Season the rabbit with salt and put the vegetable oil and a knob of butter in a casserole on a medium heat. Ragout of wild rabbit with pappardelle, butter and tarragonġ wild rabbit (about 1½-2kg), divided into legs, shoulders and saddle (ask the butcher to do this for you, if need be) UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado Insert a skewer into the centre of the loin – it should feel just warm – then leave to rest for 10 minutes.Ĭarve the venison, then serve with some cabbage and a quince quarter each a few hasselback potatoes wouldn’t go amiss, either.
Transfer to an oven tray and roast for 10-12 minutes. Season the venison generously, then sear in vegetable oil over a high heat. Uncover and roast for a further 15 minutes, or until tender and lightly coloured. Coat the fruit in vegetable oil, then dust with icing sugar and a pinch of salt, and bake, covered, for 45 minutes. You should end up with wonderful, aromatic, tender cabbage with just enough juices to coat when stirred. Cover tightly with foil and bake for two hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil in an oven tray, add the cabbage mix and cook on a medium heat, stirring, for two minutes. The next day, heat the oven to 170C (150C fan)/325F/gas 3. Loin of venison with slow-cooked red cabbage and quinceĪ day before, put the cabbage, wine, port, vinegar, currants, apples, cinnamon, cloves, orange zest, demerara sugar and a good pinch of salt into a bowl, mix well, cover and marinate overnight in the fridge, ideally stirring it once or twice. We produce lots of game in this country, so it comes with very few food miles, and if we want to continue to eat meat, we ought at least to try to eat the good stuff – and game comes into that category. Gone are the days when it was hung in an outhouse for days upon end – I mean, who even has an outhouse any more? Unlike beef, lamb or pork, my opinion is that it doesn’t actually get much better with age.
Many people don’t eat game because they’re worried about how to prepare it or they’re scared it might be too strongly flavoured, but, as you’ll see from today’s recipes, it’s very easy to prepare. The secret to cooking it, in my experience, is to treat birds and rabbit like chicken, and venison like beef. It’s in season mainly in the autumn and winter, and there are so many places to get hold of game nowadays: trusty online suppliers send it out nationally and, of course, local butchers, farmers’ markets, farm shops and even some supermarkets all stock game.
G ame is a gloriously versatile meat: healthy, seasonal and about as free-range as anything could possibly be.