jellied rabbit on a plate

This may not be to everyone's taste. Although I am one of those who waits patiently until the turkey's cooled at Christmas so I can get stuck into some turkey jelly on toast topped with a little ground pepper and Maldon. It's that stock-y-jelly-ness I love; mixed-in with some cold meat.

1 jointed rabbit
150g smoked bacon lardons
1 trotter
1 onion peeled and quartered
2 celery sticks chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped
4-5 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
1 glass white vino
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
salt and pepper


Heat a tbsp oil in a pan and brown the rabbit. Put aside.
Brown the bacon. 
Place the rabbit, bacon, trotter, veg, thyme, bay wine and enough water to cover into a casserole dish.
Bring to a simmer and transfer to a pre-heated 180 oven for 2 hrs.
Take the rabbit and bacon bits out of the casserole and strain the rest over a saucepan to save the liquid. Discard the veg and herbs. 
Boil the liquid down to about 300mls.
Meanwhile, pick all the meat off the rabbit and finely chop the bacon bits. 
In a bowl, mix the rabbit, bacon, parsley, mustard and salt and pepper.
Loosely pack the mixture into a few ramekins, pickling jar or a terrine.
Poor the cooking liquor into the mixture. 
Cool and refrigerate until set.
Turn out onto a plate and serve with some crispy gherkins and crusty bread.