Rabbit pot pie with loads of carrots and a creamy cider and crème fraiche sauce baked under a crisp and easy-to-make golden suet crust pastry.
This recipe takes a while to cook, but you can make the filling a day or two in advance, and the pastry takes minutes to make with no resting time needed.
Bunny Pie
Us brits are kind of obsessed with wrapping things in pastry and have a proud history of pie-making.
Whether it is a classic Cornish pasty, steak and stilton pie or the more homely meat and potato pie and corned beef and potato pies we just cannot get enough.
This pretty traditional braised rabbit pie is a stunning and easy segue into pie-making.
There are some who say a pie is not a pie unless it has a pastry bottom too; those people are wrong!
Whether you want to have a pastry base like my cheese and onion pie or a pot pie approach like my chicken and leek pie, or this rabbit pot pie, it is all good.
In this recipe, we gently cook rabbit in a cider sauce with thyme and some chunky carrots, then creme fraiche is added to make a creamy sauce.
Then add a suet crust pastry to seal the pie and cook it until golden. To my mind, a suet crust pastry is the easiest of all pastries to make, and it tastes fantastic.
You get a lovely, homely, soggy bottom reminiscent of dumplings with a beautifully crisp top.
Frequently Asked Questions
That sounds like a lot of meat. Is that right?
Yes, the rabbit is a bony beast, and you will get enough meat for two from 500-600g (19oz) of bone-in rabbit. It will yield around 275g (10oz) of cooked meat.
What cut of rabbit should I get?
I aim to use a mix of cuts, which are readily available here. But you can get a whole rabbit and roughly cut it up.
The loin is delicious and succulent, and the legs offer a stronger flavour and more texture.
Should I use a farmed or wild rabbit?
It's pretty rare to get the choice; those of us who like to cook rabbit have to cook what we can get. Wild rabbit has a better flavour but is often up and down in terms of the tenderness of the meat.
Farmed rabbit is much more tender and consistent in its quality, but has a very subtle flavour. I have added alternative times for cooking both wild and farmed rabbit in the recipe.
What cider should I use?
This question is one often asked by my American-based readers. Cider to us Europeans is booze, so buy a dry hard cider; do not make this with what is branded as apple cider in the US.
After that, use whatever you like. Aspall Premiere Cru is my current favourite for cooking, and most importantly, drinking after.
Can I use store-bought pastry?
Yes, I use suet pastry here as I love the texture, and it is outrageously easy to make.
But feel free to use store-bought puff or shortcrust pastry.
Serving Suggestions
I love to serve this simple and easy rabbit pie with some equally simple boiled and buttered new potatoes and peas.
But it would be equally good with this potato pave if you wanted to fancy it up a little.
Don't forget the greens, though, my simple, quick air fried asparagus would be great in spring.
Green beans are great from frozen, which makes these green beans amandine a perfect addition throughout the year.
Equipment Used
I only mention brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Hob/stovetop.
- Oven.
- 20cm or 8" saucepan with a lid.
- 15cm or 6" saucepan.
- Kitchen tongs and stirring spoons.
- Kitchen knife.
- Chopping board.
- Mixing bowl and fork to make the pastry.
- Rolling pin.
- Baking parchment.
- A combination of weighing scales, a measuring jug, measuring cups and spoons.
- Pie dishes. Mine have a capacity of 375ml (1½ Cups) and are 12cm (4-5") in diameter and 4cm (½") deep.
Rabbit Pot Pie Recipe
Ingredients
For the Filling:
- 550-600 g Bone in Rabbit Pieces 19oz
- 500 ml Dry Cider 2 Cups
- 1 Large Echalion or Banana Shallot 70g
- 1 Medium Celery Stick 50g
- 2 Medium-Large Carrots Carrots
- 3 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
- 1 Bay Leaf
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Flour
- 2 tablespoon Cooking Oil
- 500 ml Chicken Stock 2 Cups
- 125 ml Creme Fraiche ½ Cup
- 20 g Fresh Parsley ½ Packed Cup
For the Suet Crust Pastry
- 90 g Dried Beef Suet 1 Cup
- 140 g Self Raising Flour 1⅓ Cup
- ½ teaspoon Dried Thyme Leaves
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 75 ml Cup Water ⅓ Cup
- 1 Egg (For egg washing the pastry)
Instructions
- Pour the cider into a 15cm or 6" saucepan, bring it to a boil and reduce it by around two-thirds. You should have around 175ml (¾ Cup) left.
- Cut the shallots in half, peel them and then dice them as finely as you can.
- Cut the celery into a 5mm (¼") dice.
- Peel the carrots (if needed), then cut them into quarters, then into 5-7mm (¼") pieces.
- Season the rabbit pieces with the salt and then dredge them with 1 tablespoon of flour.
- Heat a 20cm or 8" saucepan over a medium-high heat, and when it is hot, add the oil. Brown the rabbit pieces until they are lightly golden, then set them aside on a plate.
- Add the diced shallot, carrot, celery and thyme to the pan and cook for 10 minutes on a medium heat.
- Return the browned rabbit pieces, add the bay leaf and pour over the reduced cider and chicken stock. Reduce the heat to very low, add a lid and simmer gently for 40 minutes for farmed rabbit, 60-70 minutes for wild rabbit.
- When the rabbit has been cooked, take the pan off the heat and allow the rabbit to cool in the stock until it is cool enough to handle. Remove the rabbit from the stock, remove it from the bone and roughly chop it up. This should result in around 275g or 10oz of meat.
- Strain the cooking juices into a mixing bowl and pick out the veggies, adding them to the rabbit meat. You will likely not need all of the vegetables.
- Return the stock to the pan (you will have around 750ml or 3 cups), place the pan over a high heat and reduce it by half.
- Whisk the remaining flour into the creme fraiche, then whisk this mix into the hot stock over a low heat until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Chop the parsley, add it to the sauce and have a taste, adding salt if required.
- Divide the pie filling into two 12cm (4-5") in diameter and 4cm (1¾") deep pie dishes.
- Pour the sauce evenly into the two bowls; you should have just enough to leave 5-7mm (¼") at the top of the bowl.
- Place the dry ingredients for the pastry into a mixing bowl and mix with a fork.
- Pour in most of the water and mix, adding the final bit of water to form a fairly firm and not sticky dough.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to around 4-5mm (just under ¼") thick. Then cut out two rounds the same size as the pie dishes, and cut out two circles from the centre of each round. I use the tip of a piping nozzle.
- Cover each pie with a suet pastry circle, pushing the pastry into the sides but leaving the edges poking up; these will go lovely and crisp.
- Beat the egg and brush the pastry with some egg wash and place the pies in the oven and bake at 180°C or 350°F for 35-40 minutes.
thomas rosser
Thursday 2nd of March 2023
this reminds me of my poaching days in cornwall .hard to get a rabbit now .recipes is good like the old days we used scruppy in those days lol.good recipes keep them coming regards tom
Brian Jones
Monday 6th of March 2023
Rabbit is indeed difficult to find since I returned to the UK, you could even pick it up in Lidl in Hungary. Fortunately it is readily available online, although I am not find of shopping that way for food it does fill a gap.