Rick Stein’s Rabbit Stifado

MUNCH RATING: 1/5

I knew I wanted to make a stew with the rabbit I bought from the Farmer’s Market in Epsom last Sunday, but as I’d never eaten or cooked it before I looked for some guidance. Even though I don’t like Rick Stein, I decided to have a flick through his Mediterranean Escapes book, which has been sitting unused on the bookcase since Steve’s Mum bought it last year. I spotted a recipe for Rabbit Stifado and thought it would be perfect because I had a packet of stifado herb and spice mixture that Steve’s sister brought me back from Halkidiki.

The herb mixture contained:

• thyme
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• bay leaves
• black peppercorns
• allspice

So I just replaced all of the spices in Rick’s recipe with about a third of my packet and the flavour of the sauce tasted authentically Greek. But the rabbit itself was a huge disappointment. It was really tough and dry and lacked flavour. What a waste of a fiver! I was a bit dubious about the short cooking time of the recipe and I REALLY regretted not cooking this in my Tefal slow cooker! The sauce was also very watery, so I added some cornflour at the end to thicken.

I served the stew with rice and potatoes as that’s what was served to us in the restaurants we visited in Greece. I sautéed the potatoes with garlic and rosemary and they were the best part of the meal!

So now I have even more reasons to not like Rick Stein! Here’s Rick’s recipe if you want to make the mistake of making it!

• Serves: 4
• Cooking time: 55 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large rabbit, weighing about 1.5kg, jointed
• 6 allspice berries
• ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 5 garlic cloves
• 50ml red wine vinegar
• 600ml red wine (I used Merlot Pinot Grigio)
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 5cm piece cinnamon stick
• 6 cloves
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 50g currants (I left these out as I’ve never had stifado with them in!)
• 15g butter
• 450g small pickling onions or shallots*
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Season all the rabbit pieces with salt and pepper.
2. Grind the allspice berries and black peppercorns into a powder.
3. Heat the olive oil in a flameproof casserole. Dust the rabbit in the flour and knock off but reserve the excess. Add half the rabbit pieces to the casserole and fry over a medium-high heat until nicely browned on both sides. Remove to a plate and repeat with the rest of the rabbit.
4. Return all the rabbit to the pan with the garlic and the remaining flour and cook for 1 minute.
5. Pour over the vinegar and leave it to bubble for a minute or two, then add the red wine, tomatoes, ground spices, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, currants, 1 teaspoon salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, part-cover and simmer for 55 minutes or until the rabbit is very tender and the sauce has reduced.
6. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium-sized pan, add the pickling onions or shallots and the sugar and fry, shaking the pan now and then, until they are richly golden all over. Then add 2 Tablespoons water, cover and cook gently for 10 minutes until tender. Uncover, raise the heat and cook more rapidly for a minute or two, shaking the pan until the onions are covered in a shiny glaze. Season with a little salt and pepper and set aside.
7. When the rabbit has had the required cooking time, stir in the caramelised onions and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

* I bought a packet of baby onions and to make it easier to peel them, I blanched them in boiling water for about 1 minute, so the skins came away more easily.

Greek Pastitsio

Another great Greek dish which I have been trying to recreate for quite some time. I have tried a few different recipes and I think this recipe gives a pretty authentic taste and texture, whilst not being too laborious.

Although it seems quite similar to lasagne in its construction, I think the emphasis is on the cheese sauce part, which holds the pasta together and allows the pastitsio to be sliced into portions like a cake. The nutmeg and cinnamon might seem like weird spices to add but I think they give the dish the authentic taste.

Serves 4

Pasta Mixture

• 500g pasta (authentic pastitsio uses Ziti but you can use penne, macaroni or bucatini)
• 3/4 cup (75g) grated cheese (use something that has good melting properties, like Halloumi or Mozzarella. I used Quattro Formaggio which was a mixture of Parmesan, Asiago, Fontina and Mild Provolone)

Meat Sauce

• 500g minced beef or pork
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 1/2 jar ready made sauce
• 1 teaspoon tomato puree/paste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried mint flakes (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Cheese Sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 600ml/1 pint milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup (75g) cheese

Directions

1. Cook pasta until it is still al dente (otherwise it will turn to mush after you cook it in the oven). Drain, and return to pan. Stir in the cheese and set aside your pasta mixture.
2. For the meat sauce: cook minced beef and onion until meat loses its pinkness and onion is soft; drain excess fat.
3. Stir in tomato sauce, the 1 teaspoon salt, mint flakes (if used), cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper; set aside.
4. For cheese sauce: in a saucepan, melt the butter, then mix in flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
5. Slowly stir in the milk, stirring well after each addition so that no lumps form.
6. Cook and stir on medium high until sauce starts to thicken; stir for one minute more, then remove from heat.
7. Beat egg in a small bowl, then pour into cheese sauce, stirring briskly.
8. Blend in the cheese.
9. Layer half the pasta mixture in a 11" x 7" baking dish.
10. Spoon the meat mixture evenly on top, then the remaining pasta.
11. Pour cream sauce over top, to cover completely.
12. Bake, uncovered, at Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C for about 40 minutes, or until hot and lightly browned.
13. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Tzatziki

The first time I tried tzatziki was in Rhodes in Greece with some fantastic meze. I wasn't sure if anything I could create would taste as good as we're lacking essential holiday ingredients of sun, sea and sand in the UK but I was very impressed that this tasted quite authentic.

I first made this as an accompaniment to spatchcock roast chicken, which is a great way to roast chicken as it cooks faster and results in lovely juicy meat.

For the tzatziki I adapted a recipe from Rachel Allen's book "Rachel's Favourite Food for Friends". Her original recipe included 1 heaped tsp freshly chopped mint and 2 tbsp cream but I didn't have any so I left them out.

The recipe serves 10-12 but any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

1 crisp cucumber, halved lengthways, deseeded & diced into 3/4 cm dice
salt & pepper
dash of lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
450ml Greek Yoghurt

1. Put the cucumber dice in a sieve, sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for about 30 minutes.
2. Dry the cucumber on kitchen paper. Put it in a bowl and mix together with the garlic, lemon and the yoghurt.
3. Season to taste.