Brazed Rabbit, wild mushrooms, root vegetables, sea beet, tarragon and fennel pollen

In my opinion rabbit is a forgotten food, it is not so long ago that it was eaten more often than chicken. So now is the time to introduce this fantastic meat back into our diet. (You can always tell the kids it is chicken). And to be honest a good rabbit is far superior to cheap chicken.

Serves 4

1 large rabbit approx. 1.5 kg cut into 6 pieces (ask the butcher to do this for you)

2 tbsp. of rapeseed oil

2 onions finely chopped

1 large carrot diced finely

½ fennel bulb diced finely

50g Irish butter

200ml white wine

500ml good chicken stock

75g wild mushrooms (chanterelles are perfect for this dish but not to worry if you cant get any use ceps, oyster or field mushrooms instead)

1 tbsp. chopped tarragon

1 hand full of sea beet (if you can not forage sea beet use spinach instead)

½ tsp. Fennel flowers

175ml cream

Brown off the rabbit pieces in a large pan in the hot olive oil and set aside. In an oven proof dish sweat off the onion in the butter and once soft add the carrot and fennel bulb, cook this over a low heat for five minutes. Now add in the white wine and reduced by half. Add in the rabbit pieces and season with salt and pepper, add the stock and bring to the boil. Put the lid on the dish and place it into a hot oven, 190 degrees celisus for 1 hour.

Take the dish out of the oven and add the cream, sautéed mushrooms, tarragon, sea beet and cook for a further 10 minutes. Garnish with the fennel pollen and serve..