Go wild for these ingredients

ow long could you survive out in the wild? A week? A couple of days? Or just until your phone battery runs out? Or maybe, you’ve retained all the knowledge from a full set of Scout or Guide badges and could happily put up a shelter, light a fire, trap your dinner and snooze peacefully under the stars like a wild bear in the woods.

Of course, the reality is most of us never get the chance to get out into the wild places. As a country, over 80 per cent now live in an urban setting and as for the number of people who continue to live in what is described as a ‘sparse setting’,

Houtside of small villages and hamlets, where a trip to a shop is drive not a walk, the figure drops to less than one per cent. We’ve become a nation of townies. Strangely, as a counterbalance to this urban living, our taste for wild food has been increasing. Foraged ingredients are very en vogue in restaurants, as are meats such as pigeon and venison. Rabbit remains one of the most popular meats on game stalls and any wild fish carries a significant premium over its farmed equivalent. And even for the accidental forager there is always a little frisson of glee at stumbling across a ripe blackberry patch or a circle of field mushrooms.

This week’s recipe combines two great wild ingredients, rabbit and wild garlic. Rabbit is available all year round, but wild garlic is seasonal and it’s an ingredient you will have to get out into the countryside and seek yourself. If rabbit is not for you, the same recipe can be made with chicken, or even pheasant if you’ve still one left in the freezer.

The mousseline can be served in a variety of ways. I went for a smooth broth of lentils and bacon, but they could be served on a crostini with wild garlic cream as a starter, or even used as a filling for ravioli. It is a bit of a modern urban recipe, but you’ll need to survive in the wilds, if just for half an hour, to get it.

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 2)

1 rabbit

2 egg whites 100ml double cream 15 wild garlic leaves

METHOD

Remove the meat from the rear and front legs and dice. The loin can be kept for another dish or panfried and served with the mousseline.

In a food processor blitz the rabbit meat until smooth, then add the egg whites and blitz further. Finally, add the cream and blitz until smooth.

Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove all the sinews. Finely slice the wild garlic and fold it. Season with salt and white pepper. Leave to chill in the fridge for 6-8 hours.

To cook, form mixture into quenelles and poach in simmering water for 5 minutes, before turning over and poaching for a further 2 minutes.

Drain, dry on kitchen paper and serve.