Rabbit with Rosemary and Prosciutto with a Cream Sauce

Remove the back legs from the rabbit. Carefully cut the two pieces of the whole saddle away from the bone. Joint the remainder of the rabbit and place in a saucepan to make a stock.

Bone out the legs to produce two fillets  Picture  . Add the leg bones to the stock saucepan along with a halved onion, a cleaned carrot halved lengthwise and six or seven lightly crushed black peppercorns. Barely cover with water and simmer uncovered for a half hour or so.

Meanwhile, chop some fresh rosemary and sprinkle a teaspoonful over each of the leg fillets and season with salt and pepper. Roll the fillets up and tie with string. Season the saddle fillets with salt and pepper and wrap them with a slice of prosciutto.  Picture  .

Quickly brown the rabbit joints in a little olive oil and put in an ovenprof pan. Drain the stock through a strainer and pour over the rabbit. Put in the oven and cook for around a half hour at 350°F/180°C/Reg4  Picture  . When done take out the rabbit and keep warm.

Meanwhile, trim the ends off the lettuces and remove and discard the outer leaves. Roughly core about an inch or so from the thick end of the lettuces, and put in the steamer ready to go.

Put the cooking stock over high heat and reduce to just over a half and then season with salt. Stir in a heaped teaspoonful of cornflour until it is absorbed. Then add two tablespoonfuls of single cream and re-check the seasoning. Meanwhile steam the lettuces for about four minutes.

Cut each rabbit joint in two, remove the string and put on to the serving plates. Pour over some sauce and then add the lettuces. This is a very nice dish  Zoom  .