Rabbit stew with cucumber and tomatoes.

• 1 rabbit, jointed
• A fair bit of olive oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 6 cloves of garlic, halved
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 tbspn garam flour (also called chickpea flour or gram flour)
• ½ tsp saffron filaments
• 300ml/½ pint dry vermouth or dry white wine
• 300ml/½ pint chicken stock – or water
• 1 cucumber
• 40g/1½ oz butter/olive oil
• 225g/8oz tomatoes, cored, de-seeded and chopped into bits.
• Celtic sea salt or equivalent and black pepper.

Serves 4.

1. Cover the base of a flameproof casserole with olive oil – be generous here.  Rabbit needs plenty of oil or it just tastes dry and nasty.
2. Heat the oil and cook the rabbit joints with the onion for 10 minutes, until the onion is soft.
3. Sprinkle over the gram flour,sugar, salt and pepper and stir about to cover all as evenly as possible.
4. Add the garlic, saffron then wine and stock or water.  Bring to the boil.
5. Cover tightly, lower the heat to a bare simmer and leave to cook for 1 – 2 hours.  I have a gas hob and use a heat diffuser.
6. If being a bit posh, take the rabbit out, put on the serving dish and keep warm.  Blitz the gravy with a hand held blender until smooth.  If not posh then just taste the gravy.  Whichever you’ve done, taste the gravy/sauce for seasoning and add more salt/pepper if needed.
7. Pour the sauce over the rabbit.
8. Whilst the rabbit is cooking, prepare the cucumberers.  Peel if being posh, otherwise don’t bother.  Cut into thick slices, quarter them and then cut out the seeds.
9. Heat the butter or olive oil and sauté the cucumberer for 3 – 4 mins.  Then add the tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Stir about to heat through only.
10. Tastefully arrange the cucumberer and tomatoes around the rabbit and serve.

If, like me, you can’t eat onions, try adding fennel instead – or celery.