more feckin' food

I could post about about the glorious day in the sun yesterday, playing with the bean in his sandpit for the first time, involved in the moment, watching the bean have endless fun redistributing sand everywhere but in the pit; underneath the deck now lies half the contents. We watched the Bloke finish the last bit of the studio floor too, finally (but hey, Im not building the damn thing so technically I cant really bitch about the timing)but its not very riveting for others and i didnt take any pics. It was great to be outside again in good weather. Winter's a bitch and its hailing now.
Last nights Weekend Carnivore Finale was Baked Wild Bunny with Pancetta and Olives.
I had a mildly hard time portioning the thing. Not used to bunny physiology so had to do a lot of 'intuitive' knife work (You Tube helped) ahhh, technology in the kitchen. The front legs freaked me a bit, rotating free like flippers; no joint, just a shoulder blade. Little thing looked a bit sad all splayed out on the board; I just had to do a little bit of mindbending dissasociating. I took a rather 'interesting pic of the bunny before i worked out how to make a skinned rabbit look less terrifying. Portioned, I olive oiled it all up and covered with thyme, rosemary, garlic, salt and two small fresh (from the freezer) chopped chilli, some fresh picked whole baby purple dragon carrots and then layered on some more meat! some local, biodynamic naturally cured pancetta. .
I bunged that in the oven for 20 minutes, then removed and added a cup of white wine and a good handfull of black olives and and baked again until cooked. Served this up with a homegrown trio of baked King Edwards (my new favourite potato) with rocksalt, balsamic glazed bulls blood beets and sauteed kale with Mad Gnome garlic. I left the kale in the pan too long and crisped it up quite a bit, shattering between the teeth type crispy. Got me thinking that on purpose deep fried kale could be worthwhile or tempura kale. Anyone tried this?
Meanwhile i put the rib carcass of the bunny in a pot with some of my freezer collection of celery tops, coriander roots etc and herbs. I just keep adding to this collection whenever i have 'stock bits' but am not making stock. I recommend keeping a freezer bag of 'stock bits' as it makes spontaneous stock making not only a breeze but possible.
We gnawed our way through this finger licking feast with the rest of the wine. Never having eaten rabbit before outside a pie, i was impressed with the flavour. We will definitely be adding bunny to the list. This dish was full of flavour but a litle on the dry side. Rabbit cacciatore or Essex Fried Rabbit Jamie Oliver style, next.

We then settled down for some more homegrown downsizing and foraging fun ala Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall style with a limoncello (almost that time of the year again folks). Lights went out at 1am. One whole series down and umm. endless more to go! Thanks Gnomes. Maybe this afternoon I will get around to fixing my header pic; its been bugging me for weeks but havent had the time nor inclination to fix it.