This "melting" recipe is practically eaten with a spoon, as the prolonged cooking reduces the flesh into a kind of creamy puree. If you are lucky enough that a hunter gives you a hare, you will only use the saddle and a little blood, otherwise at your poulterer, when buying the saddle, ask him for the liver and a little blood.
Difficulty:[usr 2]
1/ Cut the saddle of hare in half, salt and pepper. Peel the garlic cloves and shallots, but leave them whole. Melt the butter without letting it burn in a casserole large enough to hold the saddle. When the butter sizzles, place a bard of bacon in the pan and arrange the half-saddles of hare in it. Add the garlic cloves and shallots, set over very low heat.
2/ Add a sprig of thyme and 2 bay leaves as well as crushed cloves. Salt moderately and pepper generously. Place the second bard of bacon on the saddles, then gently pour in 3/4 of a bottle of pommard. Cover the casserole and cook gently for 2 hours.
3/ At the end of this long cooking, the wine should have practically reduced completely. Take the casserole off the heat and remove the lid, remove all the bones from the saddle using a fork.
4/ Pour the rest of the wine into the casserole and put it back on the heat, cover and continue cooking, still on very low heat, for 1 hour. Meanwhile, finely chop the hare's liver and mix it with 2 or 3 spoonfuls of its blood and a small glass of marc de bourgogne.
5/ Pour this preparation into the casserole dish, mix gently and cook, still on an extremely low heat, for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve in deep plates.
Accompany with a Pommard » Les Epenots »
That's awesome!
Source:Les Cuisines Régionales de France. Burgundy
