New Discoveries – Hare Cottage Pie

Hare Cottage Pie With Crunchy Topping

One of the great things about blogging is the number of people I ‘meet’ via my blog or reading other peoples posts.  I regularly catch up with the Muddy Guide a weekly post on Muddy Stilettos giving local ‘What’s On’ info.  There’s always a gem of discovery: pretty beach destinations, great vintage shops or a catch up on cafes in Covent Garden.

Thanks to a competition on Muddy Stilettos, I discovered Ten Mile Menu.   A company that brings together various local producers, fruit, veg, cakes, meat, dairy and game which they deliver to the customer, if they live within a 10 mile radius.  There are a lot of businesses doing veg boxes and delivering meat etc.  What interested me was the breadth of produce and I could even order Made By Mums Lemon Drizzle Cake.  Although I didn’t win the contest, I did order game from Ten Mile Menu. I tweeted that I couldn’t find Hare on their site. The following day they’d sourced some and after choosing which day I wanted it delivered, I planned my dish.  A delicious red wine and garlic marinated, slow cooked stew, with the rich depth of flavour of the almost beef like lean hare, topped with creamy mash, using baked potatoes and a golden crunchy oven baked garlic and pancetta bread-crumb topping.

Individual Hare Cottage Pie

Hare Cottage Pie With Twice Baked Mash 

Requires overnight marinating

Feeds 8 generously

For the hare stew

• 7 medium size carrots
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 1 hare whole or jointed
• 1 head of garlic cut in half
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 5 cardamom seeds
• 20 juniper berries squashed with the blade of a knife
• 5cm (2 inch) piece of cinnamon stick
• 1 bottle of red wine
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 15g butter
• 300g baby shallots peeled and halved
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 5 torn fresh sage leaves
• large pinch of salt
• 1 litre of good quality chicken stock

• Use a 4.5 litre (1 gallon) container to marinate. (I use a sealable plastic bag)
• Peel and cube 2 of the carrots, add to container
• Cut the celery into small pieces add to container
• Add the finely chopped shallot, garlic, bay leaves, cardamom seeds, juniper berries and cinnamon stick
• Joint the hare if your game supplier hasn’t done this already for you.  This is easy and very similar to jointing a chicken
• Add the hare to the container with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil
• Pour in the wine, cover or seal and place in the fridge overnight
• Next day preheat oven to 140c fan, 160c non fan assisted
• After marinating, remove the hare from the container, keep the marinade, and dry the pieces with kitchen paper
• Pour the marinade into a saucepan and simmer until reduced by half and the alcohol has cooked off the wine
• Meanwhile, melt the butter and remaining olive oil in a large casserole pan,  and brown the hare pieces, removing to a plate once browned
• Peel and chop the remaining carrots
• Once all the hare is browned add the halved baby shallots to the pan and gently brown, add the carrots and continue to colour the vegetables
• Add the hare back to the pan, with the thyme, torn sage leaves and salt
• Strain the marinade keeping the liquid and disposing of the remainder of the ingredients in the saucepan.  Add the liquid to the pan and top up with the chicken stock.
• Bring to a simmer, cover and place in the preheated oven for 3 hours until the meat comes away from the bones easily
• Meanwhile bake 4 large potatoes.  Prick with a fork first and place in the oven at 200c for 1 hour until very soft inside
• Remove from the oven cut in half and scoop out the fluffy potato into a bowl.  You can put through a ricer at this stage if you prefer.
• Whilst still hot, add the butter a little at a time, beating after each addition
• Once the mash comes away from the edges of the bowl, add the milk, a little at a time until the desired consistency is achieved. You may not need all the milk
• Season to taste, set aside until needed
• To assemble the cottage pie, preheat the oven to 180c
• Remove the hare pieces from the pan and pick all the meat from the bones, set aside
• Reduce the remaining liquid in the pan to about half
• Put the meat into a pie dish and add the reduced cooking liquid.
• Top with the mashed potato
• Heat the oil in a pan that can go into the oven, toss the bread and garlic in the oil.
• Scatter over the pancetta and thyme and bake in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes until just starting to crisp and brown
• Scatter over the mash and place the cottage pie in the oven for 35 minutes until hot in the centre.  If the top starts to get too brown, loosely cover with foil.