Rabbit Rillettes
500g rabbit meat
750g pork back fat
Salt
2 bay leaves
1 large sprig thyme
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup water

Cut the meat and pork fat into small pieces and rub in 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 150°C. Put the meat, herbs, garlic, pepper and water into a cast-iron casserole dish. Cover and bake for 3–4 hours until the meat is completely tender. Tip into a colander resting over a basin. Discard the herbs. Using your fingers shred the meat and pork fat into another bowl. Squish the garlic in the liquid and add it to the meat/fat. Mix thoroughly and taste for seasoning—rillettes should be well seasoned. Pack into small pots, pressing well to remove any air pockets. If you intend on keeping the rillettes for more than a week, cover the top with a thin layer of duck or pork fat. Refrigerate until needed. Serve with crusty bread.

 
Rabbit Saltimbocca
This dish should be on every country pub’s menu: it’s quick, easy and deliciously tender.
A pair of rabbits
12 slices of prosciutto or pancetta
12 sage leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
2 tbspn butter
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Splash white wine
4 tbspn cream

Using a sharp knife remove the back legs and the fillets that run along the backbone of the rabbits (use the remainder to make rabbit stock). Carefully cut along the inside of the legs to remove the leg bones. Lay the boned-out rabbit pieces skin side up on a chopping board and gently bash out meat. Turn over each piece of rabbit and place two or three sage leaves on half of them. Season with pepper (you wont need to salt them because the prosciutto will be salty enough). Now place the remaining rabbit pieces on top, matching up fillet with fillet, leg with leg. Push down firmly to squish the meat together. Carefully pick up the rabbit “parcel” and wrap the prosciutto around it making sure to slightly overlap it—you want to try and cover the whole thing in prosciutto). Depending on the size of the rabbits, you may need to use two or three slices of prosciutto. Place the wrapped saltimbocca back on the board and press down to make the prosciutto stick to the rabbit.

Heat a large heavy-based frypan. Add the butter and olive oil. Fry the saltimbocca until the prosciutto is crispy (about five minutes for each side). Remove from the pan to rest on a warm plate. Add the chopped garlic and fry briefly. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and let it bubble furiously for a couple of minutes. Add the cream, any juice that has oozed from the cooked rabbit, and boil hard until the sauce begins to thicken. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Drizzle the sauce over the saltimbocca and serve.

Note: this dish works best with the fillet—the leg meat is a little more resilient and is harder to wrap, but in interest of economy use both. If you were to serve this for a dinner party, purchase as many rabbits you would need just using the fillet and use the legs (both fore and back) in a casserole, pie or any of the other recipes here. The frames make excellent stock if you roast the bones first.