Yvan Seth's Hole in the Internet

Serving the stew

Hare today, gone tomorrow. It is nearly 10 months since I last mentioned hare, for the very simple reason that it is nearly 10 months since I last enjoyed hare. Our wonderful February hare came from Hamblings, back in Ricky – Mr Hambling was the best butcher we've had the pleasure to know thus far. Alas, he packed it in and where his shop was there is now an abominable hut of pizza. We now live in a different town, on the other end of the County (Hertfordshire) with a different butcher. Allingham's is good – not earthy, butchery, Hambling's good – but a pretty damn good butcher all the same. Yes, expensive – but you have to expect to pay above the odds for quality. That said, why pay 20 quid a kilo for OK steak when you can pay 11 for 1.5kg of great hare? That was my position today. It was going to be a brace of pheasant (8.99 quid, after hanging and dressing a couple myself, more on that later, I see this as a pretty good deal) but sitting on the sideboard was a lone, jointed, hare for 10.99 – it was fated.

This hare was paler and probably hung for less time than our previous hare. It did have flesh of a rich ruby hue though, but was less high on the nose. Given that it was jointed and the saddle in thirds I decided it was for stewing. No proper recipe this time I'm afraid, I winged it on a quick-leg route to dinner.

First I chopped some lardons from my home-salted pork belly, probably just about 50g worth (it was a rather fatty belly!) These I browned in a large frying pan until the fat began to run. Meanwhile I ensured the hare pieces were picked clean of any traces of fur. Used poultry shears to snip off the belly flaps, ribs, and shins. And pulled/snipped off much of the membrane on top of the saddle pieces. (Most of these offcuts ended up in a 110g bag in the freezer – for a future stock.) The cleaned pieces (forelegs, hindlegs (largest bits), two main chunks of saddle, and a tail-end of saddle) were fried with the lardons until browned all-round then removed to a bowl.

I left the lardons in the pan and added around 400g of skinned shallots, these I browned lightly. Next went in three sticks of roughly chopped celery and a roughly diced onion. I also added four cloves, grated in about a quarter of a nutmeg, 2 tsp of fresh ground pepper, a small piece of chopped mace blade, 6 crushed juniper berries, and just ~5g of chopped dried porccini. Add 2tbsp olive oil and brown/caramelise the lot.

I had my large Chasseur in the oven heating to 120C all this time. Now I pull it from the oven, plonk it onto the stove, and toss in the caramelised vegetables. Next in goes the hare pieces, nicely forming a full layer over the vegetables, then a cubed celeriac and carrot (just one carrot, all I had.) Over this I add a 400g tin of roma tomatos, roughly chopped in the can with a blunt knife. I crumble in an organic chicken stock cube, horror! I add 4 dried bay leaves. Then top up with water until the hare pieces are just covered, but the celeriac pieces half poking out. Agitate the liquid a little to mix and drizzle in about half a tbsp of olio al tartufo bianco (white truffle infused oil – Carliccio's!)

I bring the lot to simmering point, lid it, and pop it into my 120C oven.

Next thing we head up to the Nightingale, Hitchin's best pub, and have a couple of pints of very special ale. Death or Glory, a beautiful amber, rich, toffee malt, beer – a killer (by appointment to the Queen's Royal Lancers) at 7.2% – get a litre of that in you!

Stoo and mashed tatties!

At home, 2.5 hours later. I turn off the oven – leaving the stew in there. I put two large deseree potatoes into a saucepan, cover with water, and boil. For about 20 minutes I guess. I tip them into a colander and let cool for 5 minutes prior to peeling off the skin. The peeled potatoes are then mashed with a very generous tbsp of butter, a teaspoon of maldon sea salt, and the same of fresh ground pepper – and half tbsp of truffle oil. Truffled mashed potatoes, talk about turning the mundane into the utterly posh!

A warmed bowl, a solid dollop of truffled mash, and a leg and saddle of hare with plenty of stew juice – left runny to creamilly dissolve the mashed tatties.

Man that was good… once again the hare proves to be a truely superior eating experience.