My lovely neighbour called me today from out the back of the hill and asked if I'd like a rabbit.
He'd been trying to shoot a fox but the fox had been too far away, but he'd capped a rabbit and remembered that I'd mentioned I'd like to have a go at cooking one.
I hesitated, I'll be honest, then I said yes please.
He brought it over the hill to me, and I accepted it gratefully, wishing I knew what the heck to do with it.
I put it on the sink in the kitchen and went to get my laptop to do some googling.
When I came back the kids were yelling hysterically, it mooooved!
I said that of course it did, nerves yada yada, then it moved again. I too was pretty convinced it was still alive. I grabbed it up and with the kids trailing behind me yelling, 'it's aliiiive, it's aliiiive', we high tailed it to the pig paddock where Adam was doing some fencing.
Our neighbour had stopped to talk to Adam and the two of them confirmed that the animal was indeed dead. And had been. And was still.
I was handed the rabbit back, I thanked them and headed back to the kitchen.
After dinner and without the children, I returned to deal with the furry creature on the sink.
I had googled "skin a rabbit" and found a great youtube video, six minutes long, which I watched twice.
It was a great tutorial.
I floundered only when I was trying to invicerate the creature and all the innards were warm. Freaked me out a bit. But I reminded myself that we strongly believe in doing things ourselves, as well as appreciating all things frugal. My grandmother probably skinned many rabbits. Probably at this sink. Adam's grandmother certainly had. And I really wanted to cook it. The most respectful thing to do was deal with the whole animal myself.
And so I did. By myself (while Adam supervised bathtime.) And after very successfully skinning and gutting and washing the rabbit, I chopped it into large pieces and brined them in salty water.
I'd like to make rabbit pie but I think you'd need at least three or four animals for a pie.
Maybe stew.
It's disproportionate, but I'm strangely and ridiculously proud of myself.
Have you ever cooked rabbit?
Got a recipe?
And yes, my son is a ninja and my daughter is pretending to be princess, in red ugg boots. In the paddock. Don't you love school holidays?
xxx
