You can buy rabbit at upscale grocery stores or ask your local butcher to order one for you. Rabbit is a fairly lean meat so I braise it in chicken stock to keep it moist. You can use any sort of dehydrate wild mushrooms, but I used a blend of porcini, oyster, black trumpet and Portobello.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Prep Time 1 hourhour
Cook Time 1 hourhour30 minutesminutes
Total Time 2 hourshours30 minutesminutes
Servings 8
Calories 750kcal
Author Irvin
Ingredients
Rabbit meat
2 1/2poundrabbit
4cupschicken stock
Crust
2cupsall-purpose flour280 g
1teaspoonkosher salt
1teaspoonblack pepper
3/4cupsunsalted butter170 g or 1 1/2 sticks
8tablespoonswater2 additional tablespoons if needed
Filling
4tablespoonsolive oildivided
1medium onionchopped
6medium cloves garlicchopped
2leekscleaned and chopped
3medium carrotspeeled and chopped
2medium parsnipspeeled and chopped
1poundbrown mushroomssliced
1ouncedried wild mushrooms
1teaspoondried thyme
Additional salt and pepper to taste
Roux and gravy
6tablespoonsunsalted butter85 g
2/3cupsall-purpose flour95 g
1/4cupdry sherry
To assemble
1egg yolk
Extra flour to roll out the dough
Instructions
Take the rabbit out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the rabbit and chicken stock in a medium sized Dutch oven or oven proof pot and then cover. Place in the oven and braise for 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours or until the rabbit meat is tender and cooked through. Flip the rabbit halfway through the cook time.
While rabbit is cooking, make the crust by placing the flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl Cube the butter into 1/2-inch chunks and add to the bowl. Using your fingers, smash the butter into small bits, about the size of peas (but flat). Sprinkle 8 tablespoons of water over the mixture and toss with a fork until the dough starts to gather. Continue to massage the water into the dough, until it forms a ball. If the dough seems to dry, add a tablespoon of water at a time until a dough forms. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the rabbit is doing cooking.
Prep the vegetables in the meanwhile by chopping them. Once the rabbit is done, remove from the oven but maintain the heat. Place the dried mushrooms in a medium sized bowl and scoop out about 2 cups of the hot stock from the rabbit pot and pour over the mushrooms to rehydrate. Remove the rabbit from the stock pot and place on a cutting board to cool.
Place 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large saute pan and add the onion, garlic, leeks, carrots and parsnips into the pan. Cook until the vegetables start to soften. Remove from pan and pour vegetables into a large bowl.
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan (no need to clean it) and add the brown mushrooms. Scoop out the rehydrated mushrooms with a slotted spoon (leaving the liquid for later) and add it to the pan. Cook the mushrooms until they are soft. Add them to the bowl of vegetables. Add the dried thyme and taste the mixture. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
Pick the meat off the cooled rabbit and add it to the bowl of vegetables. Spray a 2 1/2 quart baking dish with cooking oil.
In the same pan (no need to clean it) add the butter and flour for the roux. Cook until the butter melted and the flour has dissolved into it. Cook for an additional 2 minutes over medium heat, or until the flour starts to brown slightly. Then drizzle the remaining stock from the rabbit pot into the pan, whisking while you do it. Scoop out the rehydrated mushroom liquid (trying not to get any grit that has settled into the bottom of the bowl) and whisk it to the pan as well. Whisk in the sherry. The liquid should be the consistency of thick turkey gravy. It will thin in the oven with the vegetables and rabbit meat but if you think it is too thick, drizzle a little bit of water, chicken stock, or white wine into the pan.
Add the gravy to the vegetables and rabbit meat and mix thoroughly. Pour into the baking dish.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it out on a clean surface dusted with extra flour. Cut the dough to fit the top of the pot pie. Place on the filling, tucking any ends inside the baking pan all the way around.
Gather any trimmings and re-roll the out to cut out decorations, like bunnies or fancy braided strips to line the outer ends of the pie in an Instagram worthy pie. Slash a few vent holes on top of the pie. Beat the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of water and then brush it over the pie crust, using the egg wash to “glue” any decorations down.
Place baking pan on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any drippings. If you have any extra decorative cut out pie crust pieces, place them on the baking sheet too.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling through the vent holes. If you baked extra pie crusts pieces, check about halfway through the baking to see how they look. Cool 10 minutes before serving.