As I found it hard to choose between these two, I've decided that we should have a joint winner, and will be donating another Mrs de Salis book to this end.
First, Sheila Pegum, with
Mrs McGregor’s Fricassee of Rabbit
First catch your rabbit (Mr McGregor finds the vegetable garden a good place to start). Carefully remove waistcoats, shoes, dresses and other sundry anthropomorphic accessories from the rabbit. Set aside for the grandchildren’s dolls. (Note to self: ask the young woman at Hill Top Farm to stop dressing up the wildlife – it can’t be comfortable for the creatures and it puts Mr McGregor off his game). If the rabbit is white, it may have strayed in from the mad-house next door. Gently turn it upside down and shake, to dislodge the fob watch.
To prepare for the table:
Marinate rabbit pieces with a bouquet garni in a red wine marinade overnight.
Strain marinade and save.
Pat the rabbit pieces dry, coat in flour and brown in a frypan. Remove to one side. Gently fry one chopped onion, minced garlic to taste and two blanched, chopped rashers of bacon.
Place the rabbit pieces, onion and bacon mixture in a clean pan, pour over the strained marinade, season well and simmer for 1 hour.
Gently incorporate a flour-and-butter roux, seasoned with Dijon mustard if desired.
Serve with fresh garden vegetables and lashings of red wine, to quell the last vestiges of cloying sentimentality and debilitating guilt.
Congratulations, Sheila, for a wonderfully apt and clever literary recipe that also works well as a dish! Positively delicious in every way. Entrees a la Mode by Mrs de Salis will be on her way to you soon!
Second joint winner, is Karen S.Elliott, with:
Ishmael’s Whale Blubber Stew
Ingredients –
3 large strips whale blubber (does not have to be from a white whale)
1 lb. lard
2 onions, diced
5 cups sea water
5 lbs. potatoes, diced
12 carrots, diced
5 lbs. tomatoes, diced
Salt and Pepper
Kill whale. Slice off three strips of blubber (about the length of a peg leg). Chop into bite-sized bits. Melt lard in large skillet. Add whale meat to lard – cook until browned. Add onions - cook until onions are translucent. Set aside. In large pot, boil potatoes and carrots in sea water for 10 minutes. Dump whale meat, onions, and tomatoes into vegetable pot. Simmer for two hours. Salt and pepper to taste.
Feeds 10 hungry seamen and a bitter captain.
Great work, Karen! A suitably extreme recipe, to the big measure of Moby Dick! A copy of Mrs de Salis' Savouries A la Mode will be on its way to you shortly.
Mrs McGregor’s Fricassee of Rabbit
First catch your rabbit (Mr McGregor finds the vegetable garden a good place to start). Carefully remove waistcoats, shoes, dresses and other sundry anthropomorphic accessories from the rabbit. Set aside for the grandchildren’s dolls. (Note to self: ask the young woman at Hill Top Farm to stop dressing up the wildlife – it can’t be comfortable for the creatures and it puts Mr McGregor off his game). If the rabbit is white, it may have strayed in from the mad-house next door. Gently turn it upside down and shake, to dislodge the fob watch.
To prepare for the table:
Marinate rabbit pieces with a bouquet garni in a red wine marinade overnight.
Strain marinade and save.
Pat the rabbit pieces dry, coat in flour and brown in a frypan. Remove to one side. Gently fry one chopped onion, minced garlic to taste and two blanched, chopped rashers of bacon.
Place the rabbit pieces, onion and bacon mixture in a clean pan, pour over the strained marinade, season well and simmer for 1 hour.
Gently incorporate a flour-and-butter roux, seasoned with Dijon mustard if desired.
Serve with fresh garden vegetables and lashings of red wine, to quell the last vestiges of cloying sentimentality and debilitating guilt.
Congratulations, Sheila, for a wonderfully apt and clever literary recipe that also works well as a dish! Positively delicious in every way. Entrees a la Mode by Mrs de Salis will be on her way to you soon!
Second joint winner, is Karen S.Elliott, with:
Ishmael’s Whale Blubber Stew
Ingredients –
3 large strips whale blubber (does not have to be from a white whale)
1 lb. lard
2 onions, diced
5 cups sea water
5 lbs. potatoes, diced
12 carrots, diced
5 lbs. tomatoes, diced
Salt and Pepper
Kill whale. Slice off three strips of blubber (about the length of a peg leg). Chop into bite-sized bits. Melt lard in large skillet. Add whale meat to lard – cook until browned. Add onions - cook until onions are translucent. Set aside. In large pot, boil potatoes and carrots in sea water for 10 minutes. Dump whale meat, onions, and tomatoes into vegetable pot. Simmer for two hours. Salt and pepper to taste.
Feeds 10 hungry seamen and a bitter captain.
Great work, Karen! A suitably extreme recipe, to the big measure of Moby Dick! A copy of Mrs de Salis' Savouries A la Mode will be on its way to you shortly.
And thank you to everyone who entered, in comments and by email, and thanks too to those who posted about the comp online.
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