HARE BRAISED IN RED WINE, SERVED WITH THE ROASTED SADDLE & POTATO GNOCCHI
INGREDIENTS:
2 whole hare, skinned
1 carrot, peeled
1 onion, peeled
2 celery stalks, washed
4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
6 cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
750ml red wine
75ml Marsala wine
500ml fresh chicken stock
250ml fresh beef stock
Salt
Vegetable oil for frying
Method:
- Remove the legs from the hare and take the loins off the bone. Alternatively ask your butcher to do this for you.
- Season the legs with salt and fry them in a large heavy pot with the vegetable oil until browned all over.
- Remove the legs from the pot and set them aside.
- Chop the vegetables into equal sized pieces approximately 2cm square.
- Cook the vegetables in the pot used for the legs until nicely browned.
- Add the cinnamon, cloves, garlic and bay leaves to the pot and cook for a further minute.
- Add the red wine to the pot and cook on a medium heat until reduced by 2/3 volume.
- Put the legs back into the pot and cover with the stocks.
- Bring the liquid to the boil and cook the legs in the oven at 200˚c for 1 hour.
- Add the Marsala wine and cook for a further 30 minutes until the legs are tender. Top up the pot with a little water if necessary when cooking, the stock should be reduced by about 2/3 volume and thickened nicely.
- Strain the sauce through a fine sieve and discard the vegetables and spices.
- Put the legs into the sauce and allow it to cool.
FOR THE GNOCCHI
INGREDIENTS:
600g dry mashed potatoes
100ml olive oil
3tbsp fresh parmesan, grated
1 yolk + ½ egg
Salt
125g ‘00’ pasta flour
Method:
- Mix together all ingredients while the mashed potato is still warm with salt to taste.
- Roll the mix into sausage shapes on a floured surface approximately 1 ½ cm thick.
- Cut along the sausages to make rectangular pillows.
- Drop the gnocchi into boiling salted water a few at a time.
- The gnocchi are cooked when they float to the surface.
- Remove the cooked gnocchi from the pan with a slotted spoon into a bowl of iced water.