And we’re finally back on our posting schedule! Today’s post will be a bit short to make sure that first sentence stays true.
To continue our coverage of the recipes from our Thronesgiving (Game of Thrones premiere feast), this next dish is not really featured in either the books or the show. Rather something I’d imagine Hot Pie, everyone’s favorite culinary savant, would make for Arya and Gendry should they ever visit after the war ended.
No medieval-style feast would be complete, and I think Hot Pie would agree with me, without a pie or pasty of some sort. I also happened to have a rabbit in my freezer that I’ve been hankering to use for awhile. So taking this in mind, I did some research on traditional prep during the era and found a set of 14th-15th century recipes from France and England for a red wine vinegar based sauce with chamomile and ginger that was specifically made to complement rabbit.
So first I poached the rabbit in water and bacon fat until it was tender enough to pull and shred the meat like you would with barbecued chicken.
Then I mixed and cooked it with a mirepoix of carrots, onion, and celery.
And then I added the sauce ingredients with some of the rabbit stock, later adding some flour, cream, and shredded gruyere cheese left over from the Highgarden Lemon Cakes I had made up earlier.
Since I had guests with gluten sensitivities, I used gluten free pie crusts and brown rice flour for this batch. I first thought I would make mini hand pies, until I realized the problem with gluten-free pie crusts — they do not handle well…at all. We could only find frozen pie shells already in tins. If you want to do the gluten free version of this recipe, do whatever it takes to find a roll-out version. Do it for your sanity, otherwise you’ll be shaping, tearing, and re-shaping dough with the consistency of a wet sandcastle over and over forever like we were.
This recipe will yield two, 9-inch diameter pies with an earthy, yet light and tangy filling. Feel free to make one and save the rest of the filling to bake in puff pastry, or put it into a stew or chili for some fun flavors.
Stay tuned for next week for final Thronesgiving recap post: Drunken and Stuffed Pork Loin and Gluten Free Dragon Cake made with a real gluten free dragon!
Cream of Conie Hot Pie
Equipment: Large, high-walled skillet with lid, stove top, two 9-inch pie plates, oven, and tinfoil.
Ingredients
- One whole rabbit, giblets removed
- 1 tablespoon bacon grease or unsalted butter
- 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
- 1/2 cup diced carrot
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- two tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 3 teaspoons sugar
- large pinch kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
- 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup shredded gruyere cheese
- 2 packages roll-out pie crusts
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Put the rabbit in the skillet and fill with water until it barely covers. Add the bacon grease and bring the water to a boil on the stove top. Cover with the lid and reduce heat to medium low. Allow to simmer for an hour.
- When done simmering, reserve 2/3 cups of the rabbit stock and set aside. Reserve the rest for another use or drain. Pull the meat from the bones once cooled with two forks, discard skin, fat, gristle and bones. Mix meat with flour in a separate bowl and set aside.
- Melt unsalted butter in the skillet and cook the celery, carrot, and onion until softened.
- Pour the reserved rabbit stock and red wine vinegar into the skillet, add black pepper, salt, ginger, chamomile, and thyme and allow to simmer until reduced by half. Remove the teabag and discard. Stir in the meat until thickened, and remove from heat.
- Preheat the oven to 425° F. Prepare both pie plates with the lower crusts. Stir the cream and cheese into the filling and distribute the lot between the two pie shells. Cover with the top crusts, trim, seal, and flute the edges. Mix the egg with water in a separate dish and apply the the crusts with a pastry brush. Cut vent slits and put in the oven.
- Bake 15-20 minutes, cover the crust edges with tinfoil and bake another 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.
