Rabbit is a much used protein in this area of France & very plentiful, a classic dish in this region is a stew of rabbit with prunes so over the last few weeks we have been serving the whole rabbit including its offal in modern interpretations of this classic dish for both starter & main courses.

In the market they sell the rabbits completely whole so we try not to waste anything, the first dish is a starter that includes the saddle stuffed with some braised leg meat, herbs & prunes, then wrapped in local Bayonne  cured ham, this is served with a croquette of braised leg meat again mixed with herbs & prunes then crumbed with bread & fried onion pieces, the kidneys are lightly sautéed along with some of the livers & the remainder of the livers are made into a parfait which is then quenelled, the carcass of the rabbit is made into a stock as the base of the sauce, this is served with some sautéed girolles & savoy cabbage.

Then as a main course we kept the saddle, parfait, liver & kidneys but changed the croquette for a pitithier, which is French puff pastry pie with little arcs cut into the top of the pastry. We also changed the girolles for little chantenay carrots.