The Pond. The Atlantic Ocean. The LITTLE piece of water between the U.S. and Great Britain. We crossed The Pond this month so we dine in Great Britain. Since it was Great Britain we had a choice of foods from Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and England. And contrary to popular belief the foods of those four parts of Great Britain are delicious and so extremely various that one would never get bored with the food.

During 3rd thru’ 6th grade my family lived in England. It was fantastic. And even though it was ages ago I remember it with great sweetness. And I was lucky enough to go back about 13 years ago. And even tho’ lots had changed in some ways it had not changed at all.

BUT…. on to this month’s My Kitchen My World.

I make scones often and have made several BRITISH dishes over the years so I wanted to make something a little different. MKMW has visited Great Britain before but we were long overdue for another visit. I ended up with…..

P1020887

    Dorothy Ballam’s Poacher’s Pie

I just happened to have a rabbit in the freezer, so…..

    1 Bayleaf
    8 slices bacon
    1 lb mushrooms, sliced
    3 leeks, tops removed, cleaned and sliced
    1 rabbit cut into small portions {my package had 6}
    3 Tbl fresh parsley, chopped
    3 medium potatoes, peeled, sliced into 1/4″ rounds
    1 Tbl vinegar {I used Balsamic}
    Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. {I used my slow cooker and it worked just fine – 4.5 hours}
Place the bay leaf in the bottom of a large, heavy ovenproof dish. {Or Slow cooker} Place four slices of bacon over the bay leaf and cover with 1/2 of the mushrooms and 1/2 of the leeks. Season the rabbit pieces and put on top. Cover the pieces with remaining mushrooms and leeks Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 2 Tbl of the parsley on top. Cover the whole with the slices of potato until all the veggies are covered. Little more salt and pepper and the rest of the parsley. Put remaining slices of bacon on top and pour the vinegar over them.

P1020886


Put a tight lid on the pot and cook for 2 hours. Resist the urge to look at the pie while it is cooking as uncovering it will result in a loss of the natural juices.

This was a definite hit and definitely on the repeat list. The rabbit was tender, the potatoes were perfect, the juices were tasty. Using the Balsamic vinegar rather than plain added another layer of flavor to the whole dish. The only change I would make next time would be to gather the juices into a saucepan and thicken the some. Only change!

Jane Garmey, the author of Great British Cooking says you can use a chicken rather than a rabbit but then it wouldn’t really be POACHER’S Pie.

Tje recipe is on page 105 of her book.

If you want to join in our virtual World Tour just visit the MY Country My World website and check on the countries to come (Widget on the Right). Make a dish, leave a comment. We will include you in the roundup. October will find us in the Kingdom of Tonga, Polynesia!!

Advertisement