely grate in half the nutmeg. Cover with a lid, then place in the oven to tick away for 12 hours.
7. When the time's up, let the stew cool down a little, then get yourself a big pair of clean Marigold gloves and another large pan. Pick through small handfuls of stew at a time, taking out any bones or vegetable skins. Discard the herbs, and flake the beautiful meat off the bones and into the clean pan. Scrunch the vegetables and offal in your hands as you go and break them into smaller pieces.
8. Pour any juices left behind into the new pan, then go back in and have another rummage to make sure you haven’t missed anything. Season to perfection with salt and pepper.
9. Finely grate in the lemon zest and pick in a few thyme tips to brighten up the sauce. Divvy the sauce up between sandwich bags and either freeze them, or keep in the fridge.
10. To make rabbit bolognese, simply reheat a small ladle of sauce per person in a pan over a medium heat and cook around 75g of pasta per person. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions, then drain, reserving a mugful of starchy cooking water.
11. Toss the pasta with the sauce, loosening with a little cooking water, if needed, then grate in a good handful of cheese. Taste and season to perfection, then serve immediately with an extra grating of cheese, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some fresh thyme tips.

Tips

Once it comes out of the oven you’ve got a rustic sauce that you can portion up and freeze for all sorts of beautiful meals in the days and weeks to come. If you aren’t a lover of rabbit meat, I urge you to try this. It’s cheap, it’s tasty, and it’s easy ... Are you convinced yet?

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