Calderdale Rabbit Shepherd’s Pie with young carrots & peas from The Shibden Mill Inn

Main courseServes 4

Start by melting the butter in a heavy based pan or casserole dish, add the rapeseed oil then add the 4 legs and brown. After 2/3 minutes of sautéing the legs, set aside leaving the pan on the heat, add the diced vegetables & garlic and colour. After another 2/3 minutes place the legs back into the pan and add the vinegar, reduce by half then add the wine and reduce that by half. Then add all the chicken stock and tomatoes, thyme, garlic & bay leaf, bring to the boil then simmer of 2 hours till the leg meat is cooked and falls of the bone. Preheat the oven on gas mark 4 about 175ºC. Lift the rabbit out the pan being careful to keep the leg meat whole and set aside. Now reduce the sauce left in the pan with the vegetables and herbs. Pass the sauce off after 5 minutes or so. Keeping the vegetables, pull the meat off the bones, careful to get all the bone out of the meat and place into a clean casserole dish along with the vegetables. Cover with the strained sauce and place in the fridge for 1 hour until the sauce sets, making it easier to cover with mash. Add the peas and chopped herbs and cover with mash potato using the back of a knife. Brush with a little butter & bake for 40 minutes until a golden colour on top.

Smoked Hungarian Style Sausage, Chicken and Butter Bean Stew

Main courseServes 4

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown in a preheated casserole in a little olive oil. This will take around 5 minutes on each side to develop some colour. Remove to a plate and add the roughly diced onion, carrot and celery to the same pan. Cook for ten minutes stirring as the vegetables soften. Add the garlic, chilli, smoked paprika, bay leaf and thyme and continue to cook briefly before adding the sausages. Cook over a medium heat allowing the sausages to flavour the vegetables. Add in the tomato purée and cook for a further 2 minutes, splash in the wine, allow to bubble briefly before adding the tomatoes, and a splash of water. Next return the chicken to the pan, stir to combine and place on a tight fitting lid. Transfer to the preheated oven for 30 minutes, remove, add the butter beans and stir in, before replacing the casserole, this time without the lid, for a further twenty minutes. At this stage reduce the sauce on the stove top if necessary, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley and serve.