one rabbit, one mad march hare and one massive stew. and i mean massive

the end of march (isn't the year going quickly?) and what better a time to eat hare. since it has been a bit cold recently i figured i could kill two birds with one stone, or should that be kill two lagomorphs with one stone, by bunging them into a big stew. the rabbit and hare had been conveniently diced by the wild meat company who had also left the hare bones in for stew reasons.after chopping up a whole host of vegetables - potatoes, parsnips, carrots, celery, leek and onion - the hare and the rabbit were sealed alongside some onions to be browned. chucking in the hare firstly with some herbs de province (mm lavender) you could see it was a darker meat to the rabbit. the aromas released were tantalising to say the least. next i sealed up the rabbit with some more onions which gave off an all together stronger fragrance. i piled all the vegetables and meat into a slow cooker set to high, added a fair amount of water to cover the majority of the ingredients and sprinkled on some oregano, parsley and thyme. with the slow cooker set to high, i disappeared for a few hours to discuss my ticket buying strategies for Glastonbury festival on sunday.

upon returning, the stew had made the kitchen smell incredible. i mixed up some chicken stock and poured that in, followed by some flour and cold water to thicken the stew up some what. another half an hour and some salt and pepper later, it was time to serve up. about time too as it was quarter to eleven! oops. reminder to self: start cooking sooner than 7pm. i buttered two end pieces of a big loaf of bread and dished out the stew into a bowl.

you could identify the hare and the rabbit by the colour of the meat, rabbit being somewhat lighter than the hare meat. the entire dish smelt fantastic and even writing about it now i am getting hungry - the bonus being that so much was made i will be a kept man in stew for days to come! consumption was a delight, all the flavours teamed together with the meats and traveled to my stomach with joy. out of the two, my favourite of the day was hare, bringing it's own subtle symphony of taste to the mastication event unfolding within my chops.

for dessert i scoffed down a rolo "yoghurt" thing. seriously, do not mock until you have tried.

well, by the time you read this it will be april 1st. this story however was no joke, i did have one lined up about eating a portion of my housemate steve's arm but i couldn't get a gammon in time. for shame.. this also means that i have ten days, including april 1st, to locate and consume five more animals to complete the quest i set out on almost 51 weeks ago. blimey.