Pasta with Rabbit Ragu

I have noticed, while spending copious hours with my nose in cookery books, an Italian idea of cooking two meals at the same time.  This isn't just a clever use of leftovers but recipes that are designed so that you'll make too much for one sitting and have the remainder another day.

A good example of this is braised oxtail in white wine.  The meat is served on day one and the sauce is served with pasta the second day.  With this frugal way of cooking in mind I deliberately made sure that there was too much sauce in Sunday's Rabbit Casserole.

As well as some of the sauce from the casserole I also reserved the saddle of the rabbit which I've now shredded and mixed through.  As the sauce was very rich I have let it down with some of the pasta cooking water and added a handful of fresh parsley.  With two decent meals out of one rabbit we'll be buying bunny more often.

Rabbit With Shallots, Rosemary and Garlic

It's Easter Sunday, a time for celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and eating far too much chocolate.  I don't have a sweet tooth so the chocky part of today is lost on me*.  Easter is full of imagery both Christian and Pagan.  The eggs that I just mentioned, the cross that can be found on the top of Hot Cross Buns and the cute Easter Bunny who delivers the over-packaged confectionery to all the good little children.

In a perverse twist, I thought that today would be a good day to resurrect a recipe that we first tried in 2005, rabbit with shallots.  I was full of foodie bravado at the time and I decided to test myself by buying and butchering a whole rabbit (skinned, I'm not daft).  Rabbit, bought and jointed, I needed a recipe and found this by Mike Robinson.  The reason I chose it was the line "Add the bacon to the pan. While that is cooking away, put on a pair of ski goggles and peel the shallots." I don't have any ski goggles but it is still the best cooking instruction I have ever read. 

As there are only two of us eating tonight I have halved the quantities, but other than that, I have more or less followed Mike's recipe, even down to the parsley mash.  I think that this is a fitting way to celebrate the hard work and commitment of the Easter Bunny.  He doesn't receive the praise of Rudolph and yet does all of his work alone, not as part of a team pulling a fat man around on a sledge.  Please be upstanding as we toast the Easter Bunny.  And delicious he was too!

*although I have managed to eat two mini cream eggs.