Rabbit Ballantine with Tarragon Mayonnaise

Mouthwatering and richly flavoured, this dish will impress your gourmet guests. Even the name sounds impressive, but with a little practice it is quite simple to prepare.

Rabbit:
2 rabbits legs, lion removed (ask your butcher to prep)
Maldon sea salt (100 g)
2 cloves garlic
8 sprigs thyme

Vegetables:
1 carrot
2 ribs celery, pealed
½ leek, white part only
1 large clove garlic
1 onion
6 sprigs fresh tarragon
chicken stock (200 mL)
8 slices prosciutto

Tarragon Mayonnaise:
tarragon oil (200 mL)
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Blitz together Maldon sea salt, garlic and thyme. Rub generously over the rabbit legs but keep the loins separate. Cure for 2 hours. Wash legs off and confit in duck fat in an oven at 160°C for 1 hour and 30 minutes. When tender allow to cool and pick the meat down being careful not to leave any bones behind.

Cut all the vegetables in to small dice and sweat in a heavy based pan add the chicken stock and reduce. Chop the tarragon and mix vegetables and confit rabbit legs, season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast the rabbit loins in butter with thyme and garlic.

Lay out sheets of cling film onto a flat work surface flatten the cling film with a cloth so there are no air bubbles, use about 5-6 sheets overlapping to give you a nice area to make your ballontine. Once you have done that you will need to lay the prosciutto in two rows of four overlapping so there are no gaps. Now you are ready to make your ballontine, lay half your rabbit leg mixture across the bottom four slices of prosciutto, then put your roasted loins down the middle of your mix and sandwich them in the middle by putting the rest of the leg mix on the top. Roll up your ballontine by lifting the cling film from the surface and use it to help you wrap the ham around the outside of the ballontine, roll it a up and tie both ends. Make sure it’s nice and tight or it will be hard to slice nicely. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Tarragon Mayonnaise:
Mix the yolks, vinegar and mustard together, slowly add the oil whisking constantly until fully incorporated. To finish, season with a little salt to taste.

Makes 4 servings.

Galantine vs Ballotine?

• Galantines and ballotines (ballantine is a brand of scotch whisky) are roulades but roulades are not necessarily galantines or ballotines.
• Roulade = any meat that is rolled around a stuffing made of vegetable, meat, dairy or whatever.
• Ballotine = a galantine served hot.
• Galantine = a meat, poultry or fish that is boned, stuffed with a forcemeat of the original protein and traditionally poached in a gelatinous stock and served with decorative aspic made from the stock and served cold or room temperature.