Rosie had been to Lario International, the Sydney importer of fabulous and unusual Italian products, and was showing Jan and me her purchases. There was some beautiful olive oil, a bottle of pomegranate balsamic vinegar, an exotic jar of pine bud syrup and a small jar of light green paste. We were given a taste to determine what it was. A pesto of some sort? No. Salsa verde with a difference? No.
It was Wild Hop Relish. I doubt we would have ever guessed that. But it was subtle, delicious and truly exotic. And expensive. We wondered what we could do with it. Serve it with some sort of cheese? A condiment for poached chicken? But when Jan suggested rabbit rillettes, we all knew that was the one, especially because we were amused by the play between rabbit and hop. Simple things, eh?
Rabbit Rillettes with Wild Hop Relish was well received at a drinks party a week later. If you want to give it a go and have some extra cash, contact Lario International for a jar of the relish. Otherwise a few slices of quality cornichons will suffice to finish off the rillettes. It just means you will have to forgo testing your guests’ culinary sophistication.
Caren
Rabbit Rillettes with Wild Hop Relish and Cornichons
on Cream Cheese Pastry Squares
1 rabbit, cleaned and jointed by your butcher, about 1kg
375 gm rindless, fatty pork belly, cut into 3cm cubes
1 carrot, cut into chunks
8 garlic cloves, smashed
4 sprigs thyme
4 fresh bay leaves
400 ml light chicken stock or water
¼ teaspoon ground mace
1 teaspoons sea salt
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Have ready a 25 x 10cm cast iron enamel terrine with a lid or a heavy cake tin double lined with foil and with double layers of foil to cover or a shallow ceramic dish with a lid.
Put the rabbit joints and pork in a roasting pan just large enough fit the meat in a single layer.
Add the carrot, garlic thyme, bay leaves and stock or water, making sure the liquid just covers the ingredients. Add a little more liquid if necessary.
Cover the pan with a lid or foil.
Roast for 30 minutes, turn the meat over and reduce the heat to 140°C.
Cook for another 1½ hours or until the rabbit meat is falling off the bone and can be easily shredded.
Remove from the oven to cool. When cool enough to handle with gloved hands, remove the rabbit meat, pork meat and fat and the garlic cloves. Take the rabbit meat off the bones and shred it into small bits and put into a bowl. Squash the pork and pork fat and garlic between your fingers into the rabbit meat. Add the mace, salt and pepper. Knead it all together for 2 minutes.
Strain the cooking juices from the roasting pan into a measuring jug and discard all the remaining solids. Return about 150ml cooking juices to the rabbit mix and again work it through with your hands. Your mix should be like a soft, moist, coarse paté.
Spoon the mix into the terrine, press it down lightly and allow it to cool completely before covering and storing in the fridge. Keep it for at least 2 days for the flavours to develop before using. It will keep well for at least a week and possibly longer if you cover the rillettes in a layer of duck fat, lard or clarified butter.
To Serve:
The rillettes were served on Jan’s Revenge Cream Cheese Pastry but Rosie’s Revenge Lavosh or any good gluten-free cracker will work just as well. The rabbit was topped with the Wild Hop Relish and thin slices of cornichons.
Cream Cheese Pastry Squares
150 gm cold butter, cut into small pieces
250 gm cream cheese, cut into small pieces
180 gm rice flour
60 gm tapioca flour
40 gm potato flour
4 gm guar gum
Beaten egg
Preheat oven to 220°C.
Place butter and cream cheese in a food processor and pulse to bring together. When combined add flours and gum, and process. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl when necessary. Process until the pastry comes together.
Turn it onto baking paper and knead for several minutes, dusting with extra white rice flour if necessary.
Refrigerate for 5 minutes to regain some stiffness then roll the pastry out between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 5mm. Cut the pastry into desired shape/s, brush with egg and transfer pastry on the baking paper to an oven tray. Chill again for 10 minutes and bake for 20 minutes or until crisp and golden.
The cooked pastry will keep well in an airtight container for 4 or 5 days stored in a cook dark place.