Rabbit Recipes: Rabbit Pie New Zealand style

You’ve got rabbit in the freezer and a little time on your hands to prepare dinner, but what are you going to make? Why not give this New Zealand inspired rabbit pie recipe a try? It sounds more difficult than it is and you really don’t need to do much chopping or peeling beforehand for this recipe. First you just need to make rabbit stew. Then once that is finished, spoon the stew into a pie or casserole dish and cover with a pie crust. Use multiple, smaller dishes for the pies and you can freeze one for later for a quick weekday meal.

Rabbit Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 3 sage leaves
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 pounds boneless rabbit meat, cut into small pieces
• Flour, for dusting rabbit
• 1 cup dry white wine
• Pinch fresh ground nutmeg
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cups chopped, peeled tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• Uncooked pie crust
• Egg, beaten

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large sauté pan, heat some oil over medium heat; add whole bay leaves, rosemary, sage and garlic. Stir until garlic is golden; be careful not to burn. Remove herbs and garlic and set aside in a small dish.
2. Dust rabbit in flour. Increase heat to high and add rabbit meat to pan; sauté until golden. Add wine and season with pepper, nutmeg and salt; let simmer for one minute, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Stir in chopped tomatoes, herbs, garlic and pine nuts. Reduce heat to low, cover the pan and gently simmer stew for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the rabbit pieces are no longer pink in the center.
3. If the sauce is thin, transfer meat to a serving dish and cover to keep warm. Simmer the remaining sauce over high heat until it is slightly thickened; remove and discard bay leaves and return rabbit to the sauce.
4. To make the pie: Spoon rabbit stew mixture into either a large pie dish or smaller dishes if you wish to make multiple portions. Cut pastry into the required size(s). Brush edges of the dish(es) with beaten egg. (This will seal the pastry to the dish.) Carefully place the pastry on top. Cut a small hole in the pastry to allow steam to escape and bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) until pastry is golden brown.

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